Corus defends OWN as educational channel

Corus Entertainment Inc. defended its Oprah Winfrey Network Canada (OWN Canada) channel before the CRTC Tuesday, saying it contributes to learning in Canada. “OWN Canada contributes far more to providing interesting content and engaging viewers and contributing to a learning culture than it has at any time in the past,” Doug Murphy, executive vice-president of Corus and president of Corus Television, told commissioners, according to speaking notes. The CRTC is reviewing Corus' apparent breach of licence conditions for the education channel, a Category A “must offer” service that was originally licenced as Canadian Learning Television and later rebranded as OWN. The commission is looking at possibly revoking the licence if Corus does not correct apparent “nature of service” licence violations. The channel is licenced to provide “formal and informal educational programming and learning opportunities that generally focus on adult education.” This covers “basic, credit-based, skills-related and life-enhancing programs, many of which will be undertaken in cooperation with colleges, universities and training institutions,” the licence says. Karen Phillips, vice-president network program operations at Corus, told the CRTC that the company intends to keep its Category A licence and that it will revise its programming schedule. John MacDonald, executive vice-president and head of programming and production at Corus, added that, to meet Category A licence requirements, programming will follow guidelines including limiting programming to basic or skills-related programming for adults. “The most exciting change to Oprah Winfrey Network Canada’s schedule is without a doubt the two new series we intend to develop and broadcast on the service,” he said, according to speaking notes. MacDonald said that, through OWN, Corus will offer an online series providing instruction and learning for viewers. “Subject experts in their fields will provide viewers with concrete opportunities to acquire useful and relevant knowledge,” he said. John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus, urged the CRTC not to revoke or suspend OWN's licence. He said “Corus will ensure that Oprah Winfrey Network Canada is 100 per cent compliant with its nature of service.” Last month, the CRTC removed Rogers Communications Inc. from the hearing after the company took steps to resolve issues of non-compliance with its licence for specialty channel G4TechTV. —With reporting by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.ca and editing by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca news@thewirereport.ca

Corus defends OWN as educational channel

Broadcast | December 11, 2012

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Corus defends OWN as educational channel

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