The Toronto archbishop has met with Vision TV and Zoomer Media owner Moses Znaimer and plans to submit a petition to the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission to keep Vision on basic cable, enabling the 46,000 people who tune in to the Daily Mass broadcast on the independent television service to continue to do so. Until Feb. 27 the CRTC is accepting public submissions on 22 applications to force cable companies to distribute various channels. CRTC hearings were to begin Feb. 23.

Vision TV, which has been compulsory for basic cable since the station’s inception more than 25 years ago, is one of five broadcasters asking the CRTC to renew its existing status on the basic dial. Other applicants are asking to be added to the mandatory list, including some that do not yet exist.

Without mandatory carriage under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcast Act, Vision could lose up to $10 million in annual revenue — enough to threaten its existence. It would also mean that hundreds of thousands of mainly elderly people on fixed incomes would be denied their one source of spiritual, religious programming, Znaimer argues.

“This is a profound habit and an important mission. This is a place where the religions of the world can meet. It would be a terrible thing, a kind of unnecessary piece of vandalism, for this to be removed,” Znaimer argued on Goldhawk Fights Back on Zoomer Media-owned AM740.

Vision provides air time for 75 regularly programmed faith and religion shows. Catholic offerings include Daily Mass, Devotions in Honour of Our Mother and Food For Life.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesman Ian Morrison rates Vision’s chances of keeping its mandatory carriage status as slim.

“If anything, I believe the CRTC wants to reduce the number of services it orders cable companies to carry,” said Morrison.

Under chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, the CRTC has made it a priority to let consumers decide what they want to watch and keep costs down, Morrison said. The more services mandated on basic cable, the more expensive basic cable becomes.

“They have their eye on the ball of an elderly widow on a fixed income, a pension,” Morrison said. “They want the basic television service to be as affordable as possible.”

But the actual cost per subscriber for cable and satellite companies to carry Vision is 12 cents a month — less than $1.50 per year. Once cable companies decide to bundle Vision with other specialty services in an extra package way up the dial, that pensioner may no longer be able to afford Vision, said Vision spokesperson Leanne Wright.

As for consumer sovereignty, Znaimer dismisses it as part and parcel of a mindless ideology of deregulation that ignores the public good and the responsibility of Canada’s broadcast industry to nurture a diverse culture that serves Canada’s many minorities.

“The great questions of existence continue to be with us. Faith offers many people a form of comfort,” Znaimer said. “Especially for people who are poor, who are shut-ins, who live in small and isolated communities.”

In theory, Vision could negotiate its way into the basic packages of every television service provider. Vision’s low cost and its variety of programming should make it attractive to companies trying to attract subscribers with broader service for a lower cost. But the theory of a free marketplace slams up against the reality of vertical integration, said Wright.

“We are not able to negotiate national and widespread distribution at a reasonable rate for Vision TV. The cable and satellite companies have all of the leverage,” she said.

“They are more interested in putting their own specialty services in the coveted basic packages than ours.”

Now that cable and satellite companies own their own stations they have a vested interest in promoting those stations with spots lower on the dial and bundled into basic service.

But there are two other factors that argue against Vision, Morrison said. When Vision started up it was a non-profit service that involved those faith groups that would use it to broadcast to the country. Now Vision is part of a for-profit, private media conglomerate with investments in television, radio, Internet and print.

The other thing is that Vision’s two million evening prime time viewers aren’t tuning in for religious programming. They’re watching British comedies and murder-mysteries.

“There is still faith or values-based programming that Vision is doing, but overall Vision is moving toward the mainstream,” Morrison said.