MONTREAL – A group calling themselves the Steering Committee for an Independent Community TV Channel (ICTV) for Montreal says it wants Videotron to give up its community television license in Montreal.
In a press release issued through the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the group says that Videotron’s French-language community channel MAtv fails to meet the conditions of its CRTC licence to "reflect the official languages, ethnic and Aboriginal composition of the community."
“If Videotron is not willing to represent minority groups and to accurately reflect our city, then another group should administer this licence," said Laith Marouf, former executive director of Concordia University TV and equity commissioner for the National Community Radio Association, in the release. "CRTC policy allows for this. This is why we have set up a Steering Committee to look into alternatives.”
Marouf added that the group has asked the CRTC for 60 days to allow it to submit a better model for community TV in Montreal.
CACTUS said in the release that it doubts that Videotron is meeting its requirement to devote at least 50% of its air time and programming budget toward ‘access’ programming, which the CRTC defines as programming made by citizens, community members, and volunteers.
Claiming that Videotron staff admitted that it “commissions” community programming (i.e. pays producers to create it), CACTUS is calling on the CRTC to audit MAtv. Both groups are also contesting Videotron’s recent application for an Anglophone community channel in Montreal to be called MYtv.
"It’s like rewarding Videotron for failing to serve Montreal’s minorities over the last decade”, said Gretchen King, a steering committee member for ICTV Montreal and chair of the board for McGill University’s community radio station CKUT. "The $6 – 10 million that Videotron is already spending on MAtv is more than enough to fund a dynamic multicultural community channel that would reflect all the energy and creativity of this fantastic city. That’s what community TV is supposed to do."
But Videotron dismissed the criticism as sour grapes, noting that the CRTC denied the group’s application for its own community channel license in 2010.
“Contrary to the allegations of CACTUS and the Steering Committee, MYtv’s programming will be designed for the English-speaking community, by the English-speaking community and with the English-speaking community”, Peggy Tabet, Quebecor’s senior director regulatory affairs, broadcasting, told Cartt.ca. “In fact, more than 50% of MYtv’s community programming would be devoted to access programs, whose creative control would remain in the hands of community members. Moreover, MYtv will have its own creative and programming teams which are independent from MAtv's.”
