PLESSISVILLE, QC – The CRTC should guarantee that independent producers have access to Canada’s community channels, and cable companies should foot the bill for the programming that they produce, says The Federation of Autonomous Community Television of Quebec.
On the eve of the CRTC’s community channel policy review hearing, The Federation said that broadening the scope of community channels licences would endow them with “an official status in the Canadian broadcasting system to all groups who claim a right to produce local and access programming for the community channel of cable operators”.
"Autonomous TVCs are a space for citizens’ involvement”, said Federation president Sonya Package, in a statement. “They are available for major and minor moments within our communities, and our regions. They contribute to the sense of belonging and bringing people closer. Even in the world of Internet, television will continue to be an area for direct communication and information. That is why the CRTC has the responsibility to rectify things and to find a solution which will ensure equitable sharing of community access programming."
The group says that there is a significant imbalance in community television financing between what is available for cable operators and what is available for not-for-profit institutions representative of their communities. It will ask that the CRTC “repair this injustice” by mandating that cable operators improve the financing of local and access programming produced by autonomous TVCs.
