I'm here today because of the critical gap in Bill C-11 that could see millions of Canadians lose access to their beloved public interest TV channels over the next few years. We are one of those channels.
For many ethnocultural communities in Quebec, ICI Television is the only source of locally created television programming in their language available at little or no cost.
Our programming is developed by a network of local independent producers who have deep ties to their communities and decades of experience in producing quality television programs.
We cover current events from a local perspective, and connect people in Montreal and throughout Quebec to what is happening around them. We make a difference. However, telling local stories requires resources.
To help keep the lights on, we rely on an order by the CRTC that requires all cable and satellite services to carry our programming as part of their basic TV package and to pay a fixed rate tied to their number of subscribers. ICI is one of a small number of specialty channels that relies on the CRTC in this way.
These channels are known as 9(1)(h) services, a name which comes from the section of the Broadcasting Act allowing the CRTC to issue these orders in support of public interest programming.
You know many of these channels. Let me share a few examples. There's CPAC, which provides Canadians with unfiltered access to Parliament, and committee meetings just like this one. APTN tells the stories of indigenous peoples in Canada in their own voice. AMI-tv and AMI-télé help Canadians living with disabilities access TV programming.
In addition, there is TVA, which has a mandatory distribution order outside Quebec, which supports official language minority communities.
Together with our partner, OMNI Regional, ICI provides Canadians with information and entertainment in their own language, including six daily newscasts in six languages, from a Canadian perspective.
Canada's public interest TV plays a critical role in serving racialized and marginalized communities. We promote tolerance, diversity and inclusion. We help protect our democracy from disinformation.
With more Canadians shifting to online streaming, we need our broadcasting rules to keep up. As Ian Scott told you earlier this week, Bill C-11 doesn't extend the rules for 9(1)(h) services to online streaming. Instead, it leaves our future to good-faith negotiations. However, global web giants like Amazon, Google and Apple know they won't make money off of our content. They have no real incentive to negotiate, and we can't compete with their legal departments.
That is why we are asking you to amend Bill C-11 to help level the playing field and allow the CRTC to set terms and conditions for programming in their online distribution.
Giving the CRTC the power to set the terms of carriage for online public interest programming services would support us and level the playing field for conventional broadcasters competing with online distributors.
We need this change so that we can keep our lights on and serve Canadians in a way that meets their needs—