CRTC denies MuchMusic's request to play fewer videos

MuchMusic's desire to delve further into "lifestyle" programming and away from music videos suffered a blow today when the CRTC denied an application made by CTV (the station's parent company) to amend its broadcasting licence.

Wading through the legal speak in the decision is a bit of a pain, but chief among CTV's requests was the desire to reduce the percentage of music video programming that the station shows from 50 to 25 per cent. According to CTV, "music videos no longer distinguish the service as they are readily available through other sources."

To put that differently, YouTube has made MuchMusic's former business model untenable, and it's looking to further re-brand itself to "better position the service to adapt to the business realities of audience fragmentation and evolving technologies." But, after interventions from a host of companies and associations -- including Rogers, The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA), and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) -- the CRTC deemed that the proposed changes would call into question the Commission's Category A licencing framework.

That framework indicates that "such services be complementary and not compete directly with one another," which poses a problem for the CRTC because under the proposed changes, "MuchMusic would duplicate the programming of the Category A specialty service known as MTV2, the licence for which is also held by CTV."

MuchMusic's request to reduce and reposition its Canadian programming was also denied by the CRTC. For a look at the complete Broadcasting Decision, check here.

Photo by Adam Finley on Flickr.