ctvottawa.ca
April 15 2008
CTV News anchors from across the country gathered in Ottawa Tuesday to celebrate five decades of bringing stories into your homes.
Although the network has expanded over the past 50 years, its commitment to serving local audiences continues to be a top priority.
"The local stations have done so well in establishing really strong news departments that have cut deep roots into their individual communities and that I think is a big, big reason - if not the main reason - for the success of the CTV News system," said CTV National News anchor Lloyd Robertson.
While technology in CTV's newsrooms has changed greatly over the years, the network's deep commitment to what happens in our communities remains constant.
"Building and expanding local news and our connection to our audience, I think that's what makes CTV News such an important institution in Canada for local news," said CTV News President Robert Hurst.
Nearly 4.6 million Canadians watch at least part of a CTV newscast every night.
"It's an astonishing reach and you know, I think politics and news are ultimately local. They're always local. What does it mean to my street? What does it mean to my family?" said Ivan Fecan, President and Chief Executive Officer of CTVglobemedia. "That's the strength of CTV."
With a report from CTV's Norman Fetterley
The Hill Times
April 7, 2008
There is a huge debate beginning this week that will impact your community. Unfortunately, much of the discussions to this point have been obscured behind layers of regulatory details, legal speak, and technocratic jargon. The outcome, nonetheless, will impact every city and town across Canada.
As is often the case with these issues, the debate is set to rage in Ottawa–Gatineau, in front of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission or CRTC. It’s the organization responsible for setting the rules for TV networks, cable and satellite companies, radio stations, and others who broadcast in Canada.
Joe and Jane Main Street should care about what’s happening at the CRTC over the next couple of weeks because it could mean big changes for local TV stations and, by extension, your community.
You know your local TV station. These are the people you grew up with. The people you still get your supper hour news from. The local anchor, who when not on TV, is always out doing community events, either fundraising for a local charity or helping out with community groups, the local hospital or other causes; or the weather or sports guy or gal who is always seen around town, at the local rink covering minor hockey or similar community gatherings. And these are just the people in front of the camera, there the engineers, producers, camera and sound technicians, professional guilds, and the list goes on. These people are your local TV station and they are a big part of your community.
One of the issues before the CRTC boils down to a disagreement between cable and satellite companies and your local TV station.
Because of rules established by the government, your local station broadcasts its signal over the airwaves for free for those few TV viewers who still use those old fashioned rabbit ear TV antennas. But almost nobody gets their TV programming like that anymore, not even in Dog River, Sask., home of Corner Gas. Now, most Canadians get their TV from a little box connected to either a cable or satellite feed.
Depending on how much you pay every month to your cable or satellite company, you get somewhere between a basic service of 36 channels to 500-plus different channels. The cable and satellite companies charge you for these channels in your bill, including for your local TV station.
As you would expect, in most cases, the cable and satellite companies have to pay a fee to those who provide the channels, but currently there is an unfair and unjustified exception.
The cable and satellite companies don’t pay anything to your local TV station. That’s like your paper boy delivering the local newspaper to your front door everyday, billing you for it every month, but not returning any portion of his receivables from you—not one cent—to the local paper. Can you imagine that? It just doesn’t make sense.
So while your local TV station is struggling to keep up, cable and satellite companies are free riding. They are pocketing that portion of your bill that you pay for your local TV.
One of the proposals in front of the CRTC argues that the cable and satellite free ride should end, and require that these companies pass on a very small percentage of these fees back to your local station. Obviously, the cable and satellite companies are protesting, saying they want to keep this money-for-nothing free ride going. It is pure profit for them. These are the same companies whose monthly bills to customers seem to go up a couple times a year.
What’s really happening right now is that your local TV station is struggling to keep up. It is struggling to keep ad revenues. To keep up with the rules the government sets. To keep up with all the other channels out there. And to keep up with its responsibilities and commitment to you and your community.
A Nanos poll, in fact, recently found that most all Canadians think that local TV stations already receive a portion of their bill from the cable and satellite companies. But that is not the case; and as consequence, a proud tradition of local broadcasting is being threatened.
Like most Canadians think, your local TV stations want the cable and satellite companies to stop free riding and to pass on a fair compensation just like they do for all the other channels. That way, the tradition of local broadcasting can continue in your local town. So the familiar faces that cover sports in your high school, who cover your local heroes, who cover local arts and entertainment, can continue to do the job you expect of them.
As Canadians, we consistently value our local TV news and programming. This is the cornerstone to the Canadian broadcasting system. Now, local TV deserves and needs a fair deal and a level playing field. That is it.
As they say every night on your local news, please stay tuned.
Paul D. Sparkes
Executive Vice-President, Corporate Affairs
CTVglobemedia.
