Some interesting news in the media world this week, as Canadian TV network AUX had their application to run a Quebec-based French-language version of the station denied by the CRTC.
According to a statement on the AUX site, the CRTC said that the new TV station would be competition with Canada's long-running French-language station, MusiquePlus. Aux is saying that those claims are "ridiculous," citing that the two stations are different enough - AUX's main focus is on helping emerging artists - that it shouldn't be considered competition.
However, the CRTC states that AUX owners GlassBOX Television weren't clear enough on how it would differentiate itself from MusiquePlus, reports the Hollywood Reporter.
The CRTC's official broadcasting decision seems to give a mixed message, including this "dissenting opinion of commissioner Michel Morin":
The majority decision of my fellow commissioners to deny GlassBox Television Inc. (GlassBOX) the setting up of a national, French-language service dedicated to emerging music is to me both surprising and deeply disappointing, as it will have the effect of putting young Francophone artists in this country at a disadvantage relative to emerging Anglophone artists. Without the French-language stage proposed by GlassBOX, emerging Francophone artists will have no other choice but to subscribe to and appear on the other AUX TV, GlassBOX's English-language Category 2 specialty service dedicated to emerging music. The Commission's overly cautious decision, rooted in its concern over the competition [MusiquePlus owners] Groupe Astral would face, fails to mention that neither of the specialty services MusiquePlus and MusiMax in Quebec - both owned by Groupe Astral - is dedicated to emerging music.
AUX, which launched last October on Rogers Cable, has done lots of work with Exclaim! TV and aired Exclaim!'s Talk Show Night at Juicebox Manor program.
According to a statement on the AUX site, the CRTC said that the new TV station would be competition with Canada's long-running French-language station, MusiquePlus. Aux is saying that those claims are "ridiculous," citing that the two stations are different enough - AUX's main focus is on helping emerging artists - that it shouldn't be considered competition.
However, the CRTC states that AUX owners GlassBOX Television weren't clear enough on how it would differentiate itself from MusiquePlus, reports the Hollywood Reporter.
The CRTC's official broadcasting decision seems to give a mixed message, including this "dissenting opinion of commissioner Michel Morin":
The majority decision of my fellow commissioners to deny GlassBox Television Inc. (GlassBOX) the setting up of a national, French-language service dedicated to emerging music is to me both surprising and deeply disappointing, as it will have the effect of putting young Francophone artists in this country at a disadvantage relative to emerging Anglophone artists. Without the French-language stage proposed by GlassBOX, emerging Francophone artists will have no other choice but to subscribe to and appear on the other AUX TV, GlassBOX's English-language Category 2 specialty service dedicated to emerging music. The Commission's overly cautious decision, rooted in its concern over the competition [MusiquePlus owners] Groupe Astral would face, fails to mention that neither of the specialty services MusiquePlus and MusiMax in Quebec - both owned by Groupe Astral - is dedicated to emerging music.
AUX, which launched last October on Rogers Cable, has done lots of work with Exclaim! TV and aired Exclaim!'s Talk Show Night at Juicebox Manor program.