Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Reducing Quotas on Canadian TV
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is removing barriers to innovation by reducing quotas setting the number of Canadian programs that local TV stations and specialty channels must broadcast, the CRTC said in a news release Thursday. Jean-Pierre Blais,…
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CRTC's Chairman, also discussed the changes in a speech Thursday to the Canadian Club of Ottawa, said a news release. The CRTC will ensure these stations and channels reinvest a portion of their revenues to help create content by Canadians, it said. Programs like drama and documentaries will continue investing at least 75 percent of these funds to content created by independent producers, it said. The CRTC will eliminate the rules that specialty channels, like HGTV Canada and MusiquePlus, can broadcast only certain programs, it said. Existing channels can acquire or produce shows that respond better to their audience and new specialty services can enter the Canadian market, it said. VOD services can offer exclusive content to cable and satellite subscribers, if they are available to all Canadians over the Internet without a TV subscription, allowing "Canadian services to compete on a more equal footing with online video services," the agency said. The regulator will launch two pilot projects that will allow live-action drama and comedy series with budgets of $2 million per hour or that are based on best-selling novels written by Canadian authors to be considered Canadian productions, it said. "Existing funding models could be updated to provide incentives for international co-productions and co-ventures, promotion and international distribution opportunities and the creation of online content," it said. Canadian TV employs almost 60,000 people and invests more than $4 billion every year, it said. The agency launched "Let's Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians" in 2013 to focus on the future of TV, it said.