Community television in Canada

Community television in Canada is a form of media that carries programming of local community interest produced by a cable television company and by independent community groups and distributed by a local cable company.

A community channel is a form of community television, much like public-access television cable TV in the United States and other forms of citizen-produced content. The provision of a community channel is required by CRTC regulations governing the licensing of cable companies. Cable companies are required to allocate a small percentage of cable subscription revenues for the provision of a community channel. As of 2009, this amounted to over $116 million annually in Canada.^[1] The community channel is viewed as a public trust that the cable companies manage on behalf of the Canadian public.

In 2016, the CRTC enacted rules allowing television providers in metropolitan markets (population of 1 million or higher) to allocate the required investment to the local news departments of a co-owned terrestrial television station instead, in lieu of operating a community channel. In the wake of the changes, Rogers Cable and Shaw Cable began to wind down their community channels in larger regions to take advantage of this policy. Community television services remain mandatory among television providers in smaller markets (or if not co-owned by a local owner of broadcast stations).