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Companies and community organizations presented video-on-demand (VOD) and innovations in new media as alternatives to the existing community television model at the CRTC Thursday.
As the commission continued hearings on its review of the community television policy framework, Telus Corp. presented a description of its VOD system, which distributes community content in Vancouver, BC, and Edmonton and Calgary, Alta.
In 2008, Telus obtained necessary licence amendments from the CRTC to launch a VOD-based community programming service.
Telus offers three hours per week of community programming in each of the three cities.
Ann Mainville-Neeson, Telus' director of broadcast regulation, told the commission that, as a small broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) launching a new community service, the company would not have been able to fill a programming schedule on a traditional linear channel.
"It [VOD] certainly was a better platform for us," Mainville-Neeson said.
Mainville-Neeson said the platform gives customers the flexibility to choose the community content they want - which they can download at any time - and that its only drawback is that it's not live.
The service does not carry live events like hockey games or city council meetings.
Telus said about two per cent of its customer base uses the VOD community content.
A large portion of Telus' community programming comes from three flagship magazine shows: myVancouver, myCalgary and myEdmonton. Professional broadcasters Simi Sara, Dave Gerry and Tasha Chiu host the shows.
CRTC commissioner Leonard Katz asked Telus whether the professionalization of those programs presented a lack of community access programming, and whether the content could be considered "community television."
Community access programming is defined as that produced by individuals, groups or companies in the community as opposed to the cable company.
"We don't see a problem with that to the extent that what we're offering is a product that viewers want to watch," Mainville-Neeson said.
"People are not necessarily out there looking to be media personalities. We're out there facilitating the voices of the community to be heard, and the fact that we're doing so in a professional way should not be considered problematic by the commission."
Mainville-Neeson said Telus views its community programming as a public service that does not give the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Like Shaw Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable and Videotron, which appeared earlier this week, Telus said the existing community television policy works well.
In agreement with Videotron, Telus recommended that contributions to community television from the cable providers be increased from two per cent to five per cent of subscriber revenues in communities with fewer than 50,000 customers.
Right now, cable providers with fewer than 20,000 customers allocate five per cent of their revenues to community television.
Telus also recommended that the commission consider allowing commercial advertising on community stations.
The CRTC has maintained that commercial advertising could put community channels in direct competition with mainstream, local over-the-air channels broadcasted by CTV, Global, CBC and others.
Reisa Levine, a spokeswoman for Citizen Shift and Parole citoyenne, two citizen media Web platforms, said the Internet could present tremendous opportunities for community programming.
"I find it somewhat ironic that the cable companies have argued that communities are best suited for the Web, because of course we agree with them," Levine told the commission.
"And even though we are Web-based, we now recognize the importance of having some sort of TV broadcast channel in addition to an Internet presence."
But Levine said funds like the new Canada Media Fund are geared toward professional productions and do not provide help for community-oriented initiatives.
"It's like the [community] sector doesn't even exist in the eyes of most funding agencies," she said.
"Either through ad revenue, or government funding, or sponsorships, or user donations, community broadcasters need to find new revenue models."
Timothy Dallett, interim national director with the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA), representing more than 90 independent film, video, audio, and new media production, distribution, and exhibition organizations in Canada, said he strongly supports the proposal put forward by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) on the first day of the hearings.
CACTUS recommended that the two-per cent levy on the cable companies' subscriber revenues be administered by a new community media fund, creating community-run, multimedia training and production facilities in 250 communities across Canada.
"Our community is an important potential resource for both the governance and operation of the kinds of centres CACTUS is proposing," Dallett said.
Dallett said centralized services like YouTube would not provide the kind of representation and control necessary for a successful community television and new media system.
"A service like YouTube provides a convenient repository for submitted content [but] obscures the fact that users permanently sign over the copyright to what they upload," he said.
The organization OpenMedia.ca, which also presented Thursday, supported the CACTUS proposal.
"The CACTUS proposal takes what has been a cornerstone of community television regulation since its inception - public participation - and re-envisions it for a networked, digital and interactive age," Michael Lithgow, research associate with OpenMedia.ca, told the commission.
Source: The Wire Report, 04/29/2010
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