With the CRTC hearing on Canada’s community TV policy just over a month away, new research by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) has found that outside Quebec, “community” TV channels have been transformed into regional TV networks. “Small communities have lost their own community channels because of more concentrated cable ownership,” said CACTUS’ spokesperson Cathy Edwards. “New Brunswick used to have more than 30 separate and distinct community TV channels – but now has just one service in English and one in French, with local content inserted only occasionally.”

The CRTC first released a list of Canada’s 139 community TV channels at the end of January, which CACTUS used to analyze the channels’ schedules. “Since cable subscribers are paying more than $100 million a year for the right to create and produce programs for their own communities, we had hoped to find many diverse and distinct types of programs produced in and by Canadian communities for themselves,” explained Edwards.

The CACTUS research found that in English Canada there are only 19 distinct programming services, in which at least half of the programming schedule is produced locally. The rest replay programming produced primarily in larger centres.

Even when a service is "distinct" and more than 50% of the programming is local, the vast majority is not made by the community, but by cable company staff. Cable company reports released by the CRTC substantiate this research. In 2009, just 27% of programs were reported made by communities themselves, and CACTUS believes this figure is high. "We have heard widespread reports that cable companies report as 'access programming' any program that invites the public on for interviews, not programs actually produced by the public."

For an eight-page summary of our submission to 2009-661, the review of the community television sector, see our Executive Summary.

CACTUS does not oppose cable companies continuing to operate the channels that used to be community channels, and which in recent years have come to look more and more like a local private broadcaster.

We do not, however, feel that the 2% of gross revenues that cable companies charge subscribers for community access to the broadcasting system, should be used to support these channels, however, since they no longer provide such access, except sporadically.

We think that 2% should be redirected to a new Community-Access Media Fund to which communities themselves could apply to run much more modern and technologically advanced multiplatform access production centres.

In the interests of fairness to other industry players, we believe cable companies should apply for private commercial specialty channel licenses to run the erstwhile "community channels". That would give other local broadcasters in the private and public sectors the opportunity to assess the services offered and have input to the licensing process.

What Would Be the Transition Model?

Under the CACTUS plan, it would take 3-5 years to bring multiplatform access production centres within reach of 90% of Canadians. To ensure that Canadians have uninterrupted service from some form of local channel, we are open to a phased-in approach. For example, the 2% collected by BDUs might be redirected to CAMF in a staged process:

Year 1: 0.5%
Year 2: 1%
Year 3: 1.5%
Year 4: 2.0%
Year 5 and onwards: 2.0%

This would provide time for education and publicity about the availability of community licenses and funding to be disseminated country-wide, and for support structures for the new channels to be put in place.

To ensure uninterrupted service, perhaps BDU erstwhile community channels could be issued temporary private local specialty channel licenses, for between 1 and 3 years.

Canada has 86 communities with populations over 30,000 people (called "large" communities for the purposes of this plan), and another 85 communities with populations between 10,000 and 30,000 ("small communities"). 90% of Canada's population lives in these communities. So, the target would be to establish centres in these 171 communities, and a certain number of regional centres that could serve areas that are more sparsely populated (fewer than 10,000 people in any one community).

CACTUS will work with the Community-Access Media Fund to identify communities that currently have no access to a community television channel.

The goal will be to establish model access centres in each region within the first year (at least one small and one large community), which can be used as models and training hubs for surrounding communities in subsequent years.

In order to take advantage of existing infrastructure, skills, and experience, the model centres will be set up in communities that already have some of the infrastructure for a multimedia access centre in place, such as:

- video or film co-ops
- public libraries
- existing over-the-air or cable co-op community channels or groups
- community radio channels

In subsequent years, these channels can be used as training hubs and models for communities in the surrounding areas that want to set up multimedia centres.

CACTUS will assist these communities to obtain CRTC over-the-air licenses for community TV, and will then assist new license holders to apply to the Community-Access Media Fund for financing for personnel, equipment, and facilities.

There will be criteria to ensure that the channels are run by representative and accountable community boards of directors.

CACTUS will support license and funding applicants with equipment lists, facility design, and staffing and training plans that best facilitate public access.