By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Two public interest groups are asking the CRTC to consolidate multiple broadcaster requests of the commission to lessen their local television regulatory obligations and consider several options to tackle the issue.
The Forum for Research and Policy in Communications and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre filed an application Friday asking the regulator to bring together the seven relief applications brought forth by Bell, Corus, Rogers and Quebecor and provide one notice of consultation on them.
The groups then ask for a preparatory conference of interested participants so that the number of issues can be kept at a minimum to address the parties’ concerns and so parties can ensure all relevant evidence is available to enable parties to comment on an informed basis and so the CRTC has a fulsome record.
In the alternative, the application said, the CRTC may consider other possible options: issue a notice of public hearing to discuss the issues and possibly amend the current local spending requirements; establish an internal working group or industry-CRTC consultation committee to undertake research and make a recommendation to the commission; and/or order the broadcasters to continue to operate under their current terms and conditions, which may lead to them increasing repeated programming.
“If approved in whole or in part, the 7 applications could irreparably harm the public interest by changing the level and quality of Canadian programming, particularly the local TV news that the applicants have been providing to the 24.2 million people who live in the 37 communities that the applicants were licensed to serve – and by reducing employment in this sector,” the application said.
“Other broadcasters will likely follow in kind, expanding the scale of this crisis problem at a time when the CRTC is primarily occupied with implementing the Online Streaming Act,” it said, adding that Google and Meta pulling news linking in Canada in response to the Online News Act has exacerbated the problem with local news.
Some of the relief applications – which stem from an automatic commission licence renewal with the same conditions last summer – request that the CRTC remove spending requirements for local TV news, while others ask to meet their spending obligations by putting the money into other programming.
Quebecor threatened to close two of its weekend newscasts in response to the crisis, while Bell Media responded by slashing 1,300 jobs and closing six AM stations.
“Approval in whole or in part of the 7 applications could irreparably harm the public interest by changing the level and quality of available Canadian programming and, in particular, the local TV news now available to dozens of communities across Canada,” FPRC and PIAC said.
“These changes could lead to further job losses in a sector that has lost more than a thousand jobs in the last month alone,” they added. “As the Commission knows, moreover, approval of any of these applicants’ requests will lead to knock-on applications from other private TV broadcasters in similar positions.”
