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EWTN on air in Canada
Green light follows long dispute
After years of wrangling with government regulators, the Catholic television network Eternal Word Television Network
(EWTN), has finally received approval to be broadcast in Canada.
The Canada Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) released its decision allowing EWTN in July. The CRTC had turned down the EWTN application in previous years. CRTC spokesman Denis Carmel said that previous decisions against EWTN were based on not allowing “single-faith” programming. That decision changed, said Carmel, with a larger number of channels available and the assurance that there would be a “single-faith” Canadian channel available.
The CRTC permission however, does not ensure that Canadian cable subscribers will have access to EWTN. The final decision lies in the hands of Canada’s cable companies. And EWTN was approved not as part of the regular cable lineup but as a digital channel. Thus cable customers will be required to submit a specific request for EWTN as part of a special cable package. Carmel explained the rationale for this stipulation by saying that the CRTC did not want Canadians exposed to single-faith programming unless they had specifically asked for it. “It’s exactly like the Playboy channel,” said Carmel, “we would not want children tuning in” unless parents had requested the service.
Back to Catholic World Report October 2001 Table of Contents