‘A regulatory straitjacket’: Quebecor asks for TVA relief from local programming obligations

By Ahmad Hathout MONTREAL – Quebecor is asking the CRTC to provide immediate relaxation of regulatory rules that require it to provide a specific amount of local programming or else it must make “difficult choices” related to TVA's programming. A CRTC licence renewal decision from 2017 and extended last year until August 2024 requires the TVA station CFCM-DT Quebec broadcast 18 hours of local programming per week, while requiring fewer hours in the region for other stations including CBC/Radio-Canada. Quebecor said these comparatively “unfair” requirements are strangling it, despite saying it is producing more hours than is mandated of it....