In its latest effort to advocate for Canada’s kids media sector, Shaw Rocket Fund is asking that Canadian children’s channels and services be eligible for a type of mandatory distribution as the country shapes a new broadcasting framework under the Online Streaming Act.

In its latest filing to the CRTC, Shaw Rocket Fund is asking for children’s services to receive an equivalent of what’s known as 9.1(h) status (which requires cable companies to carry services of “exceptional importance” for Canadians under the Broadcast Act).

Shaw Rocket Fund submitted this filing yesterday (February 24) in response to a CRTC consultation examining the Canadian market dynamics between programming, distribution and online services of all sizes. This follows a previous filing last month in which Shaw Rocket Fund asked the regulator to impose a funding obligation for 20% of broadcasters’ programming spend to go to children’s content creation.

Beyond incentivizing the creation of kids content that reflects and represents Canadian and Indigenous culture, the org argues that “a type of mandatory carriage” is needed more than ever to ensure that such programming is always available to Canadian families.

“Our dedicated Canadian children’s channels are at risk today,” says Shaw Rocket Fund president and CEO Agnes Augustin. “We need to ensure that we have dedicated children’s channels within the new broadcasting framework, to air/stream the Canadian kids content that is produced regardless of market conditions—which is why we are asking for a type of mandatory status.”

Serving as another argument for this kind of a guardrail is the fact that kids content has been on a continued decline over the past decade, after the removal of genre protections, with Shaw Rocket Fund estimating a 44% reduction in overall broadcast commissions of Canadian children’s and youth programs between 2017 and 2022.

To better shape regulatory measures in today’s complex media landscape, the org’s filing also calls for a dedicated consultation that will specifically review the Canadian children’s and youth media sector to identify financial and regulatory barriers.

“Shaw Rocket Fund is fully committed to the Canadian children’s media sector and will continue to do what we can, as a fierce advocate, to help our industry navigate through these uncertain times and find a sustainable way forward,” Augustin adds.

Industry responses to the filings are due by March 11, and the CRTC will also hold a public hearing in Gatineau, Quebec on May 12 to address this component of the broadcasting system.

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