Well, this should be interesting. In any language. The CRTC announced on Tuesday that it's looking for public input on who gets what could be a potentially lucrative licence that will get mandatory carriage on cable and satellite systems across the country. And no matter who wins, it will cost you. 
 
Despite the fact they recently allowed Rogers to get such a station with its OMNI Regional service, the Commission now says there are “deficiencies” in that plan and so they’re opening it up to all comers. In the end, that means 8 applicants. It won't surprise you to know that among those in the running are, of course, both Rogers and Bell.
 
-Ted’s Big Red Machine continues to push its existing OMNI Regional, which would have four regional feeds, broadcasting in 20 languages, with six “third language” half hour newscasts. (This comes despite Rogers angering unions over farming out its Chinese newscasts to Fairchild TV, which the CRTC ruled this month was fine with them.) The cost to you: 19 cents per month, going up to 21 cents in its fifth year.
 
-Bell suggests something called “Our TV,” with 20 languages and a promise of six hour long newscasts in six third languages. The cost to you: 25 cents a month.
 
-Tele-Latino proposes CanadaWorldTV in 20 languages, with the same newscasts OMNI already provides. The cost to you: 12 cents a month.
 
-Independent Community Television Montreal has two stations in mind, called TELE-1 and TELE-2. The former would do the usual multi-languages while the latter would cater to third language and Indigenous communities. The cost to you: a whopping 40 cents a month.
 
-Amber Broadcasting wants to do its thing in 25 languages, with several 30 minute newscasts every day in a variety of tongues. The cost to you: 30 cents a month.
  
-Ethnic Channels Group wants to give us “Voices” in 25 languages with seven newscasts a day. The cost to you: 23 cents a month.
 
-Corriere Canadese, the famous Italian newspaper wants to get in on the TV act in 20 different languages, with a 30 minute newscast in various dialects. The cost to you: 20 cents a month.    
 
-And finally, and perhaps most oddly, there’s Multicultural Described Video, which is actually an audio service in 23 languages for the visually impaired, with one-to-three minute newscasts. The cost to you: 4 cents a month.
 
All of them are making the usual promises about spending mega-bucks on CanCon and more. The CRTC wants public input on who they would choose and what they want to see.
 
Personally, I wouldn’t like to see any of them. I have no problem with ethnic broadcasting, but I can’t see why Canadians should be forced to pay for something many of them would never be able to understand.
 
Either way, the decision is coming this fall. A hearing is being held to pick a winner on October 15th.

But here's what I really want to know: what, exactly, constitutes a "third language?"

Ethnic Stations Applications

The CRTC needs your help to choose a new multilingual, multi-ethnic channel distributed in Canada