CCA Bulletin 53/06
Ottawa,
December 20, 2006
The
CRTC and Canadian Cultural Content
•
The satellite radio
re-distribution decision
•
The new Commercial
Radio Policy
•
The Over the Air
Television Policy hearings
•
New Media: the decision
to take no decision.again!
Just
the facts.
The
production and exhibition of Canadian music and drama has
been the object of much of the Canadian Conference of the
Arts' (CCA) preoccupations during the past nine months. The
CCA has intervened several times in CRTC proceedings, both
in writing and in person: in the spring, in the Commercial
Radio Policy Review; throughout the summer, against applications
by a number of Broadcast Distribution Undertakings'
(BDUs) to be allowed to redistribute Satellite
Subscription Radio services (SSR) and;
in the early fall, in the consultation on the impact of new
technologies on the Canadian Broadcasting
system and, most recently, in the review of the over
the air Television Policy.
As
the year 2006 comes to a close it is appropriate to review
these various broadcasting files, which touch on some core
priorities of the CCA, namely the production and distribution
of Canadian cultural expression: music in the case of radio,
and drama in the case of television.
Satellite
Radio
On
November 28, the CRTC announced its decision
to authorize Rogers Cable Communications (and by implication,
all other BDUs who have applied for the
same) to distribute the audio programming of one or more licensed
SSRs . In doing so, the CRTC rejected the
arguments put forward by a number of distributors (including
SaskTel, Telus, MTS Allstream and the Bell Video Group), who
had argued that they already had the authority to do so.
A
large number of Canadian Cultural organizations (the CCA,
SOCAN, ADISQ, CIRPA, UDA, AFofM, etc.) had successively
opposed Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Telus and Vidéotron
on the grounds that it would lead to the demise of existing
truly Canadian pay audio services and, quite contrary to the
BDUs' arguments, mean less choice to Canadians by
reducing the number and variety of Canadian artists they have
access to.
All
of us can claim partial victory: while allowing the redistribution
of SSRs signals, the Commission has imposed clear conditions
of license aimed at protecting the more considerable amount
and variety of Canadian content found on Canadian pay audio
services. BDUs can redistribute all or parts of the SSR services
conditional on the subscriber receiving at least 40 channels
of one or more pay audio undertakings. This re-establishes
somewhat meaningful Canadian content regulation as opposed
to what the Commission did in licensing the SSRs in 2005.
New
Commercial Radio Policy
On
December 15, the CRTC published its much awaited "new" Commercial
Radio Policy. Here again, the decision was received by
the cultural sector with mixed feelings.
First,
the CRTC rejects the arguments of the whole cultural sector
seeking to increase to at least 40% the required level of
popular Canadian music aired on commercial radio stations.
On a more marginal issue given the number of radio stations
involved, the Commission agrees with the CCA's recommendation
that Canadian content classical music requirements be increased
to 25% and Canadian jazz and blues music to 20% respectively:
the current minimum regulatory level for these genres is at
10%. However, these increases will take place only at the
next license renewal for each station, which in some cases
means a delay of a few years.
When
it comes to broadcasters' contribution to the development
of Canadian Content (interestingly enough, the Commission
no longer talks of developing Canadian talent), the Commission
has established a new approach based on a radio station's
revenues rather than on the size of the market in which it
operates. The money generated will still have to be funneled
for the most part through FACTOR and MUSICACTION: this is
something that the CCA supported, but which has many detractors
that point to most of the money going to Vancouver , Toronto
, and Montréal, with the rest of the country being
left out. The Commission estimates that had the new system
been in place in 2005, it could have generated as much as
$4 million more for talent (content) development, i.e. a 20%
increase on the actuals.
As
for ensuring diversity in musical choice instead of hearing
the same small number of songs and artists played over and
over again everywhere, a point much debated at the hearing,
the CRTC has decided to limit the exercise of its powers to
eventually asking broadcasters at license renewals time to
make specific commitments to provide airplay and promote emerging
Canadian artists.
