Corporations stand and fall on their own merit — or that is supposed to be the way — but the CRTC is looking at a proposal that would turn that idea on its head.
The Canadian regulatory body recently studied Canada's broadcasting landscape and found, to no one's surprise, that audiences want local news but companies are struggling to find a cost-effective way to produce it.
To stave off disaster and protect democracy, the CRTC says it is looking at various options and asking Canadians to weigh in on them.
One idea is to redirect funds collected on cable bills for community access programing and independently-produced TV and put it in a pot that news stations could draw from to boost local content.
It's an interesting idea but is it supportable? For one thing, it's not a permanent source of funds as many Canadians are cutting their cable. Those who do stick to cable TV, meanwhile, probably wouldn't want the fees they pay go to private corporations.
Currently, that money is supposed to go to support independent TV and community access programing.
The CRTC reasons that the country's news-producing corporations already have a television audience and the money would be best spent where there are eyeballs.
But the media landscape is changing so quickly it seems unreasonable and also not fair to give funds to corporations when non-profits, such as Tri-Cities Community Television, which produces community programming with volunteers, can barely scrape by.
These non-profits can also produce hyper-local content that is interesting and relevant if given half the chance.
There is also an argument to be made that cable companies, such as Shaw, that are already producing and hosting local and regional content shouldn't be scrapped so other large media organizations that already have a lock on our telecommunications industry can thrive.
In short, redirecting funds from community programming to corporate news isn't the way to go. Either keep the fund the way it is or make more funds available for hyper-local programming and organizations that produce it.
