Union asks CRTC for expedited hearing on OMNI cuts

A union representing media workers is asking the CRTC to hold a public hearing within the next month on cuts to Rogers Communications Inc.’s OMNI stations, and to reinstate eliminated ethnic newscasts. Unifor filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC, which appeared on the regulator's website on Wednesday. It told the CRTC that holding an expedited hearing is necessary to ensure communities affected by the cuts have access to coverage of this year’s federal election. In May, Rogers said it would cut about 110 conventional-TV jobs as a result of programming changes at its City and OMNI over-the-air television networks. Those programming changes included the elimination of local newscasts in Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin and Italian on OMNI stations. The Unifor application said, as a result, the “OMNI TV stations no longer broadcast any original local news.” Unifor said in its submission that the hearing should be held by July 6, and that the CRTC should order the newscasts to be reinstated following the hearing. It also asked the CRTC for the right to cross-examine Rogers at the hearing. “The cancellation of third-language local newscasts on Rogers’ OMNI TV stations contravenes Canadian law by depriving Canada’s ethnic audiences of access to news from and about their local communities,” it argued. “It also contravenes the CRTC’s policy for ethnic broadcasting.” The elimination of the newscast has deprived residents of Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary of “the local and regional news from and about their communities which ethnic television stations are supposed to provide,” it said. Rogers spokesman Kevin Spafford said in an email Wednesday that “in the changing Canadian media landscape, we need to evolve our business in order to continue to stay relevant to Canadians. Our programming changes reflect the changing needs of our viewers and allow OMNI Television to better serve our audiences with local and non-traditional content that is truly reflective of our communities.” He added: “We look forward to providing our submission to the CRTC and working with our partners to deliver relevant and compelling programming for viewers.” When Rogers made previous cuts to OMNI, Unifor noted, the CRTC responded by holding its licence-renewal hearing early. In that case, Unifor had asked for a public hearing relating to the elimination of 63 positions at OMNI stations and cuts to programming in 2013, which the CRTC did not grant. During the licence-renewal hearing, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley told the CRTC that OMNI stations were facing a "financial crisis" and that there is "a very real risk that over-the-air TV will become obsolete.” Unifor said in August 2014 that it was satisfied with the outcome of that renewal process. Unifor noted in its complaint Wednesday that, in the past, the CRTC has “denied applications for over-the-air (OTA) television services because of insufficient local programming,” and has “given broadcasters short-term renewals when they provided inadequate levels of local news and local programming.” It said that for the CRTC to “act now” in response to the latest cuts “would be entirely consistent with the CRTC’s historic approach to regulating the availability of local news to over-the-air audiences.” Rogers’ OMNI licences won’t expire for another 15 months and the corresponding licence-renewal hearing wouldn’t be held until March or April 2016, Unifor said. It added that the CRTC and the public shouldn’t “have to wait a year or more to hear Rogers’ explanations for eliminating news from its stations,” and that by that time, “the damage caused by the cancellation … will have happened, and will not be reparable.” Unifor said that there are “unusual circumstances” in this case, citing “the abrupt cancellation of all original local news for ethnic communities in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto, by a subsidiary of one of Canada’s largest and most profitable communications companies, just before a widely-anticipated federal election.” Those circumstances, Unifor argued, “require the CRTC to move swiftly to ensure that Canada’s ethnic communities are not adversely affected by the loss of original news to inform them about the election and other matters of public interest.” Replies are due July 10. Unifor’s complaint follows an open letter sent to CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais earlier this month by the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and other parties, asking the CRTC to restore all OMNI TV local news programming, for Rogers to provide enough funding for its in-house productions and to reinstate news programming staff and restore its sales and marketing division. The House of Commons heritage committee is also looking into the cuts. Rogers' Pelley is scheduled to appear before the committee on June 17. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Union asks CRTC for expedited hearing on OMNI cuts

Broadcast | June 10, 2015

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Union asks CRTC for expedited hearing on OMNI cuts

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