CTV wants to be let off its leash, just a little, and is asking federal regulators to change the licence conditions for its 24-hour news channel CTV Newsnet – arguing in an Aug. 26 letter to CRTC secretary general Diane Rheaume that the cable channel should be allowed to drop its ’15-minute wheel’ format of news headlines which, according to CTV news boss Robert Hurst, interferes with the channel’s ability to cover major news stories.

‘We are asking for the right… to make newsroom decisions based on news merit, not on stopwatch timings or other arbitrary criteria,’ says Hurst.

Under the terms of its licence, first granted in 1996 and amended in 2001, the channel is required to air two minutes of breaking news every 15 minutes but, if events warrant, may break from that format 25 times per week. CTV has complained about its restrictions before.

The Newsnet licence was renewed for another eight years in January, but CTV did not mention the 15-minute wheel, instead asking for approval to charge a higher wholesale rate to cable companies, from $0.085 to $0.195. The CRTC allowed an increase to $0.145. Now, nine months later, CTV wants to drop the 15-minute limit.

‘We thought it was a limitation we could live with if we received the rate increase,’ says Hurst, adding that news events in 2003, after the renewal application was prepared, also underscored the need for a looser licence. His 10-page letter notes that Newsnet had a hard time covering the East Coast blackout, the Space Shuttle disaster, the federal election and other events because it is required to repeatedly cut away to less important stories.

‘We want to give time to big stories that are going on right now,’ says Hurst, ‘but we have no plans to do any long-form programming or documentaries that are clearly the purview of Newsworld.’

The application also alludes to increased competition in the news game, in particular the possibility that the CRTC will approve Fox News. Newsnet is the only 24-hour news channel with a 15-minute wheel, out of nine domestic and foreign news channels that air in Canada. CHUM originally proposed a 15-minute schedule for its CP24, but the limit was not a condition of its licence and CHUM eventually dropped the idea. CNN’s Headline News, unofficially the model for Newsnet, also dropped its wheel format in 2001. The reg also recently approved a licence to broadcast Al-Jazeera in Canada, but with very severe content restrictions.

‘The CRTC seems to be approving all sorts of channels,’ says Hurst. ‘If it’s open season, we’re asking for the same editorial freedom.’

The timing, however, suggests that CTV may be trying to take advantage of the CRTC, which has been weakened in the political realm and in the court of public opinion by a series of recent and contentious decisions – beginning with its approval of Al-Jazeera, its refusal to list Italy’s RAI, and the on-again, off-again licence situation with CHOI-FM. It is a good time to ask the feds for a favor, say observers.

‘I think they’re hoping the CRTC will roll over because they’re facing so much criticism,’ says Ian Morrison, spokesperson for the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. He believes that CTV and its corporate parent BCE want to compete directly with CBC Newsworld and are seeking an end run around the current Newsnet licence.

Hurst insists the application was not politically timed, and has nothing to do with taking on Newsworld. ‘That’s irrelevant to us… in terms of timing this is only about Newsnet.’

CBC news head Tony Burman would not comment directly on CTV’s application, but concedes that the 24-hour news game has become more competitive, in particular since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Canadians are watching less U.S. cable news – which has become increasingly ‘inward looking,’ says Burman – but are also watching more foreign-language services.

He adds that he is generally ‘wide open’ about competition. ‘As a journalist I believe the more doors and windows you can open the better,’ he says.

The CRTC has not commented on the application, nor put out a call for comments.