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Decision
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Ottawa, 8 August 1985
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Decision CRTC 85-653
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Le Réseau de télévision TVA Inc.
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Montreal, Quebec - 832561500
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Following a Public Hearing in Montreal on 13 May 1985, the Commission renews the broadcasting licence for the French-language network "Le Réseau de télévision TVA" (the TVA network), consisting of CFTM-TV Montreal, CFCM-TV Quebec City, CFER-TV Rimouski, CFER-TV-2 Gaspé Nord, CJPM-TV Chicoutimi, CJPM-TV-1 Chambord, CHLT-TV Sherbrooke, CHEM-TV Trois-Rivières, CIMT-TV Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, CIMT-TV-1 Edmundston, New Brunswick, CIMT-TV-2 Trois-Pistoles, CIMT-TV-4 Baie Saint-Paul, CHOT-TV Hull/Ottawa, CFEM-TV Rouyn/Noranda, CFEM-TV-1 Val d'Or, CHAU-TV Carleton and its rebroadcasting stations at Sainte-Marguerite-Marie, Port-Daniel, Chandler, Percé, Gaspé, Rivière-au-Renard, Cloridorme, L'Anse à Valleau, Murdochville, Quebec and Saint-Quentin and Kedgwick, New Brunswick, from 1 October 1985 to 30 September 1990, subject to the conditions specified in the licence to be issued.
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Through its 10 affiliated stations and 17 rebroadcasting stations, the TVA network provides service to almost the entire francophone population of Quebec, as well as to French-speaking audiences in certain areas of New Brunswick and Ontario. Its programming is also available via satellite to cable systems across Canada through the TCTV service distributed by the Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. (CANCOM) network.
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The TVA Network, which provides a service consisting primarily of news, public affairs and sports programming, is owned by the five following shareholders, each with 20%: Télé-Métropole Inc., Pathonic Communications Inc., Télé Inter-Rives Ltée, Radio Nord Inc. and Télévision de la Baie des Chaleurs Inc. Under a corporate reorganization authorized by the Commission in 1982 (Decision CRTC 82-940), control of the network resides with its board of directors on which the five shareholders have equal representation. The views of individual stations on matters of common interest are brought to the attention of the board of directors through various committees which advise on such matters as news programming, programming in general, sales, technical matters and financial management.
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Following the reorganization, the TVA network also appointed a Vice-President of News and Public Affairs, whose principal role is to co-ordinate the development and production of news and public affairs programming produced by the affiliated stations, and ensure that their programs properly reflect the network's policies and standards with respect to news and public affairs.
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The TVA Network differs from other major national broadcasting networks in that it does not own any production facilities and functions solely as a distribution network. All network programming, generally amounting to less than 10 hours per week, is produced by the affiliated stations under the terms of a production agreement. In its new Promise of Performance, the licensee has committed to broadcast a minimum of 8 hours 42 minutes of such network programs per week.
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In CRTC - Notice of Public Hearing 1985-22 dated 22 March 1985, the Commission stated that it wished to discuss the policy direction and programming of the TVA network, and the level of participation in the network by its affiliated stations. Speaking on this subject at the hearing, the licensee confirmed plans to maintain its current policy direction and to focus its efforts on improving the quality of its programming. It also advised the Commission of a number of initiatives, either taken or planned, to achieve this goal.
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With respect to news programming, the Commission notes that the board of directors of the TVA network has designated CFTM-TV Montreal to produce "Les Nouvelles TVA", a news program broadcast by the network on a daily basis. The licensee proposes to expand the weekday and Sunday broadcasts by five minutes, commencing this summer. The licensee also indicated that, in recent years, it has implemented policies and standards designed to improve its newscasts, and described its efforts to promote the greater participation of affiliated stations by encouraging them to produce more news clips for inclusion in the network news program.
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In recent years, the quality of the news programming broadcast by the TVA network has been comparable to that broadcast by other Canadian networks. In addition, through its newscasts, various news specials and its public affairs series, the network has also increased its coverage of major current events. Although the program service of the network is directed primarily to Quebec, the licensee stated that it employs a free-lance correspondent in Toronto. It indicated plans to hire such correspondents in each of the provincial capitals. It also noted that, over the last two years, it has been able to develop a network of foreign correspondents.
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Network programs in the public affairs category, one dealing with subjects of a general nature, another on provincial politics and a third on federal politics, are produced by the network affiliates in Montreal, Quebec City and Hull/Ottawa, respectively. The Commission notes the licensee's intention to review the formats and scheduling of these programs, and to examine the possibility of increasing their budgets during the 1985-1986 season. In view of the role performed by the licensee as the source of news and public affairs programming, the Commission expects the TVA network, in conjunction with its affiliated stations, to experiment with the development of new program formats in this category.
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The Commission notes the considerable increase in sports coverage provided by the TVA network in recent years, a major portion of which is attributable to an increase in the number of its baseball and hockey broadcasts. The Commission is satisfied, however, that this increase has not affected either the quality or the quantity of the news and public affairs programming broadcast by the TVA network, provision of which is the licensee's most important responsibility.
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On the subject of entertainment programming, the licensee emphasized that, although the network occasionally broadcasts programs in this category, their frequency and scope are restricted by the network's small audience and correspondingly modest advertising revenue.
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With regard to the participation by affiliated stations in TVA Network programming, the Commission invited the network's five shareholders to appear at the public hearing to present their views on this matter. At the hearing, Radio Nord Inc. expressed a desire to increase its contribution to the network's news programming, particularly with respect to coverage of the federal parliament and of other events taking place in the area served by CHOT-TV.
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In this context, the licensee stated that plans are now being discussed by certain network affiliates, whereby coverage of Quebec's National Assembly would be assigned entirely to a team of CFTM-TV parliamentary correspondents who would work under contract for the "Les Nouvelles TVA", as is now done in Ottawa. The Commission considers that this is essentially a management matter and that, as noted by the licensee at the hearing, it would most appropriately be discussed and resolved by the board of directors as the network's controlling body.
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Nevertheless, the Commission acknowledges the licensee's intentions, as noted above, to encourage greater participation in network news programming by its affiliated stations through their production, in particular, of a greater number of news clips. The Commission expects the network to ensure that the contribution of each of its affiliated stations is equitable and reflective of the important role they play in the various communities they serve.
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The Commission received a written intervention from the Centre québécois de la déficience auditive advocating the use of closed-captioning in TVA network programming. This matter, and an earlier intervention by the same organization, were previously addressed in Decision CRTC 82-940. Despite its commitment at that time to examine the issue carefully, the TVA network does not yet offer any closed-captioned programming. Moreover, at the hearing, it was unable to present any specific plans in this regard. The licensee did agree, however, that the matter was [TRANSLATION] "a social issue for which we must endeavour to find a solution", and made a new commitment to submit a report to the Commission on the specific and concrete measures we intend to implement to resolve this problem". The Commission requires the licensee to submit this report within six months of the date of this decision.
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The Commission also received a written intervention from the Fédération des Francophones hors-Québec calling for wider distribution of TVA network programming outside Quebec. As noted above, TVA network programming is available via satellite through the TCTV service distributed by the CANCOM network. The Commission is prepared to consider applications from all cable operators interested in offering this service to their subscribers.
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Fernand Bélisle Secretary General
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