OTTAWA – The CRTC will hold a public hearing next month to review the purchase of two of Canwest’s E! stations by Channel Zero.
The independent specialty service operator, which owns short film specialty Movieola, classic movie channel Silver Screen Classics, film distributor Ouat Media and a majority stake in the AOV adult channel brands, agreed to purchase E!-branded CHCH TV Hamilton and CJNT TV Montreal from Canwest Global on June 30.
According to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-425, the applicant (which is listed as two numbered companies in Ontario rather than Channel Zero by name), is also seeking broadcasting licences with seven-year terms to continue the operations of the stations.
The company has also asked to increase the amount of local programming that CJNT broadcasts, and to remove its obligation to provide specific proportions of its non-ethnic programming in English and French.
For the CHCH station, the company asked to be relieved of the current condition of licence requiring it to broadcast priority programming, noting the station will "no longer be part of a large multi-station ownership group".
Comments are due by August 3 and the hearing has been scheduled for August 24, 2009.
