Corus Entertainment‘s proposal to establish a new TV network with local content in Western Canada, including the three major Okanagan cities, is temporarily on hold.
The Local1 application by Corus Audio and Advertising Services Ltd. was scheduled to be considered at an April hearing by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
However, the commission announced Friday the application has been withdrawn from this hearing and will be rescheduled at a later date.
Corus wants a broadcasting licence for regional specialty television programming in 64 cities and towns served by Shaw Cable.
Each channel would display a page with several boxes of information containing up-to-the-minute information on local weather, traffic and road reports, community and local government information, environmental features and news feeds, plus up to six minutes of advertising every hour.
Through its www.local1.com website, Corus had invited supporters to fill in an email to the CRTC by its March 15 deadline.
Corus planned to launch the Local1 channels within six months of approval, possibly by the end of the year if it was approved in April.
The Shaw-owned Corus already offers many TV services, including YTV, CosmoTV, Nickelodeon, Teletoon, the TV listings channel and EyesOn TV, plus it operates 50 radio stations.
