Find this article in The Tyee.

And maybe eight times that, after misspending community media funds to further their own aims.

Prior to the deregulation of community TV in 1997, all Canadian communities with 2,000 cable subscribers or more enjoyed access to a cable-operated community TV channel. Some communities even had a vibrant network of volunteer media makers, such as the roughly 1,200 volunteers across 12 regional offices in Vancouver's lower mainland. The resources for community TV came from a broadcast levy collected by cable companies; considered a public trust.

However, in the last 13 years, cable companies have altered community channels and the levy that supports them: they are now a competitive advantage rather than a community resource. Big cable companies have also centralized community TV production so that fewer than ten per cent of Canadians can access a "community channel" to express themselves or create programming. This represents a serious misuse by cable companies of the roughly $100 million public trust funds ($116 million in 2008).

In 2008, cable monopolies earned a profit of 25 per cent, before interest and taxes. Irrespective of these earnings, they are using public trust money, partially earmarked for the most marginalized in our society, for their own commercial interests. This community money should be used to create an innovative independent media sector in Canada and provide much-needed resources for underserved communities and at-risk youth.

That some of the most profitable companies in Canada are taking public resources from those most in need is outrageous and must be challenged.

The missing report

The CRTC is currently reviewing community media in Canada, and taking back this public money could pave the way for an historic opportunity to create a rejuvenated, fresh and innovative independent media system. A proposal by CACTUS (Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations) is calling for the millions of dollars already being collected by cable companies for community TV to be liberated to independent media centres. These media centres would serve to empower citizens and facilitate media innovation, and the CRTC can make this a reality.


Read the rest of this article on The Tyee's website.

Steve Anderson is the national coordinator for the Campaign for Democratic Media. He is a contributing author of Censored 2008 and Battleground: The Media and has written for The Tyee, Toronto Star, Epoch Times, Common Ground, Rabble.ca and Adbusters.

Reach me at:
steve@democraticmedia.ca
http://www.facebooksteve.com/
http://www.steveontwitter.com/

http://medialinkscolumn.com

Media Links is a syndicated column supported by CommonGround, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, VUE Weekly

Media Links by Steve Anderson, CommonGround, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, , VUE Weekly is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License. You must attribute this work to Steve Anderson, CommonGround, TheTyee, Rabble.ca, VUE Weekly