CRTC allows CBC to continue to broadcast blockbuster films during peak hours

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has won a licence amendment from the CRTC that will allow it to continue to broadcast non-Canadian blockbuster films during peak viewing hours, relatively quietly reversing a controversial condition of licence that was imposed during the public broadcaster’s most recent licence renewal in January 2000 (CCR, May 23/03). The CBC declined in 2000 to appeal the licence condition, but in the end still managed to get what it wanted. The licence amendment granted August 13 in the middle of the current seven-year licence term means that a ban on popular movies will never come into force (Broadcasting Decision 2003-398). When the CBC received its licence renewal in 2000, the CRTC granted it a three-year phase-in period to allow it to broadcast any movies to which it had acquired the rights. That period was to end September 1. The CRTC gives little reasoning for the reversal of its decision, stating simply that it buys the CBC’s argument that being able to do so will help the public broadcaster fulfill its mandate. "The commission considers that the broadcast of popular non-Canadian films in peak viewing hours is not inconsistent with the CBC’s mandate under the (Broadcasting) Act. While the Act clearly requires the CBC to focus on Canadian programming, it contemplates that a certain amount of such non-Canadian programming would be included in the CBC’s schedules," reads the decision. The commission also decided not to take a half-measure, declining to impose a maximum number of movies the CBC can air per week. CBC spokesperson Jason MacDonald says it "would be an exercise in speculation" to calculate the financial impact of the decision. However, CBC brass back in 2000 were quick to point out that the ban would deplete annually $88 million in revenue from the English-language network. At press time, he had not yet provided figures on the number of movies broadcast by the CBC in 2000 compared with 2002 and so far in 2003. The regulator indicated that it was satisfied that the number of non-Canadian blockbusters on the CBC’s English network "had not been excessive." It did, however, express concerns that the majority of the movies aired on the public broadcaster’s French-language network in the 2001 broadcast year were in English. The CRTC urged the CBC to "place significant emphasis on the broadcast of original, French-language, non-Canadian feature films for its francophone audiences, films that would not generally be available to these viewers from other broadcast sources." It plans to review the CBC’s performance in this regard over the remainder of the licence term. Many broadcasters, including Bell Globemedia Inc., CHUM Ltd., Craig Media Inc., Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd., and TVA Group Inc., as well as the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), opposed the licence amendment, arguing that the CBC continued to inflate the Canadian broadcast rights for foreign films. The CBC responded that the number of non-Canadian hit movies aired during the peak viewing hours in the 2001 broadcast year represented respectively 3.7% and 1.1% of the total inventory of 1,000 films that its condition of licence had proposed excluding and thus would have little influence on the overall prices paid. In this instance, the CBC successfully argued that the broadcast environment had sufficiently changed to warrant a CRTC reversal of a policy it had imposed. But when it comes to other regulatory policies, such as the TV policy, people such as broadcast veteran Trina McQueen argue that major conditions of licence shouldn’t be altered in mid-term. Even though the production community blames the TV policy for a decline in Canadian drama on TV screens, McQueen argues that the imposition of quotas in the middle of a licence term would create regulatory uncertainty. On the other hand, the unions and guilds state that the broadcast environment has changed significantly to warrant the implementation of some quotas.

CRTC allows CBC to continue to broadcast blockbuster films during peak hours

Broadcast | August 22, 2003

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