OTTAWA – Rogers’ testimony at the CRTC community TV hearing may not have been entirely accurate, according to the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
In a statement on Tuesday, CACTUS noted that Rogers TV VP Colette Watson said that "close to 60%" of the programming on Rogers’ Ottawa channel was "access programming", or made by members of the public. But a review of Rogers’ Ottawa schedule posted on-line reveals that almost all the daily shows on the programming schedule list Rogers employees as producers, CACTUS maintained.
The group also expressed concern over the number of community station closures, and said that part of the problem is that the CRTC no longer requires cable companies to license systems with fewer than 20,000 subscribers.
Noting that New Brunswick once had almost 30 distinct community TV services, CACTUS said that there is now only one provincial English service and a single provincial French service offered by Rogers, with only occasional insertions of local content.
During questioning at the hearing on Monday, Watson said that only 4 of 79 such licence-exempt systems in New Brunswick and Newfoundland offer any community programming. When Commissioner Menzies asked whether there had previously been community programming in these 79 systems, Watson replied "Not while we were operating the system. We bought New Brunswick in 2000."
Patrick Watt, station manager for the community-owned and operated TV channel in St. Andrews, NB, last week testified that Rogers closed three small channels in Harvey, McAdam, and Woodstock in 2009. CACTUS said that the communities of St. George, St. Stephen, Minto and Chipman have also been given notice by Rogers that they will be cut off this year.
