TELUS Decides to No Longer Fund Community TV in the Tri-Cities.

After five years of funding, TELUS has announced it will no longer support Tri-Cities Community TV (TCCTV), a not-for-profit community television organization.

Before explaining their reasoning, let’s look back at 2022/23, when TCCTV received $80,000 in funding from TELUS Optik TV. With this support, TCCTV conducted production workshops for community volunteers and representatives from various not-for-profit organizations serving the Tri-Cities region.

Throughout the year, TCCTV collaborated with organizations such as SHARE Family and Community Services, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., the Rotary Clubs of the Tri-Cities, Soroptimists of the Tri-Cities, the Coquitlam Heritage Society, the Port Moody Heritage Society, PoCo Heritage, the Evergreen Cultural Centre, Place des Arts, the Port Moody Arts Centre, and more. Together, they produced over 20 hours of community programming, which was made available through TELUS Optik TV’s StoryHive service.

At the end of the contract, TELUS expressed satisfaction with the results. TCCTV’s programming was deemed to be of broadcast quality and, more importantly, created by community volunteers while showcasing local groups and events.

The Tri-Cities community also recognized TCCTV’s impact. In 2022/23, TCCTV was a finalist for the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce Business Awards as Not-For-Profit of the Year and received a Glacier Media Award.

Despite these achievements, TELUS Optik TV informed TCCTV that it would be reducing its maximum funding for community TV production groups to $20,000, citing a desire to support a greater diversity of voices. While diversity is a worthwhile goal, a 75% funding cut meant TCCTV could no longer provide extensive coverage of key community events such as the BC Polish Festival, Chinese New Year, and Festival du Bois.

TCCTV fought to continue its work in 2023/24, producing over eight hours of community programming despite being contracted for only five hours under the reduced $20,000 funding. A partnership with the Coquitlam Public Library, which provided its Innovation Hub as a production facility, was instrumental in helping TCCTV stay afloat.

However, at the end of the 2023/24 contract, TELUS informed TCCTV that it would no longer fund not-for-profit organizations producing community television programming. Instead, it would only support individuals submitting programming ideas online.

TCCTV believes this decision contradicts the Canadian Broadcasting Act, which is currently under review by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). TCCTV plans to file a complaint with the CRTC and will provide updates on how the community can support its efforts. Stay tuned.