If at first you don’t succeed, appeal. At least that’s what Radio-Canada did when it failed in May 1999 to gain a broadcasting licence for its French-language performing arts channel. Late in September, however, the crtc finally granted the pubcaster and its myriad partners a licence for la Tele des Arts, the country’s newest French-language arts and culture specialty service.

Partners on the new service include Tele-Quebec, BCE Media, France’s La Sept-arte and Equipe Spectra.

‘La Tele des Arts was able to create an innovative partnership between the private and public sectors and between Canada and Europe,’ states crtc chair Francoise Bertrand.

‘Thanks to this partnership, the new service has all the necessary tools to, first of all, fulfill its mandate of reflecting Quebec culture and that of other French-language communities in Canada, and also to help share our programs with the entire international francophone community.’

In its first application for an arts channel, which was rejected in the crtc’s last round of French-specialty licensing (along with the three other channels for which the pubcaster applied), src was partnered with Bell Media, the National Film Board and La Sept-arte.

The commission, which at the time licensed four channels in the genres of drama, history, travel and technology, claimed Reseau des Arts lacked audience appeal and, with a $0.90 subscriber fee, was too costly.

In July, src appealed the decision, claiming the crtc’s rejection of the service conflicted with the Broadcasting Act.

The regulator says the decision to grant Tele des Arts a licence is based on the service’s ‘ability to further the objectives of the Broadcasting Act and to meet the criteria set out by the commission in its call for applications dated Feb. 1, 2000.’ *

-www.radio-canada.com

-www.crtc.gc.ca