CRTC boss slams TV station owners

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CRTC boss slams TV station owners

Postby Howaboutthat » Wed Feb 17, 2016 4:58 pm

From CBC

Canada's broadcast regulator mounted a vocal defence of television journalism Wednesday, while slamming the executives who run the stations as wealthy yacht-owning complainers who are out of touch with changing audiences.

CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said he is tired of broadcast executives coming before his committee to tell him the "cupboards are bare," and that they can no longer afford to fund local news without government subsidies.

"Local television news is failing us. But it need not. The system sits at a position of strength," Blais said in a luncheon speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto. "In 2014, TV stations spent more than $470 million on local programming and news … the industry is rich in resources.

"I listened as Canadians spoke with intelligence and passion [about local TV news], while corporate executives who own luxury yachts and private helicopters came looking for subsidies," Blais said.

Full story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/crtc-bl ... -1.3452008
Houston, We're dealing with morons!.
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Re: CRTC boss slams TV station owners

Postby Talker » Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:21 pm

Perhaps Mr. Blais should look back at those days when the CRTC began allowing private corporations to own more than one outlet per town or city. Back when local residents actually owned and operated stations that serviced their cities well covering hard news and community events that informed and entertained the citizenry. Under CRTC rule changes ownership of one outlet led to two, three and then four outlets all owned by the same person or corporation. Those corporations that bought up local stations are now screaming financial hardship and are killing jobs in a wholesale fashion. Perhaps they should divest themselves of some of their holdings instead of staff members! If that happened often enough the broadcast community could return to the days when outlets serviced their local communities and made a respectable profit while doing so.
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Re: CRTC boss slams TV station owners

Postby tuned » Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:06 pm

Blais is full of it. It's on his watch that Bell, Rogers and Shaw have continued to have virtual monopolies to fleece Canadians. It's on his watch that Rogers, Bell and Shaw have been able to get rid of thousands of employees to fatten up their bottom lines. Guess how those broadcasters are able to pay for their yachts and jets? Using the public airwaves and giving the public less and less in return while stuffing more and more into their pockets.
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Re: CRTC boss slams TV station owners

Postby skyvalleyradio » Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:29 pm

what a crock of BS. Every time the crybaby telecomm/broadcaster megacorps want a rate increase, the CRTC rubber stamps it "approved" I love the justification these jerks come up with for such increases: "Telus/Shaw/Bell/Rogers" must regretably increase subscriber rates in order to meet customer demand for improved bandwidth & services. Therefore, such infrastructure costs must be passed on to customers" Huh??? Whatever happened to reinvestment of corporate profits into improvements & infrastructure changes??? Apparently, such costs would cut into profits, reducing gross & net income plus reducing dividend payouts to shareholders. Whatever happened to a corporate tax structure that dictated this need for reinvestment? I guess Canadians are expected to maintain those outrageous profit margins of the bigass 4 courtesy of the CRTC. Blais & his bunch of pigs-at-the-trough are clearly responsible for this offloading onto ordinary Canadians. Time to get ride of these leeches along with the senators who equally offer little value for their tax-supported worth. :wave:
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