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Ottawa, 8 October 1986
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Decision CRTC 86-997
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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Labrador City, Newfoundland - 851026500
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For related document: see Public Notice CRTC 1986-72 dated 24 March 1986.
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Background
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At a Public Hearing in Wabush, Newfoundland on 18 November 1985, the Commission considered an application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to amend the broadcasting licence for CBNLT Labrador City and its rebroadcaster, CBNLT-1 Churchill Falls, by deleting the condition of licence requiring the programs broadcast by these stations to be received from studios located at Labrador City and by replacing it with a condition of licence stipulating that the programs be received from CBNT St. John's, Newfoundland.
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In its application, the Corporation advised the Commission that, as a cost-cutting measure, it was closing CBNLT's local studio facilities and that, as of 31 March 1985, it would cease the production of 15 minutes per day, Monday to Friday, of local public affairs and information programming. For ten years the CBC television station at Labrador City had prepared this local material for insertion in the provincial weekday supper-hour news program, "Here and Now". The closure also resulted in the elimination of approximately 230 minutes per week of public service announcements.
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The CBC proposed that a news reporter, supported by a technical crew, would prepare news stories about Labrador City and Western Labrador and send the tapes directly to St. John's, where the program editor would select which material would be broadcast.
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In response to questions asked of them at the hearing and in acknowledgement of the strong community reaction against this proposal, representatives of the CBC undertook to develop a communications strategy for the area in co-operation with representatives of the local communities, and to provide for emergency access to the local radio and television transmitters. The CBC also suggested the possibility of community access programming and promised to consider restoring the community billboard capability through the use of a character generator.
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These commitments were elaborated on in a letter dated 12 December 1985 from the CBC Labrador Location Manager to the Mayors of Labrador City and Wabush, and on 27 January 1986 the CBC filed a progress report with the Commission enumerating the steps it had taken to meet these commitments.
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Following the hearing, the Commission issued a Public Notice (CRTC 1986-72 dated 24 March 1986) which reviewed in some detail the arguments that were made at the hearing by the CBC in support of their proposals and by those who had intervened against the application, including the very forceful and convincing presentations made on behalf of the residents of the communities of Labrador City and Wabush. The CRTC expressed serious concern over the CBC's action of terminating service without any prior consultation with the community or prior authorization from the Commission, and proposed that further discussion should take place in order to resolve the matter. The notice concluded:
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The Commission considers that before contemplating the elimination of local television service in isolated communities, it is incumbent upon the CBC to assess very carefully all the implications of such a decision in consultation with the communities involved. The Commission is very concerned that after ten years of access to local live television production, the communities of Labrador City and Wabush have now been deprived of their only means of local origination.
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While technological developments now permit the most remote localities to have access to a variety of distant broadcast services, the capacity of such a community to reflect itself has become an even more important communication need. To deprive a community of its only means of self-expression is a severe hardship.
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In light of all of the foregoing, the Commission considers that in addition to the initiatives already implemented by the CBC since the November 1985 hearing, a communications strategy must be developed to determine how best to meet the immediate and future communication needs of the residents of Wabush and Labrador City in terms of both radio and television. In considering appropriate alternatives, the Commission will want to assess the minimum amount of local television programming that would be considered adequate to serve community needs and the most appropriate time(s) for its scheduling.
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Accordingly, Commissioner James Robson has been appointed to consult with the CBC and with the Mayors of Labrador City and Wabush in order to arrive at a satisfactory communications strategy for these communities.
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Consultation
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On 26 June 1986 a meeting between representatives of the two communities and CBC officials took place at the Labrador City Council Chambers, chaired by Commissioner Robson. The CBC emphasized the measures it has undertaken since the hearing to improve its service to these communities. Specifically, it indicated that it had redesigned the format of its morning radio program originating in Goose Bay to permit local input from Labrador City and Wabush. It also provided for emergency access to the local radio and television transmitters, reinstated two minutes of community announcements in the station break preceding the supper-hour information program, and improved coverage of local news stories on the "Here and Now" program.
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The community representatives agreed that, in general, these measures were appreciated by the local residents. They requested, however, that the radio service devote more time to Western Labrador concerns and noted that although there had recently been noticeable improvements in the television news service provided through CBNT St. John's in terms of its coverage of Western Labrador stories, they were still not convinced that the communication needs of Labrador City and Wabush were being met to their satisfaction. In particular, they stated that the retention of ten minutes per week of public service announcements is a totally inadequate replacement for the loss of approximately 220 minutes of such announcements and the elimination of 75 minutes per week of local television programming.
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Decision
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The Commission is encouraged that the consultation has resulted in each of the parties involved having a better appreciation of the other's position, and it urges the CBC to continue to communicate with the residents of these communities on an ongoing basis.
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While acknowledging the measures that the CBC has implemented since the November 1985 hearing in order to improve its service to Labrador City and Wabush, the Commission continues to be concerned about the Corporation's decision to cease all local production at CBNLT, particularly since it was undertaken without any prior consultation with the community.
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Although the Commission remains concerned that the loss of 75 minutes per week of local television production is a serious deprivation for these communities, it considers that it would be unreasonable to expect the CBC to reinstate completely the former level of local origination on CBNLT Labrador City at the present time because of the series of budget cuts the Corporation has had to sustain.
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Nevertheless, the Commission expects the Corporation to restore some local production at CBNLT taking into account the resources available in the community, including the possibility of volunteer support from the citizens of Labrador City and Wabush, and at other CBC facilities. The Corporation is, therefore, required to submit, within 60 days of the date of this decision, a report on the measures that it will implement in order to reinstate at CBNLT the production of a reasonable amount of local television programming.
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The Commission encourages all parties concerned, including the mayors of Labrador City and Wabush, to continue to negotiate with representatives of the CBC with a view to resolving the communication needs of these communities, and suggests that a Communications Committee be set up to arrive at viable alternative solutions in this regard.
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The Commission further draws the Corporation's attention to the Commission's new policy statement on community television as set out in the Proposed Television Regulations Respecting Broadcasting (Public Notice CRTC 1986-176 dated 23 July 1986).
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With respect to the application to amend the licences of CBNLT and CBNLT-1 by requiring that programming be received from CBNT St. John's, the Commission notes that if it were to approve this proposal, the CBC would no longer be able to provide any local origination at Labrador City, including the two minutes of public service announcements that are presently made available through the use of a character generator. In light of the fact that the CBC, by its own motion, has reinstated a limited amount of local television production at CBNLT by this means, the Commission maintains the present condition of licence which requires that the programs broadcast by CBNLT and CBNLT-1 be received from studios located at Labrador City.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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