MONTREAL – Add Cogeco Cable to the list of cable companies who feel that their community TV channels are working fine as is.
At its appearance Wednesday at the CRTC community TV poilcy hearing, Cogeco offered up independent surveys by Environics Research Group and Cible Recherche that found that approximately 41% of its Ontario households watch TVCOGECO on a weekly basis, and that 90% of the people served said that they believe that the channel “provides a valuable service to the community”.
In Quebec, 57% of Cogeco’s customers watch TVCOGECO every week, a rate that is higher than the 65% observed in communities not served by conventional broadcasters, while 89% of the people surveyed who watch the channel said that they believe that “it makes a contribution to their community”.
“These impressive figures, as well as the hundreds of letters of support that we have received from organizations, volunteers and TV viewers, demonstrate that TVCOGECO is fulfilling its mission and meets the needs and interests of the communities it serves”, said president and CEO Louis Audet, in a statement.
In its presentation, Cogeco said that the existing regulatory framework should stay the same, and that it is also opposed to changing the funding formula. It also pledged to expand service in smaller markets where conventional broadcasters have ceased production, providing that the existing funding formula used by community television stations operated by broadcasting distributors remains unchanged, and that the regulatory requirements stay the same.
TVCOGECO operates 37 community channels in Quebec and Ontario. During the 2009 fiscal year, it aired over 12,000 hours of original Canadian content, of which 54% was access programming. In addition, TVCOGECO said that it worked with more than 2,500 organizations and 940 volunteers, who together contributed a total of 74,000 hours.
