CRTC says no to Blue Ant’s PNI reduction request

GATINEAU — In a decision published today, the CRTC has denied an application by Blue Ant Media to reduce the amount it’s required to spend annually on programs of national interest (PNI) for the eight specialty channels it operates in Canada. Blue Ant Media’s channels include A.Side, BBC Earth, Cottage Life, HIFI, Love Nature, Makeful, T+E and Smithsonian Channel. In April 2019, Blue Ant filed an application to amend the condition of licence for its channels’ group licence in order to reduce its PNI expenditure requirements from 13.5% to 5% of the previous broadcast year’s gross revenues, as of September...