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CRTC INTERVENTION RE: COMMUNITY TV POLICY
Documents/Telile_Submission_re_Community_Television.pdf
Below is
additional information to further explain Telile Community TV’s
position in the upcoming policy review. You may want to consider
when reading the note below that since Telile is the only source
of local programming in our area, the CRTC should provide
funding like it would in urban areas. This concept is addressed
in the notes below.
Thank you for your
continued support of Telile.
Nous vous
remercions pour votre soutien. Ce texte est en Anglais mais
notre soumission au CRTC sera dans les deux langues et les
lettres de soutien peuvent être en Anglais ou en Français.
CRTC Policy
Review of the Community Television Policy Framework
Notes for
Participants
Background
The
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (“CRTC”)
is conducting a public review of its community television
policy. Anyone with an interest in community television is
welcome – and encouraged – to participate.
The CRTC’s community television policy is
directly relevant to Telile and its viewers. The CRTC’s stated
objective in reviewing its policy is to ensure that the policy
“supports the development of a healthy community broadcasting
sector”. Telile supports this objective.
The CRTC’s policy review presents an
opportunity for Telile and our viewers to affirm the importance
to our community of Telile and the local programming we provide
– all of which is made possible by the CRTC’s existing policy.
This policy review also provides the opportunity for us to
suggest changes to the CRTC’s policy that will better position
Telile for the future.
We encourage you to go on line to view the
CRTC’s policy consultation document at
www.crtc.gc.ca . Click on “broadcasting proceedings open
for comment”, and then on “2009-661” under the “notice” column.
Please feel free to make your submission to
the CRTC following the instructions provided by the CRTC in its
notice of consultation. You can make your submission on line,
by fax or mail. All submissions must be received by the
Commission by February 1, 2010.
Submissions should be in your own words and explain why
community television is important to you, and how the CRTC’s
policy can better support community television.
This is your chance to have an impact on how
community television serves you.
Key Issues for Telile
1. Access to Funding to Support Local Programming
The CRTC has asked specifically whether the CRTC’s Local Program
Improvement Fund (“LPIF”) should be used to fund the production
of programming on independent community-based television
stations, such as Telile.
The LPIF is in its first year of operation
and is set to provide more than $100 million of direct
funding to local television stations across Canada to produce
local programming. But, community-based television stations
like Telile are currently not eligible for funding.
A small contribution to community-based
programming from the LPIF could have a huge impact on Telile and
the programming we offer. If only 1% of the LPIF were allocated
to independent community-based television stations, and if
Telile were provided with only one-tenth, or 0.1% of the LPIF,
this would amount to an additional $100,000 of direct
program-related funding to Telile.
We estimate that this amount of funding would
allow us to produce 80 hours of new programming directly
relevant to Isle Madame and the surrounding areas. This would
have a profound impact on the television service we provide, and
the level of information available to community members to be
better citizens.
2. New Media
The CRTC has asked whether there are benefits to a “new media”
(i.e. Internet) presence for community television and whether,
if a community channel does not have a “new media” presence,
users can obtain the same content from other sources on the web.
In Telile’s case, we do not yet provide our
programming through the Internet. One reason is the cost of
preparing digital versions of our television productions for
Internet broadcast.
The fact is that there is no “new media”
alternative to the kind of programming to Telile offers now, and
could offer more of in the future with only a fraction of the
kind of funding available to larger-market commercial
broadcasters.
Also, in our community, many people still do
not have access to the kind of high speed Internet service that
is required to download television programs from the Internet:
both due to cost and technical availability. Community-based
over-the-air television continues to be the most important
source of community programming.
While the Internet presents opportunities for
Telile and others to reach out to a broader audience, it is
important to put the community television broadcaster first.
Telile may soon have an opportunity make its programming
available over the Internet. But, if Telile did not first have
a presence on over-the-air television, it would be impossible to
provide programming on the Internet.
3. Service to Official-language Minority
Communities
The CRTC has asked for more information regarding the role that
community television plays in reflecting the “realities, needs
and concerns” of what it calls “official language minority
communities” or “OLMCs”. Telile has since its launch in 2002
strived to offer French-language programming to better serve
Isle Madame’s Acadian population. The vitality of the
French-language on Isle Madame is a key concern for many in our
community and Telile has a role to play to reflect and advance
the use of French in and around Isle Madame.
Community television on Isle Madame provides
the only television source for French-language television
programming by and about our community. There is no other
source of such programming.
The CRTC has asked specifically whether “new
media” presents opportunities for community broadcasting to
reach OLMCs and, if so, why there is a “lack of openness” to
embrace new media. We think that new media, and the Internet in
particular, does present an opportunity for community
broadcasting. But, first and foremost, it is important to enter
the new media space from a strong footing. The CRTC is
mistaken, in our case at least, in suggesting that there is a
lack of openness to use new media. The simple fact is that it
costs money to do so, and our resources are fully consumed with
the production and operation of our television service.
Also, given the cost and limited availability
of high speed Internet service throughout our service area, we
are not convinced that new media distribution will necessarily
reach the audience that we wish to serve -- at least not yet.
The CRTC has also asked how it can encourage
the production and broadcast of community programming directed
to and produced by OLMCs. We believe that the simple answer is
to recognize that such programming is, at heart, local
programming directed to a local community. It should be
eligible for the same kind of funding that is made available to
much larger commercial broadcasters and the CBC. Access to an
extremely small proportion of available LPIF funding would allow
Telile to greatly enhance our French-language programming.
4. Get Involved!
Telile is in discussion with other
community broadcasters and organizations to identify other
issues of concern, and possible solutions, regarding the CRTC’s
policy for community television.
We urge all who are interested to consult the
CRTC’s notice of public consolation and to provide the CRTC with
their views on this important issue. It’s your broadcasting
system and Telile is here to serve you and the whole community
in and around Isle Madame.
The CRTC’s notice of consultation,
Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-661, can be
found at the following link:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-661.htm
Also, by locating Notice of Consultation
2009-661 through the “broadcasting proceedings open for comment”
link on the CRTC home page (www.crtc.gc.ca), you will be
directed to the notice and some related materials published by
the CRTC.
You may file your comments on line using the
comments link (on line) at paragraph 46 of the notice of
consultation. Written comments may also be sent by fax to the
CRTC at 819-994-0218, or by mail to CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A
0N2. You should address your comments to the Secretary General
of the CRTC. All comments must be received by the CRTC by
February 1, 2010 to be considered.
Please contact Gloria Hill at 226-1928 or
gloria@telile.tv if we may be of any assistance to you to
participate in this important CRTC proceeding.
A copy of the CRTC’s notice of consultation
(Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-661) can be found
on the CRTC website at the following link:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-661.htm .