Star Ray TV

April 10, 2006 Press Release

The CRTC is continuing a pattern of fraudulent behaviour in its dealings with Star Ray TV. The community TV station filed an application with the CRTC for a low-power television license in June 2004. Since then, the CRTC has been using various bureaucratic devices to ensure that Star Ray TV never gets a hearing. Recently the CRTC sent back the Star Ray TV application claiming it was "incomplete." No explanation was given. This occurred over a year after all application "deficiency" questions were answered and the application declared to be "fully complete". Star Ray TV called the individual responsible for processing the application. This individual stated that he "heard" through the office grapevine that the application had been returned, meaning that he was out of the loop. He was the one that crafted the deficiency questions!

Says Jan Pachul, the station's founder; "The CRTC is not above using fraud and breach of trust as tools to keep our locally produced programming off the air. The arrogant CRTC seems to think they are above the law and any kind of behaviour, including criminal behaviour, is acceptable. They have been getting away with white-collar crime for years; I guess they have this notion that laws are only for little people like us. The CRTC has no shame; their only concern is the next CRTC employee that is going to get a big promotion by being hired by a corporation needing special favours from the CRTC. The corruption is easy to figure out, just look at the interventions submitted to the CRTC by major broadcasting organizations and see how many of them have been signed by former CRTC employees."

Recently Star Ray TV has become politically active, writing letters to Prime Minister Harper and other members of parliament. Mr. Harper's office did reply and forwarded Star Ray's letter to Beverly Oda, the new Minister of Heritage. According to the Conservative Party candidate handbook, the Conservative Party "supports the restructuring of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, reducing its mandate to registration and/or marketing of bandwidth and to dealing with international communications negotiations." Star Ray TV maintains that the CRTC is an affront to democracy and should be dismantled.

The CRTC has a long history of denying licenses to new entrants in broadcasting assuming that the application got to the stage of a hearing. Examples include TVN, a company that tried to establish a local station in Niagara Falls, and the Toronto Star that also made a bid for southern Ontario stations, which would have included 85% Canadian content. Community-based broadcasting is a much-needed outlet for Canadian talent to flourish.

It is unknown how many more applicants have been given a similar "run around" to Star Ray TV and denied a hearing. Star Ray TV would like to hear from individuals who have a similar story to tell about the CRTC.

For more information, please contact Jan Pachul directly at (416) 693-7400, email: srtv at srtv.ca, or visit the Star Ray web site at srtv.ca

More commentary on this issue can be found at TOchat.tv Star Ray TV's forum under the topic "Star Ray TV and the CRTC: Questions and Answers."