Shaw Cable Undermines Local TV (Again)

The Georgia Strait is reporting that Metro Vancouver's public access television station, carried by Calgary-based Shaw Cable, has, without warning or heed for producers, writers, and local talent, re-branded the station as a "Shaw" outlet. Charlie Smith, writing for The Strait points out that, unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long string of failings by Shaw to support the independence and community function of public access channels:

The Georgia Strait is reporting that Metro Vancouver's public access television station, carried by Calgary-based Shaw Cable, has, without warning or heed for producers, writers, and local talent, re-branded the station as a "Shaw" outlet.

Charlie Smith, writing for The Strait points out that, unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long string of failings by Shaw to support the independence and community function of public access channels:

The document [that Metro Vancouver has submitted to the CRTC in complaint] points out that cable operators created a dozen community studios across the Lower Mainland in the 1970s. In 2002 and 2004, community stations in the region were closed after Shaw took over the service from Rogers Communications Inc.

[...]

Shaw collects $5 million per year from subscribers to pay for community television, according to the document. It claims that the community channel is “an important tool used to foster democratic discourse”.

Canadian cable users are paying millions of dollars annually out of their own pockets to keep community-based television open, accessible, and representative of the diversity of Canadian communities. In the hands of Shaw, this money is being squandered as we continue to pay for a service that is systematically undermined by the impulse to reduce everything to a matter of promotion.

On a fundamental level, "democratic discourse" should be free to all Canadians, and charging for it at all is itself an issue. It is another, much more sinister, beast altogether, though, for Shaw to charge customers for the privilege to access these discourses, and then rob them of their ability to participate in them.

In response, Metro Vancouver has submitted a document to the CRTC for consideration, asking them to:

"...conduct community dialogues to help the channel meet community goals, strengthen the community channel’s grassroots network, create community advisory boards to oversee the community channel, increase coverage of local government, and establish community media centres, which would help citizens develop media skills and cover community events."

For more information on this latest action, check out Smith's article for The Georgia Strait:
http://www.straight.com/article-272052/vancouver/metro-officials-want-cr...