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9559 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do we hear the other two intervenors? 9560 Yes. Mr. Loucks next. INTERVENTION 9561 MR. LOUCKS: I wanted to take the opportunity to be here today. I had first learned of Star Ray TV and Mr. Jan Pachul's idea after I had been -- I was tuning a black and white TV in my kitchen and I saw Mr. Pachul's test pattern on Channel 15 with a phone number. 9562 I was watching the channel for a while and I became curious about the phone number and what the service was. I called and had spoken with Jan Pachul. Mr. Pachul explained about his experimental TV licence and his plan to apply for a licence to operate a TV station based on community programming. 9563 That would be a TV service that focused on the Toronto community with a mandate to provide service to the community in general, not catering to any one special interest group. 9564 I particularly liked Mr. Pachul's proposal to carry City Hall council meetings and to have public forums with city council members and Toronto citizens in general to discuss issues and programs on his TV station. I feel this service is a valuable addition to Toronto television services that exist now. 9565 I know similar types of programming are available on cable TV community channels. I myself do not subscribe to cable. Mr. Pachul has a proposed service that makes community TV programming more accessible to persons who do not subscribe to cable service for personal or financial reasons. 9566 As a TV viewer using conventional antenna or rabbit ears, I receive approximately nine Canadian channels and six American channels. Of these channels, about five have acceptable picture quality. However, I do not see very many channels with programming that focuses on community issues in general. 9567 Most of the time I see a lot of bad news and a lot of violent programming. If I see any people that are active in the community interviewed on TV, it's usually for a very limited time. 9568 During a newscast, for example, I will see a politician being interviewed on an issue that's happening in the city, but they really don't have a lot of time to describe their ideas or views relating to that particular issue. 9569 One example of Mr. Pachul's proposed TV coverage was an interview I had seen during his experimental broadcasts with a local municipal councillor. It was related to a housing project that was proposed in his neighbourhood. I had never seen this type of programming on any of the channels that I receive now. For example, such as Global Television or CFTO Television, although I do see these types of programming on CBC Television from time to time if I am near the TV at the times these types of programs are shown. 9570 I really wanted to support Mr. Pachul because he wants to focus on very local and overlooked types of events in the community such as local sports or local musicians. During one of our conversations, I mentioned a TV show that I used to watch back in the 1970s. It was on a Hamilton TV station on Channel 11 and it was called "Tiny Talent Time". 9571 During the conversation I mentioned that I don't see this type of programming that shows the talents of young children and kids in the community. He agreed that that would be a good type of programming to show on his proposed community TV station on UHF channel 15. 9572 I would like to thank the Commission for allowing me to speak here today and the CRTC and Industry Canada and Mr. Pachul. 9573 Thank you. 9574 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Loucks. |