Public Notice - Petition for the CRTC

The following is from a petition put up by Canwest Global. The link was sent to me by a friend who works on the newscast of the affiliate in question. For reasons only the CRTC can explain, the station is not available on any satellite services offered in Quebec. I edited some of the more eye-rolling parts out of the prepared letter (below) before putting my own name to it. You can probably guess which parts are my own.

CRTC

Dear Ms. Rhéaume;

Re: Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing CRTC 2006-5

I live in the province of Quebec and I can tell you that it is a disappointment to me that Bell Sympatico does not carry CKMI-TV, the regional Global Television station that serves Quebec City, Montreal, and Sherbrooke.

CKMI produces and broadcasts the only local and regional morning show, providing traffic, weather, news and community information (3 hours daily) for the benefit of viewers in the three Quebec cities served by CKMI. It is regrettable that English-language satellite subscribers in Quebec are denied access to this and other unique English-language programming.

Local and regional programming is expensive and its viability is dependent entirely on access of the television station and its advertising clients to the unique audiences served by the station. I believe that the current rules not requiring satellite services to carry this local station undermine the economic viability of the station, which is important to our community.

In particular, I consider their local news coverage to be a highly valuable asset to this community; and one which I presently am unable to receive via UHF due to poor reception in my corner of Montreal.

Furthermore, as a television viewer who currently relies on the antennae - and is contemplating other choices for television reception - I was quite disappointed to learn that I am unable to view this channel unless I subscribe to Videotron cable, or erect an expensive and ugly outdoors antennae.

Please give satellite subscribers access to CKMI-TV.

Sincerely,

Scott (in Montreal)

c.c.
Mr. Pat Button
Vice President, Marketing
Bell ExpressVu
100 Wynford Drive
Toronto, On
Email: Pat.button@bell.ca

Mr. Jim Cummins
Vice President, National Operations
Star Choice Communications
2924, 11th Street N.E.
Calgary, Ab.M
Email: Jim.Cummins@starchoice.com

Ms. Maria Mourani M.P.
mourama@parl.gc.ca

The Hon. Irwin Cotler P.C., M.P.
Cotler.I@parl.gc.ca

Ms. Marlene Jennings M.P.
Jennings.M@parl.gc.ca

The Hon. Jean C. Lapierre P.C., M.P.
Lapierre.J@parl.gc.ca

Ms. Vivian Barbot M.P.
Barbot.V@parl.gc.ca

The Hon. Stephane Dion P.C., M.P.
Dion.S@parl.gc.ca

The Hon. Lucienne Robilliard P.C., M.P.
robill@parl.gc.ca

Ms. Christiane Gagnon M.P.
gagnoc1@parl.gc.ca

Ms. Sylvie Boucher M.P.
Boucher.S@parl.gc.ca

Mr. Daniel Petit M.P.
Petit.D@parl.gc.ca

Mr. Luc Harvey M.P.
Harvey.L@parl.gc.ca

Ms. Josee Verner M.P.
Verner.J@parl.gc.ca

Mr. Serge Cardin M.P.
Cardin.S@parl.gc.ca

Mr. Christian Ouellet M.P.
Ouellet.C@parl.gc.ca

Ms. France Bonsant M.P.
Bonsant.F@parl.gc.ca

These folks put on a high quality newscast that covers the local community at least as well as the competition. The anchor, Jamie Orchard, was a colleague of mine at Concordia, and I can vouch for her as an intelligent and extremely competent journalist. Apparently, CKMI's reporters sometimes experience bewilderment from interviewees who have never even heard of the station. It just doesn't make sense not to include them in the package of roughly 8 gazillion channels - especially considering CKMI includes programming put together right in our own backyard. So click on the link and sign your name if you agree.

Cheers

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