Oh CRTC

I'm currently scouring the internet to learn more about what the CRTC ruled yesterday. Here are the things that I have discovered so far:

(1) In the debate of fee-for-carriage, they said that though Canadians adamantly do not want to pay more for the television but they can afford it. Now, this probably true. Who wants to pay more for anything, even when we could actually afford it? Does this mean we should have to actually pay more though? And now it will actually happen, pending federal court approval. Thanks guys.

(2) Along the same lines, the CRTC said that private broadcasters (like CTV and Global) will be able to negotiate with cable and satellite companies for carrying their signals. But not the CBC. Now what this means is that private broadcasters will be getting paid for the companies carrying their signals, but not the CBC. I know that Canadians apparently HAVE to have access to the CBC so they can't be placed in a position where it wouldn't be offered. But really, how likely is Rogers to say 'You know, I think we're going to stop offering CTV channels. They're out'? And considering that CBC produces more Canadian content than CTV and Global combined, they could use the extra money whereas the other two will just spend it on the next season of whatever American reality is popular. Thanks guys.

AND...

(3) The CRTC is getting rid of the mandatory 8 hours of Cancon per week and the overall percentage from 60% to 55%. Now, is it just me or should a country's television be comprised primarily of their own shows? 55% is getting dangerously low there. Mind you, what did kinda of brighten my day after reading that is that they are forcing the large companies (CTVglobemedia, Canwest and Rogers) to spend 30% of their gross revenues on Canadian programming and 5% on 'national interest programs' (...what exactly are these national interest programs anyway?). The idea is quality over quantity (because apparently in Canada, we can't have both.).

But the real kicker here, is that these companies can choose to air them on their conventional channels (CTV, Global etc) OR their specialty channels which have a more specific audience. A specific audience means a smaller audience. Now this means let's say Canadians who are still using an antenna or can only afford (or want) the basic cable package will actually be getting less Canadian content. I know that people are generally switching to specialty channels since there is a specific demographic thus they are probably more aimed at you in particular but shouldn't the major Canadian conventional networks have Canadian programming? Shouldn't that be, you know, important? I mean, I don't really watch a lot of specialty channels (except the Food Network) so how will I find out about these great new Canadian shows?

The only little ray of sunshine in all of this is that most of the Canadians who wrote the CRTC in the fall said that local programming was important to them. It's a good starting point since local programming is important. I just hope everyone will eventually realize our important national programming is.