Changes to the way Canadians get their TV channels, including the limited unbundling of cable packages, will be financially devastating to the domestic programming industry and cost 15,000 jobs during the next five years, predicts a report to be released Tuesday.
The changes, adopted last year by the Canadian-radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), are due to take effect in March. The new report was prepared for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the actors’ union ACTRA, the Directors Guild of Canada and the unions Unifor and the Canadian Media Guild.
According to Friends spokesperson Ian Morrison, the “independent economic forecast” is an indictment of the policies in the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV announcements and a direct result of pressure from the former Conservative government.
CHRIS COBB, OTTAWA CITIZEN – January 5, 2016.