GATINEAU – The second day of the CRTC hearing into local and community TV delved more into the details of how alternative financing and community TV could be help fix the local TV problem. Some argued that more money is needed to fund local TV and others said that community TV has the wherewithal to take the financial reins from their broadcast distributor masters and control much more of their own content creation.
The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) noted in its opening remarks that its $150-million Community Media Access Fund (CAMF) proposal could team community TV with public libraries and other government funded sites to create centres where community programming could flourish.
“There will be no service gap while CAMF gets up and running. Existing organizations will access operational funding right away to meet the Commission's community-access mandate and the need for local information outside the 59 markets served by public and private stations. Community-based organizations are the only players that can address both challenges,” stated John Savage from the Ontario Libraries Association.
The idea of partnering with public libraries for community TV is taking place in the United States. Grand Rapids, Michigan was cited by Catherine Edwards from CACTUS as a prime example of what can happen.
This facility, she said “is a community media centre hosted within a public library that has a cable broadcasting licence for TV, it has an over the air radio channel, it’s got a live theatre where actors in the community can (put on) plays, they can have town hall debates and all have it televised from that facility.”
Edwards added that there are also satellite facilities in different neighbourhoods that are linked together so citizens can produce content at different hubs and have it all be transmitted on multiple media. “So those are the kinds of models that we think are forward looking and progressive for Canada,” she said.
“So already the libraries have moved into this sphere, they’re providing these services, all they need is to have their programs connected to cable companies and other forms of dissemination.” – John Savage, Ontario Libraries Association
Savage noted that this wouldn’t be a new type of undertaking for public libraries in Canada either. Approximately 45% of libraries in Ontario are offering film and video production training and the Vancouver public library has set aside about half of its third floor for music and film production with green screens and banks of computers for film and photo editing. In addition, the federal government has already outfitted public libraries to become community access points for the high speed Internet and now Industry Canada is funding the deployment of broadband to rural areas.
“So already the libraries have moved into this sphere, they’re providing these services, all they need is to have their programs connected to cable companies and other forms of dissemination,” he said.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of British Columbia (COSCO) put its support behind community TV, describing it as “the third pillar of Canadian broadcasting” that hasn’t had its regulatory due. COSCO/PIAC called for the Commission to cultivate access programming, establish independent funding, and facilitate both physical and digital platforms.
CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais wondered how COSCO/PIAC’s proposal would function in a world where there is greater control by communities over community programming yet still be delivered through a BDU.
Alysia Lau, legal counsel at PIAC, noted that the COSCO/PIAC proposal is based on creating two streams, one which is continuing with the BDU operated community channels and the second is trying to figure out how to fund new entities interested in getting into community programming. The goal would be to evaluate how the two have evolved over a five-year period and then make appropriate decisions at that point.
“Our mission and how to get there is trying to be more practical.” – John Lawford, PIAC
COSCO/PIAC added in its testimony that it supports the CACTUS’ objectives that communities should have greater control of community programming, but added the way to get there may differ slightly.
“We share the principles and vision of CACTUS and where they want to get to,” said John Lawford, general counsel at PIAC (pictured above in a screen cap from CPAC.ca). “Our mission and how to get there is trying to be more practical and we’re trying to use the system that’s there now to get there rather than have a sudden shelf drop off.”
While CACTUS argued for a greater say in how community TV programming is funded and controlled, Groupe V Media called for a new approach that would see more money go to independent broadcasters. The company proposed a model that would see 0.5% of gross broadcast distributor revenue allocated to independent broadcasters. This would be in addition to the current 5% BDUs commit to Canadian programming.
The Quebec-based media company noted that this additional money would help independent broadcasters get the funding they need to produce local news and programming that they otherwise can’t. As well, it would enable them to compete for viewers with the big players much more effectively.
During its appearance, Groupe V also questioned the merits of the Bell Canada proposal for a new fund. Serge Bellerose, the company’s regulatory affairs advisor, wondered where the benefits of Bell’s approach is if a local TV station already losing money would have to spend more to get additional funding to produce more local news hours. This means that the TV station would only be losing more money.
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting argued in its appearance that there simply isn’t enough money in the system to support local TV. In a report released earlier this week, the group suggested that to fill the gap for small and mid markets, an additional 1.25% of BDU revenue needs to go to local TV. For all markets across the country, this would require an increase of more than 3.5% from BDU revenue.
Watch for our coverage tomorrow when Cogeco, ACTRA, and a group of small market broadcasters, among others, face the Commission.
