BDUs happy with community TV monitoring scheme, CACTUS not

Telus Corp., BCE Inc., and Rogers Communications Inc. have all endorsed the CRTC's proposed approach to monitoring the provision of community television programming, both linear and on-demand. Earlier this summer, the regulator published a plan for monitoring how broadcast distribution undertakings are providing community programming. The proposed scheme called on TV service providers to allow users to search programs by the location of where they were produced, and to view the program's production location next to the program tile presented to viewers. The proposed monitoring plan also called on service providers to give "pride of place to local programs when viewed in the location where they were produced.” In a letter to the regulator, Bell says that it is "pleased that the Commission has integrated many of our suggestions into the proposed broadcasting information bulletin relating to a standardized approach for monitoring linear community channels and on-demand community programming services." When it comes to video on-demand (VOD) programming options, Telus said it thinks the commission should implement only one of the two proposed options for finding programs by location -- searching by location or listing the location next to the program tile. "TELUS wishes to highlight the fact that implementing each one of these two suggested practices entails a strenuous technical exercise in the reconfiguration of the library sorting and/or visual display on the VOD platform," the company's intervention reads, "requiring extensive manual changes and incurring added costs of administering and distributing local and access content." "In light of the above, TELUS is supportive of the Commission’s intention to require the adoption of only one of the two practices outlined," the company says. Rogers, too, said it "believes that either option would be reasonable and enable subscribers to find content that is relevant to them and to their community," though noting that most of its community programming is linear, rather than VOD. The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), however, criticized the proposed monitoring system for having no teeth. "So what happens if a BDU is found—through this monitoring exercise—to be non-compliant? Nothing," CACTUS argued. The Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) said in its submission that the CRTC should also include monitoring criteria for employment equity at community stations, who they say should be required to report a breakdown of its employees by various identity categories. "Without any reporting mechanisms concerning access granted and reflection provided for protected groups," CMAC argues in its submission, "the proposed monitoring form facilitates the exclusion of protected groups from a sector mandated to broadcast 'locally reflective community programming' and 'to foster a greater diversity of voices.'" The proposed monitoring system was created after two separate informal consultations with broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs), one into linear programming in 2018, and a 2019-20 consultation into on-demand programming.

BDUs happy with community TV monitoring scheme, CACTUS not

Brief | August 21, 2020

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BDUs happy with community TV monitoring scheme, CACTUS not

Brief | August 21, 2020

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