CRTC CONSIDERS MORE FRENCH DIGITAL TV CHANNELS
By Adnews Staff
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is seeking the views of interested parties on a draft policy it has come up with to increase the availability of French-language specialty television channels in predominantly English-language markets, and English-language channels in predominantly French-language markets, using digital technology. The CRTC is hoping to create a broader range of services as channel capacity increases with the shift by cable distributors to digital technology. The draft proposals include setting a specific minimum ratio of French channels to English channels (and vice versa) in bilingual markets, designating these bilingual markets according to the proportion of subscribers in a mostly-English market that have a knowledge of French (and vice versa), banning cable distributors in English-language markets from reducing the number of French-language channels available in analog mode, and encouraging both small and large cable companies to diversify their selections of offered French and English specialty channels as much as possible. The deadline for public comments on these proposals is May 10, 2000.