By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is asking the CRTC to allow it the flexibility to serve certain communities in western Canada with broader, but still locally relevant programming so that it doesn’t rely on repeat programming to meet its Canadian content obligations in the face of a tough financial environment.
The cable giant, which now has on its hands Shaw’s broadcasting assets, filed a Part 1 application made public this week asking for a modification to its condition of licence to be able to show what it calls Spotlight Channels based, not on a standalone basis but in four larger zones housing several communities: Vancouver Island, British Columbia; Southern Interior, British Columbia; Central Saskatchewan; and Southern Manitoba.
Rogers said six of the 24 systems inside these zones have had difficulty meeting the CRTC’s Community TV policy’s local and access requirements, which mandate 60 per cent of a community channel’s weekly schedule be local programming, with 50 per cent being access programming. If the BDU is exempt in the area, then that access requirement goes down to 30 per cent. The other 18, Rogers said, have been getting by via reruns.
“Without the possibility of operating under a zone-based approach, some smaller BDUs had difficulties producing enough programming to fill a weekly linear schedule and had to rely excessively on repeat programming or bulletin boards,” Rogers said in its application. “Authorizing them to be part of a zone allows them to consider programming from nearby communities to be local, which means they can broadcast it as part of their weekly linear schedule without falling below the exhibition requirements imposed by the Commission.”
Rogers said while the proposal includes some broader programming still pertinent to the communities in the zone, it is also committed to providing hyper local programming to specific communities. It also said it is committed to access programming for the full 50 per cent, despite the exemptions in the zone.
Rogers says the Spotlight Channels in question have experienced challenges, including a declining subscriber base from changing viewer habits; reduced demand for the broadcaster’s linear channels when other platforms are available; and changes to the Community TV policy, which forced broadcasters to shift funding to local news, leading to a reduction in money available for community TV operations.
The cable company points to the decline of Shaw’s broadcast subscriber over the last decade, from a little more than two million subscribers in 2013 to a little more than one million in 2023, a decline of about 44 per cent. That decline, it said, corresponded to a reduction in the contributions available to fund the operation of the Spotlight Channels.
Rogers notes that the CRTC has “consistently approved” such zone-based models in “situations where linear community channels serving smaller populations face difficulties in meeting local and access programming requirements on their own, given limited financial and operational resources and/or community participation.”
The Vancouver Island zone includes Campbell River, Courtenay/Comox/Powell River, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Port Alberni, Royal Oak, Langford (Saanich/Sooke), Salt Spring, and Victoria. The Southern Interior zone includes Castlegar, Cranbrook, Kelowna, Penticton, Salmon Arm, Vernon, and Winfield. The Central Saskatchewan zone includes Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, and Saskatoon. And the Southern Manitoba zone includes Lorette, Portage la Prairie, and Winnipeg.
