REGINA – The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. is asking the CRTC to force direct-to-home satellite TV distributor Star Choice to pick up the public broadcaster’s over-the-air TV signal that it dropped last week.
“CBC/Radio-Canada files this complaint against Star Choice on the basis that Star Choice appears to be in breach of its condition of licence which specifies that the number of CBC English-language owned and operated television stations distributed by the licensee never falls below the number of English-language conventional stations distributed from any other individual broadcast group,” Bev Kirshenblatt, CBC senior director of regulatory affairs, writes in a May 12 filing to the CRTC.
The CBC notes that the channel line-up of Star Choice, owned by Shaw Communications, currently distributes eight CBC television stations, 12 CTVglobemedia TV stations, eight CanWest Media stations and five Roger TV stations.
But under current rules, Star Choice should be carrying 12 CBC signals — the same number of CTV signals that it distributes. The requirement aimed at ensuring the broadcasting system provides Canadians with a diversity of voices also applies to DTH satellite distributor Bell ExpressVu.
CBC Saskatchewan was among five TV channels that Shaw removed last week from its basic service offering. The public broadcaster says that Star Choice acted unilaterally and did not inform CBC Television of the decision.
As a result of the change, Star Choice subscribers can no longer view locally produced programming, including CBC News at Six and Living Saskatchewan, a 30-minute daily show focusing on the unique lifestyle of Saskatchewan residents. More than 40% of Saskatchewan viewers, aged two and more, receive their TV signal from DTH satellite, notes CBC.
“It is our opinion that Canadians should have greater access to Canadian programming, not less,” said David Kyle, CBC Regional Director of Radio and TV for Saskatchewan. “CBC will continue to pursue the options available to us to ensure Star Choice is in compliance with its condition of licence.”
Star Choice also removed CTV in Calgary, Global in the Maritimes, Citytv in Winnipeg and SunTV in Toronto from its essentials basic package. The CTV Calgary signal was reinstated following viewer complaints.
Ken Stein, senior vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs at Shaw Communications, told the Financial Post last week that the changes were made based on what customers wanted.
In a notice to customers, Star Choice said it was replacing the dropped TV channels with specialty TV channels MuchMusic, MTV and Teletoon Retro and three other specialty TV channels – YTV, TLN and CMT – that are owned by Corus Entertainment, which is controlled by Shaw.
