Guild applauds CRTC for establishing
local television program fund
Canadian
Media Guild | CWA Canada
Local 30213
The Canadian Media Guild welcomes
today’s decision by the CRTC to establish a Local
Programming Improvement Fund for public and private
broadcasters serving markets of fewer than one million
people.
The $60-million fund will be available to broadcasters
to build up local programming and expand their news
bureaus and local coverage.
“Local TV programming has been in crisis for
a number of years and several broadcasters, including
TQS in Quebec, have cut back drastically on local news,” says
Lise Lareau, national president of the CMG. “The
new fund is a direct way to start lifting us out of
this crisis and provide more, and better, local news
to Canadians living in smaller cities.”
CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein
says in a news
release that the "desire for better local programming
in Canada's smaller markets was clearly made evident
during this proceeding. We have taken concrete steps
to make sure that viewers in these markets continue
to benefit from a diversity of local programming.”
The CMG
proposed the creation of
a Canadian programming fund to the CRTC in the fall
of 2006. Earlier
this year, the union urged
the CRTC to redirect a portion
of cable and satellite fee revenues to local programming
in order to help boost the quality and quantity of
local programming.