Broadcast regulator expected to boost monitoring role during next three years

Having exhaustively reviewed almost all of Canada's major broadcasting policies in the last three years, the country's under-funded and overworked broadcast regulator is poised to take on more of a monitoring role during the next three years. As the CRTC puts the finishing touches on its new three-year strategic plan early in the new year, it's unlikely that it will propose to take on any new major initiatives during that time. Apart from several key licence renewals and a call for applications for new pay and specialty services, the commission's new strategic plan will likely emphasize a monitoring role for the regulator for the period between 2000 and 2003. The plan is expected to be released publicly in March. Industry stakeholders have urged the CRTC to concentrate on clearing its backlog working to improve service delivery over the next three years. "The industry is asking us to take a break," Caroline St-Jacques, the CRTC's director of communications, told CCR. The CRTC is awaiting word from the Treasury Board of Canada on whether it will have access to a $3-million top-up to help manage its sizeable workload. It could use some of the funds to increase monitoring activities so it can adequately analyze the impact of recent major policy changes. CRTC staff recently reviewed the main goals of the last strategic plan (Vision plan) during a planning exercise. They debated which issues are still relevant and which ones need to be revisited and modified over the next three years. Results from that recent planning session will be used to prepare the new strategic plan. Increased funds from the Treasury Board will allow the commission to focus on certain priority files, including those relating to competition, consolidation, convergence and access. Licensing renewals are expected to take up a large chunk of the CRTC's time over the next few years. Under the new TV policy, which takes effect in September 2000, CTV Inc and other television groups will seek licence extensions for all of their undertakings at the same time. The commission will also spend time ensuring its new TV and radio policies are working as hoped, and monitoring the new media and trade environments. A review of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations was also on the agenda for 2000, but a major policy review doesn't appear to be in the cards given that the regulations only came into effect in January 1998. "What we'll do is not review at large as we did with (the TV and radio policies) but rather take a look at some issues," St-Jacques says. "We will review some priority issues rather than review the whole policy at once." Scope of strategic plan depends on funding request outcome The development of a new strategic plan for the CRTC and the request for additional funds from the Treasury Board are inextricably linked, according St Jacques. That's because what the CRTC proposes to undertake during the next three years will depend largely on the resources it has at its disposal. "We're expecting to get a `yes' for this request, so when the time comes to do our next budget, we'll have a clearer sense if we can absorb everything in the next strategic plan or if we have to prioritize." The CRTC hosted a roundtable discussion with broadcasting industry representatives in August to discuss licence fees and issues relating to cost recovery. During that meeting, industry executives were briefed on how budget cuts in recent years have hindered the commission's service delivery. The broadcasting roundtable was told that since 1994-95, budgets for the CRTC broadcasting business line have decreased by $2.8 million or 13%, and staff has been reduced by 53. Creating a less intrusive regulatory environment appears to have become a burden for the CRTC, which is why it asked the Treasury Board this Fall for another $3 million to manage its workload over the next three years beginning in the 2000-2001 fiscal period. The commission received $3 million in emergency funding earlier this year from the Treasury Board to deal with its backlog, but it says that's still not enough. Competitive regime creating more work for commissioners "We're just trying to deal with the workload that we have in front of us and the concerns that have been expressed by the industry," David Colville, the CRTC's vice-chair of telecommunications, recently told CCR's affiliate publication, Canadian Communications Network Letter. "Even though you open up markets to competition, it's actually created more work for us." The additional $3 million in resources is a temporary funding measure to assist the commission in addressing a peak in its workload. After the three years, the commission says it's likely its budget levels could be reduced to levels below those established for the current fiscal year. If it gets the additional $3 million, the CRTC plans to divide the new money evenly between its broadcasting and telecom divisions. The CRTC began its lobbying efforts for increased funding to deal with its current woes earlier this year in its 1999-2000 Part III Estimates released in March. The commission openly admitted that the timeliness of decisions suffered in 1998 due to resource constraints and staffing shortages. The report warned that such delays threaten to weaken the competitiveness of Canadian companies in the international market (CCR, April 21/99). The broadcasting industry has quietly lobbied the federal government to boost the commission's resources because licensees could face a 7.5% increase in Part I broadcasting licence fees if the Treasury Board doesn't come through with more money. Even if it wasn't facing a potential increase in licence fees, the industry would still support the CRTC's request for increased funding because the new resources will be spent to address workload pressures and to improve service delivery.

Broadcast regulator expected to boost monitoring role during next three years

News | 12/22/1999 5:00 am EST

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