APTN goes before CRTC for license renewal

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Representatives of the world's first national Aboriginal television network will appear before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on June 6 in Niagara Falls to state their case for renewal of the network's broadcast license.

Parties concerned with the license of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), which expires Aug. 31, must file interventions with the commission to be scheduled to appear at the public hearings.

It's expected a number of groups and individuals will make presentations to the CRTC that will offer up criticisms of the network. After a recent flirtation with financial ruin and more than five years of criticism from Aboriginal producers about board and management practices and policies, the 21-member APTN board of directors will soon be asked to justify their operation.

APTN has asked the commission for some changes to its license. One of those changes may spark some controversy in the cable television industry. It was not happy when the first license was issued in 1998 when the cable companies were forced to carry APTN and charge subscribers 15 cents a month. In the CRTC application No. 2004-1036-6, APTN has asked the commission "to increase the authorized maximum fee charged to distributors for the carriage of APTN as part of the basic service by $0.10 per subscriber per month. The additional revenues will primarily be used to increase the quality and quantity of Canadian programs."

Each penny in subscriber fees is equal to almost $1 million per year. That means APTN is asking for a funding increase of almost $10 million a year, approaching double its current $15 to $16 million in annual subscriber fee revenues.

The network also proposes "to split the feed of its southern signal into two distinct eastern and western regions." While cable companies would be expected to carry one or the other, depending on their location, "APTN believes that it would be appropriate for the commission to require the two national direct-to-home undertakings to carry both the eastern and the western feeds."

Sources predict APTN will get another seven years, but it may not come without a considerable airing of the organization's dirty laundry.

Many groups over the last seven years have threatened to intervene against license renewal. A number of former APTN employees and many of the independent Aboriginal producers who feel the network is not making the appropriate efforts to create a place for their programming have informed this publication they will intervene in Niagara Falls in June.

In part, they point to financial information posted on APTN's Web site that shows a line item for the 21-member board of directors that shows expenditures in excess of $400,000 last year, despite the network's status as a not-for-profit charitable corpoation.

Corporate law prohibits charitable corporations from paying its board members, but former board chairman Catherine Martin admitted last June that some members of the board were being paid.

Informed sources say the network recently cancelled salaries that were being paid to the chair, the executive members and board committee chairs, of which there are several. But honoraria for attending board and committee meetings are still being paid.

In APTN's 2004 annual report, in the "notes to financial statements" section, the auditor makes note of this fact:

"The company is a registered charity under the Income Tax Act (Canada) and as such is precluded from conferring personal benefits on its members and directors. On March 23, 2004, the minister of Finance proposed amendments to the act which, if enacted, would among other changes, permit Canada Revenue Agency to assess tax and/or penalties on registered charities in certain circumstances. As these provisions may impact the ability of the company to make payments to its members and directors, the company has applied for an advanced Income Tax Ruling to clarify the inerpretations of the act," the auditor wrote.

Immediately after that declaration is another that has caused some observers concern.

"The company has agreed to indemnify its current and former directors and officers to the extent permitted by law against any and all charges, costs, expenses, amounts paid in settlements and damages incurred by the directors and officers as a result of any lawsuit or other judicial,

administrative or investigative proceeding in which the directors or officers are sued as a result of their services," the auditor wrote.

In short, money that could go towards programming could end up going towards paying the board costs should the Canada Revenue Agency rule the board members have been receiving payment improperly.

The CRTC may also be asked to demand restructuring of the board as a condition of renewal. The seven northern Native communications societies that dominate the 21-member board have allowed Inuktitut language programming more air time than all other Aboriginal languages combined, and many southern producers question whether APTN should even call itself a national network. But the network grew out of Television Northern Canada (TVNC) and many of those same northern societies now playing a central role on the APTN board feel an obligation to make sure the north is not pushed aside.