CCA Bulletin 12/10

May 4, 2010

CCA to CRTC: Put Communities Back in Community Television and: The Canada Prizes for the Arts and Creativity Resurface

Just the Facts – CRTC hearing on Community Television

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) appeared in front of the CRTC today to present its views on the policy framework for community television. The current hearing’s purpose is to determine clearly how the objectives embedded in the concept of community television in the Broadcasting Act can be best achieved within the convergent environment of communications and broadcasting.

The CCA has reiterated the support expressed in a February 1, 2010 submission in favour of the broad proposal put forward by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), and urged the CRTC to put communities back into community television.  CACTUS is proposing a return to truly community owned and controlled stations and for the creation of an independent Community Access Media Fund financed by the current 2% levy on cable operators’ gross revenue. With the money currently available, CACTUS proposes to create some 250 multi-media community centres across Canada. This proposal has already received the support of a large number of cultural and civil society organizations.

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The CRTC is faced with two competing models to govern how community television will operate. The CACTUS model proposes that community TV be controlled by communities, in the same way that private companies control private broadcasting: this model is closely aligned with what the CCA deems to be the intent of the Act. 

The other model proposes that private cable operators further extend their control and authority over community TV. This cable-operated model is the ill-defined result of changes in technologies, concentration of ownership and the ensuing commercial based approach that has been allowed to develop in a context of inadequate accountability. Over the years, cable operators have drastically changed the concept of community television and reduced the number of stations. Some provinces are left with only one community channel and in general, there is considerably less original community programming produced in Canada compared to 10 years ago.

The relentless efforts of CACTUS to get relevant information on how cable operators use the $130 million which they collect annually have demonstrated the total lack of accountability of the current system. Despite very last minute efforts by the CRTC to ask for some coherent reporting by cable operators, the public will still be lacking the tools required to properly evaluate how well the current community TV policy has been working and how well it delivers on the social objectives set by Parliament.  The new information to be made available for comments at the end of this week falls short of what is required. For example, one would need to know:

1. how many original hours of Canadian content are broadcast in comparison to repeats;

2. how many cable staff are being paid by cable subscribers to support community TV, per community, and whether these staff work on other cable business;

3.how many volunteers receive training, and in what areas. Are those volunteers simply acting as free staff for cable operators?  Or are most learning how to create and produce their own programs?

4.how much money is being used to pay for cable companies’ “own” programs?

The CCA concludes that the future of community television cannot be dealt with fairly and completely within the confines of the current hearing. The CCA has therefore asked the CRTC to enable a debate based on factual analysis of the current system and of the alternative presented by CACTUS.

The CCA invites the CRTC to do the following:

On May 3, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Hon. James Moore, re-announced the establishment of the Canada Prizes for the Arts and Creativity. The Minister stated that the Prize will be administered by the Canada Council for the Arts – a move which the CCA supports and had called for in order to avoid spending unnecessary resources on establishing new infrastructure to produce the Prizes.

The second seemingly good piece of news is that  the focus of the Prizes now seems to have turned 180o and instead of “ferreting out the best and brightest young talent from around the world” as announced last year, "these Prizes will recognize outstanding Canadian artistic achievements and will help brand Canada as a centre of excellence.”

The Canada Prizes were originally announced in the 2009 Federal Budget as part of the Economic Stimulus Package. The $ 25 million endowment had come as a total surprise to most and immediately created a backlash within the cultural community, leading the Minister to quickly distance himself from the project. Conceived as an international Toronto-based competition, the Canada Prizes were announced a few months after major cuts were made to programs funding the promotion and audience development of Canadian artists abroad. At the time, many believed that the $25 million allocated towards the Prize should have been money reinvested into the marketing of Canadian talent on an international stage, rather than awarding international artists within Canada.  The latter issue remains unresolved to this day.

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The Minister has set up an Advisory panel of experts that will generate a series of recommendations and options regarding the parameters of the Canada Prizes. The members of the Advisory Panel are Joseph L. Rotman, Simon Brault, Tony Gagliano, Liza Maheu, and Jennifer Clarke. This group must present a final report to the government during the summer.

Mr. Rotman is the Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Brault is the CEO of the National Theatre School and the Vice-Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Gagliano is currently Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Communications and the President of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Ms. Maheu is Executive Director of La Maison des artistes visuels du Manitoba and sits on the Board of Trustees for the National Gallery of Canada. Finally, Ms. Clarke is the President of JPC Strategies Ltd. and has been a Project Manager with the National Maritime Centre for the Pacific and the Arctic since 2006.

What can I do?

The Advisory Panel will benefit from discussions with key figures in the arts and culture sector as it considers the best model for the Canada Prizes. It will also take into account written submissions from Canadians interested in sharing their views about this initiative through an online consultation process. To take part in this online consultation, Canadians are invited to visit www.canadianheritage.gc.ca.