OTTAWA – The CRTC has renewed the licence of Canal M, the national French-language audio programming undertaking, as well as its distribution order for mandatory carriage on basic.
Owned by Vues & Voix, Canal M airs full readings of news, editorials and other articles published in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals for Francophone Canadians who are blind, partially sighted or print-restricted. All TV service providers in Francophone markets must distribute the service, and direct-to-home satellite broadcasting distribution undertakings must offer it in their French-language digital basic service packages.
The Commission also agreed to Vues & Voix’s request to increase Canal M’s regulated per subscriber monthly wholesale rate from $0.02 to $0.04
“Taking into consideration projected declines in subscriber numbers over the next licence term, the Commission finds that the proposed rate increase from $0.02 to $0.04 should allow Canal M to meet its production targets, as well as develop the service to provide content that is comparable to what is available in English-language markets,” read the decision.
The monthly rate increase would bring the licensee $1,307,352 annually. But the Commission added that it “considers that the public interest in seeing an improved offering of content on the service justifies the likely impact of the proposed wholesale rate increase on the BDUs’ capacity to offer a viable and affordable basic service to consumers.”
Canal M’s licence was renewed for five years, from September 1, 2018 through August 31, 2023.
This marks the second renewal of a mandatory distribution order this week, after Tuesday’s renewal of the services of the Legislative Assemblies of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
