MP Cheryl Gallant Defends Local TV Station

June 13, 2007

Ottawa, Ontario-MP Cheryl Gallant, (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke), in a statement to the House of Commons, reminded the Canadian Radio Television Commission (CRTC), that A-Channel Ottawa is in fact a Pembroke television station.

“My constituents are concerned that the gradual loss of our TV station will continue with this latest round of corporate re-organization in the media market,” remarked Cheryl Gallant, MP.

“It has always appeared that the Pembroke TV licence was being used as a backdoor into the Ottawa market. If a media company is interested in having an Ottawa TV station, they should apply directly to the CRTC and go properly through the regulatory process.”

The CRTC has usually tried to balance corporate media concentration by not allowing second coverage in major markets by a single broadcaster. What residents of the Ottawa valley will be looking for is a real commitment to local, community content from their local TV station.

“Local community programming will only be possible by producing programs in the community at the Pembroke station with employees locally based in Pembroke,” said MP Gallant.

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Conservative):

Mr. Speaker, Canadians benefit from a competitive media in all markets. Since 1961 the city of Pembroke has operated a licensed television station, first as CHOV, a CBC affiliate, later as CHRO, a CTV affiliate and currently A-Channel Ottawa, as a CITY TV member.

Each time the Pembroke TV station has been sold local viewers have experienced declining local content and severe job losses. CRTC requirements for local broadcasting have been routinely abandoned or discarded.

There has been an abdication of the responsibility of the local Pembroke station to serve the market that its licence is intended to serve. This has occurred despite conditions that have been put on the Pembroke licence renewal in the past to protect local community content and jobs.

It is our hope that future programming plans and commitments will be effective in ensuring that Pembroke's A-Channel will focus and keep its orientation on Renfrew County and the upper Ottawa Valley before any sale is finalized. The residents of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke are calling upon the CRTC to return A-Channel to its roots in Pembroke, where it belongs.

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For More Information Please Call Cheryl Gallant, M.P. at (613) 732-4404