Unfortunately,
the CRTC does not have a very impressive track record of enforcing
its own conditions of license, let alone calling broadcasters
to account for their broken promises of performance. Interestingly
enough, this patchwork approach has been chastised by a
dissenting Commissioner on the panel. It seems that emerging
artists had better continue to rely on Canadian pay audio
services and the Internet to find an audience.
Conventional
Television Policy Review
The
CCA has taken part in the CRTC over the air Television Policy
Review process which is closing this week. Focusing on the
most crucial cultural issue, drama - particularly in English
Television - the CCA first tabled
on September 27 a substantial analysis of the various (and
mostly unsuccessful attempts) of the CRTC over the past thirty
years to ensure that, in conformity with the provisions of
the Broadcasting Act , Canadians have access to their
own stories when they turn on their TV sets. Our unchallenged
analysis showed that over the past 10 years, due to the CRTC
change of policy, more than $800 million were lost to the
production of Canadian drama and regional programming. Moreover,
if strong correcting measures like the ones taken by the CRTC
in 1977 are not adopted, in 10 years (the approximate life
expectancy of a CRTC policy), Canadian broadcasters will spend
75% more on acquiring US programming than they will spend
on Canadian programming.
At
the hearing on December 1, the
CCA supported broadcasters' suggestions regarding a monthly
charge to be paid by distributors in order to shore up the
production of Canadian cultural content. However, rather than
tying the fee to the number of conventional stations in any
given market (which leads to wild discrepancies across the
country), we suggested a flat fee of $3 per month. In order
to make sure that this time the money would actually go to
the production of Canadian programming, we suggested the $300
million thus generated be directed to the Canadian Television
Fund and allocated to the best projects: let true competition
take place where it should! We also recommended, amongst other
scenarios, a regulation setting out a minimum percentage of
the previous year's broadcaster gross revenues to be spent
on Canadian programming and drama alike, at 32% and 5% respectively.
Finally,
to ensure that these programs be seen, we joined a large number
of other interveners from the cultural sector in asking that
each broadcaster be required to air three hours of Canadian
drama a week, between 8 and 10 pm, when most Canadians watch
television.
This
week, in a more technical phase of the process, we are tabling
our
rebuttal of some of the arguments (or unsubstantiated
assertions) made by broadcasters during the hearing.
The
CRTC is expected to issue its new TV policy in about six months.
New
Media
At
the request of the Government, over the past six months the
CRTC has been conducting an evaluation of the impact of new
technologies on traditional broadcasting. This evaluation
included a public call for comments over the summer.
In
its September
1 brief, the CCA advanced arguments to the effect that
while traditional media was not threatened in the short run,
it behooves the CRTC to be visionary, to recognize their growing
importance, particularly for the younger generation, and to
call upon them to make a financial contribution to Canadian
cultural content the same way that traditional broadcasters
have been obliged to do over the years.
Unfortunately,
in its report entitled "The
Future Environment Facing the Canadian Broadcasting System",
the CRTC declares that "the time
is not yet right to create new rules that would force internet
and wireless broadcasters to include Canadian content or meet
other standards it demands from conventional broadcasters".
The Commission sees no need to intervene for another 10 years!
Curiously
enough, the CRTC is once again not respecting its basic mandate
- i.e. to ensure that the cultural objectives of the Broadcasting
Act (1991) be realized: it justifies its inaction by
saying simply that private radio continues to make money and
that private TV stations are in good financial health, thus
implying that ensuring Canadians find their own cultural products
on all platforms is not one of its mandated priorities. It
will be interesting to see if the health of TV stations is
a concern when the new over the air Television Policy comes
out in six months time.
Tell
me more
Commercial
Radio Policy 2006:
Two of the five Commissioners on the panel filed strongly
worded dissenting
opinions. Worthwhile reading for those who sometimes wonder
about some decisions of the Regulator.
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