OTTAWA – The CRTC will hold a public hearing to determine whether the way that CBC re-branded specialty channel ‘Country Canada’ to ‘bold’ has negatively impacted “the integrity of the licensing process”.
CBC re-launched its category 1 specialty Country Canada as bold on March 27 2008, after telling the Commission that the change could be done without amending the nature of service of Country Canada.
That channel’s description at launch was as follows:
The licensee shall provide a national English-language Category 1 specialty television service for rural Canadian families, with a focus on adults 25-54. The service will provide information, interaction and entertainment from a rural perspective.
For the purposes of this condition, "rural Canadians" shall be defined as individuals who live outside of the large urban centres, in small communities, and who predominantly make their living from the land and sea and/or through businesses that are directly associated with those that do.
However, in a letter to the CBC dated April 24 2008, the CRTC asked for clarification on how bold’s programming format was consistent with the original nature of service, and cited the following description of bold found on the CBC’s website:
"bold, which replaces CBC Country Canada, is home to the world’s best performing arts, intelligent drama and daring comedy."
The CBC replied to the CRTC in a letter dated May 9, 2008, saying "[t]he emphasis in our marketing and in the schedule on performance-based programming we believe is consistent with our nature of service condition of licence. Further, the channel is not prohibited from carrying this type of programming and we think its presence on "bold" is of value to Canadians, particularly rural Canadians."
Though CBC provided specific examples of programs that "reflect and embrace rural interests and values," the Commission felt that the CBC failed to provide “sufficient evidence” that overall the programming broadcast on bold was consistent with its requirement to "provide information, interaction and entertainment from a rural perspective". It gave CBC six months to amend the programming schedule to reflect the original description.
The CBC appealed on November 28 2008, but its arguments were again rejected by the CRTC.
Claiming the CBC was “well aware” of the requirement to apply for an amendment to its nature of service definition if it were intending to change the programming strategy of the service, and yet noting that it went ahead with the change in spite of that knowledge, the CRTC said that the “CBC’s actions appear to negatively impact the integrity of the licensing process”, and “the programming changes appear to be inconsistent with the Commission’s policy on program genre exclusivity”.
The public hearing has been scheduled for June 2, 2009, and interventions or comments are due by April 15.
