$100 Million Public Fund Left Unmonitored by the CRTC

Over 2,000 Canadians call for funds to be sent to community organizations amid missing data

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Yesterday, OpenMedia.ca made a detailed submission to the CRTC regarding the commission’s review of the current community television policy framework. The submission supports a proposal calling for unaccounted community media funds to be rerouted to independent community media centres.

Over 2,000 Canadians have sent comments to the CRTC expressing their support of this proposal put forward by CACTUS (Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations).

OpenMedia.ca’s position: the money set-aside for community media is a public trust for Canadians and their community. The spending of this money should be disclosed to Canadians, and made available to local community media groups. These funds should be given to independent, not-for-profit organizations that are representatives of the communities they serve. An example of one of these organizations is W2 Media Arts Centre, which is located in the downtown eastside of Vancouver.

On January 22, 2009, OpenMedia.ca sent a letter to the CRTC requesting access to cable programming logs, which would verify the CRTC’s support for community TV. The CRTC has not yet responded.

One of the OpenMedia.ca submission authors, Community and Independent Media Policy Analyst, Michael Lithgow said today, “Hundreds of millions of dollars must be accounted for. The Canadian public has a right to know, and a right to say how that money could best be used to encourage innovation, expression, participation and local reflection.”

This morning, OpenMedia.ca National Coordinator Steve Anderson said, “If nearly $120 million in public trust money was liberated from cable companies, we could have new-media incubators across the country that would lead to job creation, empowerment, and media innovation.”

The CRTC hearing is scheduled to occur Monday, April 26th, 2010, in Gatineau, Quebec. You can appear in person or via videoconference from any CRTC office.

To view OpenMedia.ca’s submission to the CRTC, visit: http://openmedia.ca/channel

To view OpenMedia.ca’s letter to the CRTC requesting program logs, visit: http://openmedia.ca/request

Canadians can send comments to the CRTC about this issue at: http://openmedia.ca/action

Contact:

Steve Anderson
OpenMedia.ca
National Coordinator
604-837-5730
[email protected]

Michael Lithgow
Research Associate / Director
Community and Independent Media Policy Analyst
514.983.1965
[email protected]