Our stations may not all be the “cornerstones” of their communities in terms of social and other activities, since they do not necessarily all operate in markets of comparable size and make-up. The fact remains, however, that they must make the same effort, whatever the size of their market, and whatever the audience they serve, in order to properly fulfill their mandate as an open and inclusive broadcaster.
Furthermore, we often hear talk of the new media and the need for community radio stations to be part of that. In the space of barely a few years, technology has developed at such a pace and changed the Canadian media landscape so dramatically that even public and private broadcasters have been overtaken by events. Just imagine what it is like for radio stations like our own.
In the current globalized environment, where broadcasting giants are merging and diversifying their activities in order to deal head on with the phenomenal rise and popularity of the new media, community broadcasters, and particularly those operating in official language minority communities, are struggling to contain the erosion of their own audience and are fighting a totally unequal battle against the Internet, a medium which has neither boundaries nor clear and precise rules. Indeed, the CRTC made the point again recently that it does not intend, at least in the very short term, to regulate Internet content.
Canadians' interest in the new media is such that we are facing a massive migration of our audience to these new platforms, but without all the necessary means to recapture those listeners.
It should also be mentioned that, very recently, the President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, Mr. Hubert T. Lacroix, told members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that he intends to double the Crown corporation's investment in digital broadcasting between now and 2015. That means that more money will have to be invested in new platforms.
We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada recently filed a project application with Canadian Heritage, and we are hoping to receive the requested funding in order to develop mobile applications that would enable Internet users to tune in our stations using their mobile devices, such as smart phones or touch-sensitive tablets.