Local News

New minimum thresholds for local news will be imposed on all local private television broadcasters. Also, through a rebalancing of resources, the large private broadcasters will now have the necessary flexibility to keep local stations open and fund the production of local news programming. This represents up to $67 million that could be available for local news.

In addition, the CRTC is creating the Independent Local News Fund to give independent stations access to approximately $23 million dollars in resources to produce high-quality local news programming.

The Independent Local News Fund will support independent operators in the following localities: Victoria, Prince George, Kamloops, Medicine Hat, Lloydminster, Thunder Bay, Hamilton, Rouyn-Noranda, Val d’Or, Gatineau, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Québec, Saguenay, Rivière-du-Loup, Carleton and St-John’s.

Canadians value local news and they watch it on a regular basis. Local news and information is also a key part of a democratic society. However, new technologies are making it harder to monetize viewership on traditional platforms.

Community television

The thorough public record shows that, overall, the framework for community television continues to be valid and relevant, ensuring that citizens have access to content production across Canada.

Cable companies will continue to have the stewardship of the community channel on behalf of their subscribers as they have for decades. The CRTC was not persuaded that this successful model should be changed.

Nevertheless, the CRTC is taking steps to ensure that this programming continues to reflect local citizens and events, and that more of the overall funding is directed to on-screen results rather than overhead.

In Brief….

• The CRTC has issued its new regulatory framework for local and community programming, following a process that began in September 2024.
• During this process, Canadians reiterated that they place great importance on local news to stay informed.
• Average weekly viewing hours for Canadian news and actualities broadcast by Canadian television services is over 23% of total hours viewed in the English market and over 28% in the French market.
• The emergence of new technologies allowed Canadians to easily have access to local and international news. However, new digital media do not yet have adequate funding and the expertise necessary to replace traditional local news.
• There are currently sufficient sources of funding within the system to fund the creation of locally produced, locally reflective programming.
• Canada’s television system provides a strong foundation on which to build for the future. It employs nearly 60,000 people and invests more than $4 billion in public funds alone each year in the creation of content made by Canadians.
• The allocation of some of the funding sources has been reviewed to ensure that local programming continues to be of high quality and receive adequate funding.
• The CRTC expects broadcasters to fulfill their social responsibility to produce programming that informs and reflects local communities.
• English-language stations will be required to broadcast at least seven hours of locally relevant programming (especially news) per week in non-metropolitan markets, and 14 hours per week in metropolitan markets (namely Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary).
• French-language stations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, using a benchmark of five hours of local programming per week.
• Canadians still value community television programming, especially in smaller communities.
• In the digital era, it is increasingly easy to create and share content online at lower cost. Community channels are encouraged to make content available on multiple platforms to all Canadians.
• The CRTC today also published a notice of consultation that launched the renewal process for television licences owned by large ownership groups.
• The public hearing to review the applications from the French-language ownership groups, namely Bell, Corus, Québecor and Groupe V, will begin on November 22, 2024, in Laval, Quebec.
• The public hearing to review the applications from the English-language ownership groups, namely Bell, Corus and Rogers, will begin on November 28, 2024, at our headquarters in the National Capital Region.

How the money is spent will be vitally important to stations seeking license renewals, warned  chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.

“We are rebalancing the considerable resources already in the system to ensure that the quality, quantity and capacity of local newscasts are maintained,” Blais said in a statement.

“However, the flexibility that we are giving to the large private broadcasters is not to be taken lightly.

“They have a responsibility of continuing to provide adequate funding for news and to produce high-quality local programming that informs Canadians and reflects the communities they serve.”

That cash from the local news fund could mean the difference between producing local newscasts or going off the air completely for struggling stations like Global-owned CKPR and CHFD in Thunder Bay, Ontario.   An executive from the stations told the CRTC in January they would shut their doors by Sept. 1 unless they received help to pay for local programming.

The stations have been staying afloat using money from life insurance policies taken out on a station owner and a general manager who passed away, Don Caron, vice president and general manager of Thunder Bay Electronics told a CRTC panel.

The regulator heard similar financial woes from numerous stations that are part of the Small Market Independent Television Stations Coalition.

Last March, the CRTC turned down a request from the coalition for emergency interim funding.

New technology has given Canadians greater access to both local and international news. But advertising revenue streams have been flowing into digital news outlets and away from traditional TV stations, forcing them to cut hundreds of jobs to remain profitable.

The new policy shows the CRTC  hasn’t been listening to small stations that came begging for help, said Ian Morrison with Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

“The independent stations showed up in Ottawa in January and it was like a call to the fire department,” said Morrison.  “And the CRTC answered the phone and said, ‘Help is on the way, it’s modest help, and it’ll start in 15 months.”’