CRTC Pick-and-Pay Leaves out News Service and Leaves Many Unanswered Questions – Broadcaster
Mar 20, 2015
Canadian Media Guild is disappointed that the CRTC has announced major changes to the Canadian television landscape that exclude the public broadcaster’s all-news service from the basic package but leave in the option of including American channels at no additional cost. Generally, the announced changes could have significant impact on what Canadians watch and on Canada’s broadcasting industry as a whole.
The skinny basic seems to give Canadians, regardless of income, access to news and information, something the CMG has fought for; however by excluding Canada’s two major public French and English news services, the Commission is doing a disservice to Canadians. CBCNN is not offered as part of the basic package in the English market, and RDI is not offered as part of the basic package in French, a disappointing about-face for the CRTC which had in the past encouraged wide distribution of the public broadcaster’s 24-hour news services.
