Cable companies, as I was describing, originally had head ends in every little community, so it was convenient and cost-efficient to have a studio there. What has happened with satellite companies and some of the ITP TV services like Telus is that they get licences over huge areas. Telus has licences for all of British Columbia and Alberta. They can't possibly, with their market share, open production centres or training centres in all those places, and yet they're required to spend 2% of their gross revenues on offering community television. It makes no sense. They have nowhere to offer those services. So what they're doing and Bell's doing is they're expending this huge budget, which countrywide is $151 million, by writing cheques to independent producers.
The Optik TV community producers that came to the CRTC hearing were all paid. They're all receiving cheques. It's professional, commissioned, independent productions. Every one of those producers has a production company and a website. It's not the ordinary person who's supposed to be able to access community media to develop their voice and have a voice in the system.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those shows, per se, but it's not the use of the money that was intended by the regulations.