GATINEAU – The CRTC has asked CTV, Corus, Rogers and Canwest to explain how MTV Canada, Viva, G4 and TVTropolis do not violate their nature of service conditions of license.
Letters sent to the broadcasters in July (except in the case of Viva, which has been in a regulatory back-and-forth with the Commission on this issue dating back to its 2008 rebrand from Canadian Learning Television) by the CRTC’s executive director of broadcasting, Scott Hutton, ask each of them basically the same question.
To paraphrase, the CRTC wants to know how – given the programming on the channels and the way they are now sold to viewers and advertisers – the quartet of channels still respect the nature of service provisions set out in their licenses. The letters were sent as part of the Commission’s preparation for the big broadcasters’ group licensing renewals coming in April 2011.
About CTV’s MTV Canada the letter asks: “After a review your broadcast schedule it would appear that several of your programs are not consistent with your nature of service, such as ‘Jersey Shore’, ‘Cribs’, ‘Downtown Girls’ and ‘Teen Mom’.”
MTV Canada began its life as Talk tv and its nature of service provision says: “the licensee shall provide a national English-language service that is devoted to talk programming providing viewers with the opportunity to participate through telephone, fax or Internet, as well as live television hook-ups, in discussion and debate about topics and issues that interest and affect all Canadians.”
(Ed note: I wonder when the folks at MTV Canada last received a fax from a viewer?)
About Rogers’ G4 (at one time, TechTV), Hutton asks the same question, noting programming choices like “Mantracker”, “The Office” and “Which Way To”, seem inconsistent with its nature of service provisions that say: “the licensee shall provide a national English-language Category 1 service consisting exclusively of programming related to computing, technology and the Internet.”
(Ed note: The characters in The Office use computers…)
TVTropolis began its life in 1997 as Prime, aimed at the 50-plus set where “the licensee shall provide a national English-language specialty service consisting of programs of particular interest to adults over 50 years of age,” says its nature of service.
However, given that shows like “Revamped”, “Project Runway Canada” and “The Last 10 Pounds Boot Camp” are on the Canwest channel and that the company web site says that 68% of TVTropolis’s viewers are 18-49, that “would indicate that its programming is not consistent with its nature of service,” reads its letter from the CRTC.
(Ed note: Baby boomers can relate with needing to lose that last 10 pounds…)
Viva’s file dates back to its fall 2008 rebrand from CLT, when Corus purchased the channel from CTV. However, in a letter similar to the ones sent in the summer to the first three broadcasters, the Commission asked this past May: “Canadian Learning Television’s nature of service and conditions of licence… stipulate that CLT (now Viva) is an educational service that provides a predominance (not less than 55%) of formal educational programming with clear learning objectives.
“In particular, we would like an explanation as to how the significant presence of Category 7 (Drama and comedy) fits with the educational aspect of your nature of service.”
In its response to the Commission, Corus defended the channel’s programming, saying each dramatic show on Viva, “is tied to a specific accredited course at an educational institution. For each drama program that is considered for airing on Viva, Corus performs a thorough assessment of the educational rationale for the program before it is aired to certify that it complies with the educational mandate of the Viva service,” reads the response by Corus VP government relations, Sylvie Courtemanche.
“Each assessment is documented in a ‘Formal Educational Rationale’ that provides a summary of the program, a detailed description of the academic course to which it is tied, and the educational expert associated with the program who provides the contextualizations at the beginning of each episode when the series is broadcast.”
(Ed note: I want to go to those schools and take these courses…)
However, Corus may have some additional explaining to do with this channel if another rebrand speculated on here is carried through.
These nature of service queries follows the Commission’s demand that the CBC take digi-net Bold back to its original programming restrictions. It was launched in 2001 as Country Canada – with programming of a rural or agricultural nature. Bold now bears little resemblance to its original nature of service conditions and it’s unclear how CBC has responded to the Commission’s April demand to alter the digi-net.
While it doesn’t appear that the Commission letters or the broadcasters responses are public yet (at least we can’t find them on the CRTC web site), Canwest SVP regulatory and government affairs Charlotte Bell told Cartt.ca that her channel is complying with its conditions.
“We provided audience data that show in fact that the 50-plus audience for the service overall has grown over the last few years,” she said of the Canwest response to the July letter, “and that for each of the programs raised in the Commission’s letter we provided audience data that shows a large percentage of the audience is in the 50-plus group.”
Given the many re-brands the major broadcast groups have undertaken over the years, expect this to be an interesting topic as April nears.
– Greg O’Brien
