CRTC approves mandatory carriage for Francophone TV station despite incumbent opposition

The CRTC added Natyf Inc., a Francophone station serving racialized communities, to Quebec’s basic package and issued a mandatory order for terrestrial and direct-to-home broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) to distribute the service. “The channel offers programming reflecting interests of French-speaking communities, while providing a platform for new content creators from ethnocultural communities,” the CRTC wrote in its Thursday press release. According to the release, and its decision also released Thursday, the basic TV package’s monthly cost of $25 will not be affected. The CRTC also noted the target market did not previously have access to this service on basic TV. The commission approved a monthly wholesale rate per subscriber of $0.12 for Natyf TV. " This wholesale rate would be much lower than the wholesale rate approved for other services with mandatory distribution that serve equity-deserving communities ," the CRTC wrote. "Adding Natyf TV to the digital basic service only in the province of Quebec would have a limited impact on BDUs operating in this market. Around 6,000 interventions were submitted, most in favour of the mandatory carriage, while Canada’s incumbents opposed. Natyf TV has been on air since 2018 and was operated as an exempt national, French-language, discretionary service focusing on themes of culture, fashion, wellness, the arts and education. Under the CRTC’s exemption order, discretionary television programming undertakings must serve fewer than 200,000 subscribers. Natyf brought forward an application before the commission requesting mandatory carriage on the digital service of licensed and exempt BDUs that serve more than 2,000 subscribers in Quebec for five years. It also requested to become a licensed broadcaster because it would surpass the 200,000 subscriber threshold under the exemption order if the CRTC approved its application. The service is eligible for a licence because it is wholly-owned by Melkisedek Media Inc. which is federally incorporated and managed by two Canadian shareholders Jean-Yves Roux and Ronald Félix, the former of whom is the president of Natyf. Natyf argued to the CRTC that if it does not receive wider distribution, or greater financial support, it will not be able to develop the under-served niche market that it serves. “The applicant considered that BDUs do not regard the service as commercially viable and that advertising agencies favour television stations with broad outreach,” according to the CRTC’s decision. In its application Natyf proposed Canadian programming expenditure (CPE) of 70 per cent by its fifth year. Sixty-five per cent of CPE expenditures will be devoted to programs of national interest (PNIs) and 80 percent CPE programming will be produced by independent producers, the vast majority of which will be racialized producers. Natyf further proposed to devote 75 per cent of its CPE requirement to original, first-run programming by its fifth year. Natyf offered to devote five per cent of its gross revenues to a certified independent production fund (CIPF) offering training to racialized Canadian producers or grants for racialized Canadian artists and actors. For its Canadian content requirements it committed to devoting 70 per cent of its programming to CanCon during the day time by its fifth year. Twelve hours per week will be devoted to local original productions, four of which will be news. Ten per cent of programming will be devoted to emerging multicultural artistic musical talent. Natyf said 90 per cent of its workforce will be salaried employees from racialized communities. Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., Quebecor Inc., Cogeco Communications Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., and the Canadian Communication System Alliance all opposed the application. Bell, Rogers, Quebecor and Cogeco claimed it did not meet the requirements for mandatory carriage. Quebecor added “it is impossible for the basic service to accommodate all linguistic and cultural needs of all ethnocultural communities in the country,” and the CRTC “should consider alternative methods for funding services that serve those communities and reiterate the essential role that the should play as a public broadcaster.” Bell claimed Natyf did not provide evidence demonstrating a link between the lack of diversity in Quebec media and the decrease of popularity of traditional media within racialized communities. Rogers’s ICI argued that Natyf is being over ambitious in its commitments and did not demonstrate how it intends to meet those for racialized independent producers. “It explained that it took many years of community outreach and producer development for OMNI Regional and ICI Télévision to create a robust programming schedule of independent producers that reflects Canada’s ethnocultural diversity,” the CRTC said. According to the CRTC, more than 6,000 (most in the form of a petition) supported the application including the Association québécoise de la production médiatique, Black On Black Films, the Black Screen Office, Coalition M.É.D.I.A., Fédération Africaine-Canadienne de l’économie, and Association de musique urbaine du Québec. “Generally, interveners who supported the application expressed the view that there is a need to serve racialized communities and for better representation of racialized persons in the French-language market through the offer of an alternative service to existing services. Further, these interveners expressed the view that Natyf TV contributes to the diversity of voices,” the CRTC’s decision stated. — Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

CRTC approves mandatory carriage for Francophone TV station despite incumbent opposition

Broadcast | August 31, 2023

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CRTC approves mandatory carriage for Francophone TV station despite incumbent opposition

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