On Screen Manitoba

This article was taken from Canadian Newswire

April 26/2012

Today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) renewed the licences of the French-language television services operated by TVA Group, as well as the licences of the services operated by Astral Media. The CRTC also maintained the existing conditions of licence for V.

"The production and broadcast of Canadian programming are essential for the success of the Francophone television market," said Tom Pentefountas, Vice-Chairman of Broadcasting for the CRTC. "We are convinced that TVA and Astral will continue to make significant investments in order to offer their viewers varied and high-quality Canadian programming. For that reason, we have decided to give them more regulatory flexibility."

TVA
The CRTC is satisfied with TVA's performance. During the last three years, TVA has invested an average of 45 per cent of its gross annual revenues in the production of Canadian programming. Consequently, TVA's request to remove all requirements related to the type of programming it broadcasts has been approved. The CRTC expects TVA to continue to provide the same quantity of dramas, musicals and documentaries that it currently broadcasts, and will reassess the situation at the end of the three-year term. In addition, TVA must devote 80 per cent of its programming expenditures to Canadian programs, which is 5 per cent more than initially proposed by TVA. This translates to an annual average of more than $110 million.

The Commission also recognizes the importance of TVA for Francophones outside Quebec, including official-language minority communities, and Francophiles. This service will therefore continue to be distributed nationally.

The only changes to TVA's local programming requirements are for its station in Quebec City. Of the 18 hours of local programming, the station must air 5.5 hours of locally produced news, including two weekend newscasts.

Read the full article here.