Business interests inform diversity comments

Concentrated? White? Laudable qualities in laundry detergent, but arguably not in Canada's broadcasting system. The comments submitted last week as part of the CRTC's Diversity of Voices proceeding offer a glimpse of industry stakeholders' feelings on the level of ‘sameness' in broadcasting. Not surprisingly, the general rule is the bigger the entity, the less it objects to consolidation and the more it wants regulations loosened. In its submission, Shaw Communications Inc. says consumer choice, not regulatory fiat, should be the force that ensures a diverse range of programming options, news opinions and more. Echoing an argument increasingly used by broadcasters and distributors, Shaw senior VP of regulatory and corporate affairs Ken Stein says his firm is increasingly competing with unregulated online content for viewers. Given that reality, he writes in his submission, "carriage, distribution and linkage rules...simply make it more difficult for distributors, and the broadcasting system, to provide the diversity of choice and packaging demanded by individual customers," and that "protections for programmers only serve to alienate consumers from the system." On the point of common ownership, Stein holds up the recent CTVglobemedia Inc.-CHUM Ltd. acquisition to essentially argue that any tough stance on concentration would be shutting the barn door after the horse has fled, and injurious to CTVglobemedia's competitors. "Such consolidation among programmers means they no longer require protection from BDUs, but have significant bargaining power," Stein argues in his submission. "Accordingly, rules designed to protect programmers from BDUs must be eliminated. For its part, CTVglobemedia echoes Shaw's sentiment that unregulated venues for content are increasingly popular with Canadian audiences, and will de facto ensure diversity of editorial and cultural voices. The broadcaster also urges the commission to stay the course with its "light hand" approach to broadcast regulation, noting that its recent acquisition of CHUM "does not have the same impact on the diversity of voices today as it would have had even a decade ago." Corus Entertainment Inc. VP and general counsel Gary Maavara urges the regulator to craft a new ‘digital migration policy' for all broadcasting undertakings, where further consolidation would be encouraged as a means of remaining competitive, and high-quality Canadian programming would be created based on its marketable merits, not subsidies. The company says such changes will allow "the system to grow and prosper." Similarly, Rogers Communications Inc. says it's satisfied overall with the broadcasting regulatory framework's efforts to promote diversity, but also pushes for two changes - namely abolishing the change-of-control benefits policy altogether, and removing 5:1 linkage rules in favour of an ‘undue preference/disadvantage' test to ensure fairness. The push for a looser regulatory regime by BDUs and broadcasters as part of the proceeding was, not surprisingly, at odds with the views expressed by producers and creators. For much of the new millennium, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association has pressed for terms of trade agreements between its membership and all Canadian broadcasters. Its intervention reflects that priority, arguing that recent waves of consolidation make it all the more crucial. "Control over access to the broadcasting system is placed in a relatively few powerful hands," the CFTPA's submission reads. "This is not only bad for independent producers; it also short-changes Canadian television viewers." A terms of trade agreement, the document continues, will "ensure continued opportunities for independent producers and fair and equitable dealings with them." The Writers Guild of Canada pressed the CRTC to not only hold fast to the one-station-per- market policy it enforced during the CTV-CHUM acquisition process, but to expand its scope to include pay and specialty services, not just conventional broadcasters, "where a ‘market' is defined in terms of the Commission's program categories and audience targets by age group." Where consolidation between BDUs is concerned, the WGC's submission continues, the commission's review of the 1999 merger between Cancom's and Star Choice's operations should be a reference point. Certainly, groups who make a living at promoting diversity weren't impressed with the level of homogeneity in broadcasting. "Current ownership of media does not reflect Canada's ethnic, racial diversity or the extent of the regional population base in the westernmost provinces of Canada," reads a submission from Shyla Dutt, founder of the Pacific Foundation for Diversity. The Canadian Diversity Producers Association's acting chair, Patricia Scarlett, notes in her submission that despite the prevalence of non-white faces in Canadian society, there's a lack of corresponding color in the television power structure. "There are no mainstream television services that even have a minority ownership by individuals from visible minority communities, nor is there a single visible minority program executive that is a position to ‘greenlight' a broadcast project," she says. And while Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc. (APTN) operates a service dedicated exclusively to airing programming produced by, and from the perspective of, First Nations people, it is largely alone in doing so, says CEO Jean LaRose. "The sad truth is that Aboriginal peoples have been so poorly served by all commercial broadcasting outlets that the level of ownership among those outlets was simply irrelevant," writes in his intervention. Slava Levin, president of Ethnic Channels Group Ltd., reiterated in his submission an earlier complaint that the system favours non-Canadian third-language services over domestic third-language ones. The existence of policies that allow foreign services to launch even while a similar Canadian service waits in the wings for distribution, he writes, "points to a striking and profoundly disappointing failure of the CRTC's policies in this area." The public hearing phase of the proceeding begins September 17 in Gatineau, QC.

Business interests inform diversity comments

News | 07/26/2007 3:14 pm EDT

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