The CRTC and Homosexual Broadcasting

In the fiscal year 1999 - 2000, our federally-appointed Broadcast Lords, otherwise known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) is operating on a budget of $39.182 million. This sum, however, is mostly covered by way of licensing fees charged to the media. For example, radio broadcasters pay the CRTC $21,578 million in fees and the TV broadcasters pay the CRTC $17.604 million in fees. In addition, the CRTC receives some funding from the Treasury Board in the form of the provision of executive offices, communication and secretarial services, employees' insurance premiums and other similar costs.

All in all, the CRTC operates in a comfortable, financially secure little world of its own without any accountability, since it is its own master ¯ ruling majestically over the airwaves of Canada.

Currently, the CRTC is sorting out over 400 applications for 10 new channels. One of the applicants is a Hamilton-based broadcaster who is applying for a license to operate a homosexual channel, Pride TV, intended as a 24-hour channel for homosexuals and lesbians. According to the applicant's spokesperson, Carmela Laurignano, a Toronto broadcaster, "This [channel] would be a great bridge between the gay community and the straight community. It would be a good educational medium."

Indeed, it would serve the purpose of "educating" the public (especially the young and vulnerable) as recruits for their lifestyle. Acceptance of a homosexual channel by the CRTC would also assist in achieving the objectives of homosexual activists, which are to receive public approval for and acceptance of their sexual deviance.

It is remarkable that the CRTC, which despises single religious broadcasting and, has, as a result, refused a license to the Catholic Broadcaster, the Eternal Word TV (See Reality, March/April 2000, "Canadian Broadcasting and Freedom of Information," p. 12), even though its broadcasts appeal to millions of Canadians, is nonetheless, considering a license for homosexual/lesbians who at most consist of only 1 to 3% of the population. (See, among other studies, British Medical Journal (1989) 298 at pp 1137-1142; Paediatrics (1992) pp 714-721 at p. 89).

Public hearings by the CRTC on these proposed new channels will commence in August, and a few months later, the CRTC Commissioners will meet in secret to decide which applications to approve. Lucky us to have our airwaves so "purified" by the CRTC.

Digital Channels will Destroy CRTC's Power

The good news is that the power and might of the CRTC is being seriously challenged. This is due to the fact that within the next decade, television signals will change to a digital form, which means not only superior picture and sound, but also no limit to the channels available. That is, the CRTC's licensing power up until now has been dependent on the scarcity of available channels, but with digital programming, anyone who wants to, can start up a radio or television station on the net. The CRTC will then have no control over which channels people watch than it has control, today, over which magazines people read. This, however, may create other problems for us. Much as the internet today is vast and complex and difficult to control, so, too, may the digital television signals. New problems for a new age.
Please write to the CRTC and object to its acceptance of the proposed homosexual/lesbian channel.

General Secretary
CRTC
Ottawa ON K1A 0N2

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