Carriage on Bell a potential boon for community channels, says CACTUS

OTTAWA – News that Bell must carry Canada’s seven independent community TV channels as part of its basic service by next year was welcomed by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), who said that the move may spawn the creation of more such services."This is the first decision that the CRTC has made since 2002 to encourage the distribution of truly community-based television programming services", said CACTUS spokesperson Catherine Edwards, in a statement.The CRTC included the directive during its approval of Bell’s purchase of CTV last week. The seven channels are among 43 local channels the...