Canadian cable and satellite providers are required to contribute a portion of broadcast revenues to supporting Canadian media, including local community channels. From 2010-14, this amounted to almost $2.4 billion dollars. Where did this money end up?
The Local Program Improvement Fund was a CRTC program to support stations in rural areas that was phased out beginning in 2012. Since then, most of the space has been taken up by direct contributions to local community channels. The remainder has ended up in media funds, large and small.
To learn more about Canada’s broadcast landscape, and how it might be improved, read "Changing the Channel on Canadian Communications Regulation," by Daniel Schwanen and Benjamin Dachis.
