OTTAWA – With the CRTC hearing on Canada’s community TV policy just over a month away, the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) says that the majority of community TV channels have been transformed into regional TV networks.
After the CRTC released a list of Canada’s 139 community TV channels earlier this year, CACTUS says that a review of the channels’ program schedules found that in English Canada there are only 19 distinct programming services, in which at least half of the programming schedule is produced locally. The rest replay programming produced primarily in larger centres.
“Lack of diversity is a major problem for the community TV sector,” said CACTUS spokesperson Cathy Edwards, in a statement. “How can these channels reflect the country’s diversity when five cable companies control 90% of them and cut costs by replaying the same staff-produced programs across provinces?”
Even when a service is "distinct" and more than 50% of the programming is local, the majority of that is produced by cable company staff, not made by the community, Edwards continued.
Cable company reports released by the CRTC showed that in 2009, only 27% of programs were reported made by communities themselves, but CACTUS says that this figure is high.
"We have heard widespread reports that cable companies report as ‘access programming’ any program that invites the public on for interviews, not programs actually produced by the public”, Edwards added.
CACTUS, who will be participating in the CRTC’s April 26 community TV hearing, has proposed that the Commission adopt a community-based model for multi-media training and production that it the organization says would bring local content back to Canada’s community channels at no new cost to subscribers.
