OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The CRTC has confirmed that Avis de Recherche must be carried by Quebec distributors on digital basic cable, at six cents per subscriber, upholding a previous decision that led to complaints from Quebecor and an order from cabinet to reconsider the ruling.

The CRTC said this week that the French-language digichannel devoted to crime prevention must be added to digital basic by Jan. 24.

‘Management and staff at AdR are extremely relieved with the decision,’ said president and founder Vincent Geracitano, adding that the decision, ‘will allow us to pursue our mission to make Canada a better and safer place to be.’

The ruling is virtually identical to the original CRTC decision issued in July, though AdR must now spend at least 43% of its gross revenue on Canadian content, up from 20% in the initial decision.

The CRTC found that AdR qualified as a service of exceptional importance under the Broadcasting Act, a point that Quebecor, which owns the cable company Vidéotron, appealed to cabinet.

And while this week’s decision was a blow to Quebecor, the CRTC turned aside a complaint by AdR against Vidéotron that alleged the cableco was giving preferential carriage to affiliated TV channels.

The CRTC ruled that ‘the evidence filed by AdR is insufficient to sustain a filing of undue preference or undue disadvantage.’