CRTC ALTERS POLICY ON THIRD-LANGUAGE TV SERVICES
By Adnews Staff
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has changed the way it will assess requests for the delivery of third-language television channels to Canadian viewers. Requests to add general-interest foreign third-language channels to digital satellite services "will generally be approved," according to the commission, subject to certain requirements to minimize any negative impact on Canadian services. "The commission's objective is to provide greater diversity and choice in services targeted to third-language communities in Canada," said CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen, "while fostering the viability of licensed Canadian ethnic services which create and broadcast Canadian programming and reflect Canadian points of view. I believe the policy changes we have announced today achieve that balance." Previously, the commission tested such services to determine that they did not compete with any Canadian specialty or pay service. However, any foreign general interest third-language service that offers programming in Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Greek or Hindi will have to be purchased by subscribers along with the corresponding analog Canadian third-language service. The competitiveness test will continue to apply to niche services that carry a specific genre or aim for a particular audience within a language community. A general-interest service is defined as one that "offers programming from a broad spectrum of genres and categories." A third-language service must provide at least 90 percent of its programming in languages other than English or French.