CRTC Upholds Rogers’ Responsibilities To Multilingual Programming’ In OMNI Renewal!
“I don’t know anything . They don’t usually tell me of their decisions till morning of their announcement,” said Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages and Minister responsible for CRTC, in a response to a question posed to her by the LINK during a press meet at MP Nina Grewal’s office on Thursday.
By R. Paul Dhillon
SURREY – The much anticipated CRTC ruling on the recent applications for Punjabi and English radio licenses is coming soon but don’t ask the Minister responsible for the regulatory body as she has no clue.
“I don’t know anything . They don’t usually tell me of their decisions till morning of their announcement,” said Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages and Minister responsible for CRTC, in a response to a question posed to her by the LINK during a press meet at MP Nina Grewal’s office on Thursday.
Glover, who was in Surrey to make an arts funding announcement, said the CRTC is a unique body and its work is kept hands off from official ministry business to ensure its independence in the decision making process.
The LINK posed a question after much gossip and rumours flared that certain applicants were trying to use their influence with various Conservative government ministers to get a leg up on getting the coveted radio license but Glover said there is no such lobbying with her or any of the other ministers as CRTC’s decisions are important to the country’s broadcast policy which plays an important role in shaping Canada’s languages and culture.
“I only get involved if there is an appeal of the decision based on a section of the Act governing the CRTC,” Glover said.
The decision on the South Asian applications is near given that CRTC released its ruling on Rogers renewal application for OMNI and Citytv stations. It rebuffed Rogers Broadcasting Limited’s request for sweeping regulatory relief for its OMNI ethnic television chain in spite of recent financial losses at OMNI’s five stations.
In the same decision, the CRTC said it will require Rogers to enhance its commitments to original local programming broadcast from its national chain of City stations.
“Multiculturalism is part of what makes Canada great, and we fought to keep ethnic and third language services alive in Rogers’ licence,” said Unifor Media Sector Director Howard Law. “Rogers Communications is a very profitable corporation and can easily afford to maintain the current level of programming at OMNI, diminished as it is.”
Rogers applied for a renewal of their City and OMNI licences in the fall of 2013 with a proposal to reduce commitments to ethnic and Canadian programming, particularly during the prime time evening period.
The OMNI licenses are up for renewal in 2016 and Rogers’ regulatory strategy, and the Commission’s response, remain unknown.
