CRTC unveils new policies for local TV news
Fund to be established for 18 stations across country to ‘rebalance’ TV landscape
OTTAWA— Canada’s broadcast regulator is forcing English-language TV stations to air at least seven hours a week of local news, and creating a new fund to help the smaller ones pay for it as part of a “rebalancing” of the country’s television landscape.
Large broadcasters will also be given more flexibility — but not more money — to keep local stations open under a new regulatory framework announced Wednesday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The new policy will require that English-language stations broadcast at least seven hours of what’s termed locally relevant programming each week in non-metropolitan markets, and 14 hours per week in metropolitan markets, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
French-language stations will be required to broadcast five hours of local programming weekly, but that could be increased based on individ- ual community needs.
To help stations struggling to generate advertising revenue, the CRTC says larger stations can redistribute available resources, allowing them to spend up to $67 million more on local news content.
And just how that money is spent will be vitally important to stations seeking license renewals, warned CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
“We are rebalancing the considerable resources already in the system to ensure that the quality, quantity and capacity of local newscasts are maintained,” Blais said in a statement. “However, the flexibility that we are giving to the large private broadcasters is not to be taken lightly. They have a responsibility of continuing to provide adequate funding for news and to produce high-quality local programming that informs Canadians and reflects the communities they serve.”
As well, a new independent local news fund is being established to give independent stations access to roughly $23 million for local news programming. The fund will be earmarked for TV stations in18 communities across the country.
That cash could mean the difference between producing local news- casts or going off the air completely for struggling stations such as Global-owned CKPR and CHFD in Thunder Bay, Ont.
An executive from the stations told the CRTC in January they would shut their doors by Sept. 1, unless they received help to pay for local programming.
The stations have been staying afloat using money from life insurance policies taken out on a station owner and a general manager who passed away, Don Caron, vice-president and general manager of Thunder Bay Electronics told a CRTC panel.