OTTAWA – The Government of Canada said Friday that it has upheld the CRTC’s must-carry license approval for The Accessible Channel, but that the a license amendment issued to a French-language crime channel has to be revisited.
The licence amendments for Avis de Recherche concerned its conditions of licence that qualify it as a service of exceptional importance, making it a must-carry in Quebec. Videotron appealed that decision.
The channel’s goal is to assist police forces in catching wanted criminals.
Under the Broadcasting Act, the Government may refer back or set aside a CRTC licensing decision if that decision derogates from the attainment of the objectives of the broadcasting policy as set out in the Act.
“The Governor in Council is satisfied that the decision to grant The Accessible Channel a licence to operate is consistent with the policy objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act, while the decision to amend the licence of Avis de Recherche derogates from those objectives,” said the government’s press release.
The Accessible Channel will offer a 24-hour service providing news, information, drama, entertainment, and other programming to blind and visually impaired Canadians. The Canadian content levels will be a minimum of 60% during the broadcast day, and 50% from midnight to 6 p.m. It has an agreement to access some programming from CTV, but a condition of licence is that no more than one-third of its programming can come from any one supplier.
“The Government has asked the CRTC to re-examine the minimum conditions of licence imposed on Avis de Recherche, specifically with respect to funding of Canadian content, given Avis de Recherche’s exceptional right to mandatory distribution on digital basic.”
Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-246 is a package of decisions regarding several applications contained within a single decision. The Government only reviewed the decision to issue a licence for the operation of The Accessible Channel and the amendment to Avis de Recherche’s licence. Only decisions to issue, amend, or renew a licence can be appealed.
The timing for the reconsideration and hearing of the Avis de Recherche decision will be determined by the CRTC.
