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Shaw pulls plug on council meeting broadcasts

North Shore council watchers who prefer to get their fix of bylaws and bureaucratese on TV will soon have to switch to online.
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North Shore council watchers who prefer to get their fix of bylaws and bureaucratese on TV will soon have to switch to online.

Corus Entertainment and Shaw Communications have pulled the plug on their Vancouver Shaw TV station, which had been broadcasting local municipal council meetings on a rotating basis.

The company announced the change in April, saying it would redirect the $10 million in funding to its Global News operations to beef up local news coverage.

“They’ve been doing this for years and it’s been a really important public service,” said Donna Powers, District of West Vancouver spokeswoman. “We’ve always appreciated this past support but given the rapidly changing information landscape, I don’t think anyone is surprised that they’re going to stop.”

Meetings from the two North Vancouvers and West Vancouver councils are live-streamed and archived on the municipalities’ websites. And, Powers pointed out, West Vancouver’s streaming service has recently been upgraded to be more user-friendly.

All three councils are currently on their summer break and will resume meetings in September.