More local porn, regulator orders Canadian adult TV

OTTAWA—Canada’s broadcasting regulator wants to see more locally-made porn on Canadian television, judging by a notice on its website that accuses three channels of failing to meet licensing requirements.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said three Toronto-based adult channels have failed to provide a minimum of 35 percent Canadian content.

The rules require a portion of programming to be at least partly written, produced or presented by persons in Canada, in order to bolster the local industry and showcase Canadian content.

A hearing has been scheduled for April 28 to decide whether the broadcasting licenses of AOV Adult Movie Channel, XXX Action Clips and Maleflixxx should be renewed.

The permits are set to expire at the end of August.

CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao told Agence France-Presse they will be asked to justify a renewal of the licenses, adding that “the CRTC has tried several times to bring the company into compliance.”

The networks’ parent company Channel Zero did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But others have not been shy to speak out.

The daily National Post satirically lamented the Canadian porn industry’s “reluctance to tackle distinctively Canadian issues.”

And the tabloid Toronto Sun hailed the CRTC’s call for more “naughty Newfoundlanders and Manitoba MILFs.”

But the Globe and Mail disagreed, saying: “Unlike sitcoms or dramas, which are potentially filled with meaning that contributes to a social conversation, porn is a generic product whose national origins are as unimportant as those of… a vibrator.”

But the newspaper conceded that “a porn shoot hires lighting technicians and camera operators just like any other TV production and, hey, jobs are jobs.”

The CRTC also chided the channels for not providing enough closed-captioning and for not alerting the regulator of a change in ownership.

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