“Why raid community TV?”, CACTUS asks CRTC over new policy

OTTAWA – The CRTC’s new policy framework for local and community television is a “crippling blow” to Canada’s community TV industry, says the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).The new policy framework, released June 15, sets new minimum thresholds for local news on the country’s private TV broadcasters plus seeks to establish a new fund for independent stations. But CACTUS, which appeared at the CRTC’s hearings in to local and community TV, was critical of the new Independent Local News Fund which it says “redirects money for community TV to private news production in a handful of...