By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Wednesday approved a proposal by the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) to expand its mandate to accept applications for public interest participation in proceedings involving the Online News Act.
The regulator is directing the BPF, which funds that participation, to file amendments to its by-laws and articles of incorporation to reflect the change by December 6.
The commission said it is comfortable with the BPF’s existing structure and processes to properly distribute the funds, even though the organization is now handling matters with two separate pieces of legislation. The concern has been that the money may get washed together.
“The BPF has consistently made its funding decisions independently, using its well-established structure and processes to distribute the funds to public interest organizations that participate in Commission proceedings,” the CRTC said.
The CRTC did not get into how the BPF will fund the expanded mandate, instead putting possible new avenues to fund the organization to a future consultation “in the coming months.”
The funding question was a concern of some during the comment period that was initiated by the BPF’s Part 1 application requesting the broader mandate. News organizations were concerned that – given the BPF’s sustainability issue – the CRTC may think it acceptable to siphon money from the annual $100 million Google earmarked for linking to Canadian news content.
The BPF has been operating since 2012 and is funded by proceeds the CRTC orders as a condition of approving broadcasting mergers and acquisitions.
