Why did CKX Brandon go mams-up? Blame captioning.
Claassen added the CRTC’s requirement that 100% of content be available with closed captioning was also stumbling block. He said Bluepoint was unaware that the station was not yet fully compliant – 164 of its 168 weekly hours of programming could be viewed with closed captioning previously – until alerted by the CRTC. “The cost to do those four hours is incredible,” said Claassen.
I call bullshit. If this is live news we’re talking about, then four hours a week of the shittiest real-time captioning would run 600 bucks. That’s 31 grand a year. This is hardly enough to shut down a TV station, or even pound a nail in its coffin. Besides, they could have applied for an exemption.