Public interest groups anxiously await passing of new broadcast subsidy rules

If a bill currently awaiting the reconvening of the House of Commons is passed, consumer groups would have a stronger voice at CRTC broadcast hearings, according to Andy Reddick of the Public Interest Advocacy Group. Bill S-7, a proposed amendment to the Broadcasting Act, would allow the CRTC to award costs to non-industry groups, such as PIAC, that appear before it. The bill has passed third reading and is expected to go to the House for a vote following the summer recess. Cost applications are already allowed under the Telecommunications Act, but there is no similar provision in the Broadcasting Act. Reddick says the reimbursement would allow PIAC to put "a lot of legal and economic research and analysis into its proceedings" on broadcast issues. Right now, he says the organization can only afford limited research and has to "selectively pick proceedings that have significant implications for consumers, whether it be on pricing on competition". Consumer representation backed by significant research has become sparse at CRTC hearings. One organization that does appear regularly is the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, which claims to have spent $1.7 million in 2000, to advance priorities such as restoring public resources to the CBC, providing support for a strong and arm’s-length CRTC, and undertaking a "vigorous program of research to illuminate significant developments in the Canadian audio-visual system." According to Friends’ 2000 Annual Report, it spent $127,184 on research and $275,172 on public communication. But Friends has come under increasing scrutiny and according to a letter posted on its web site, is being investigated by Kroll Lindquist Avey’s Toronto office. Friends spokesman Ian Morrison is not deterred, and says the organization does not feel "vulnerable." In fact, he stresses that Friends operates without any government money, and that its structure gives it the ability to speak freely on broadcast issues. He says the organization received donations from 37,181 contributors, the largest of which was $1,000. Reddick says the model employed by Friends is more suited to the U.S. situation, and that public reimbursement of costs associated with researching and putting together briefs are necessary if consumers are to have any say in broadcast policies. "The public groups don’t have access to the same funds (as industry players), so we can’t make a counter argument or suggestions that are backed up by good research that take a different view of what is going on. The commission really only has evidence from the companies," he adds. The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) supports the idea, but opposes an additional tax being imposed on it to subsidize third-party participation in the process.

Public interest groups anxiously await passing of new broadcast subsidy rules

Broadcast | June 21, 2001

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Public interest groups anxiously await passing of new broadcast subsidy rules

Broadcast | June 21, 2001

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