Canwest, Quebecor urge commission for all-or-none regulatory relief

Canwest Global Communications and Quebecor Media Inc. are arguing that the CRTC should make the same exception for all private broadcasters if it chooses to grant an immediate reduction of the Canadian content requirements for CTVGlobemedia’s conventional stations. Canwest and Quebecor say the commission should grant them the same regulatory flexibility for their conventional television channels—or reject CTV’s application for early regulatory relief. The commission is preparing to implement a new broadcasting framework by the end of August of next year, and broadcasters are expected to submit applications for licence renewals in November or December. A hearing is expected in the spring of 2011. Critics have said that broadcasters should wait for the commission ’s new television policy framework to come into force before changing their Canadian content requirements. “Canwest submits that if the Commission were to grant the flexibility sought in the current Application at any time prior to 1 September 2011, then it should be prepared to concurrently afford the same treatment to all affected television licensees,” Charlotte Bell, Canwest’s senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs, wrote in a letter to the CRTC on Aug. 13, 2010. Several broadcasters are asking for early regulatory relief ahead of the group licence renewals proceeding. In a broadcasting application, CTV has asked to reduce its Canadian content obligations for 25 of its conventional channels. The application seeks to reduce the requirements from 60 per cent of the broadcast year to 55 per cent in accordance with the commission’s new 2010 television policy. CTV made a similar application for regulatory relief for it’s A-Channel stations, and Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. has applied to reduce the Cancon for its CityTV and Omni properties. In a letter filed with the CRTC on Aug. 23, Kevin Goldstein, CTV’s vice-president of regulatory affairs, wrote that Canwest and Quebecor should have made applications to reduce their own Canadian content obligations before their scheduled group licence hearings. In its application, CTV asked to reduce its Canadian content obligations for its conventional channels from 60 per cent of the broadcast year to 55 per cent in accordance with the CRTC’s 2010 television policy. Canwest and Quebecor are some of the latest stakeholders to question the request for early regulatory relief. Cultural groups such as the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) have also said that CTV should wait for the group-based licensing proceeding before asking for any changes to its Canadian content obligations. Norm Bolen, president and CEO of the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), said the proposal to apply the new policy framework to conventional channels early would “open the floodgates” for all broadcasters. “You have to hold the line because if you open this up there will be numerous submissions made to cherry-pick the regulations and the new framework,” Bolen told The Wire Report. “The commission would be creating an incredible work load for itself because if one does it, they’ll all start doing it.” Goldstein wrote in CTV’s Aug. 23 letter that it was the CRTC’s intent to have the new television policy framework in effect a year earlier—and that an early application of the new policy to CTV’s conventional stations follows the original timeline. “Yes, it did take the commission longer to create the policy framework than people expected, and yes it will be a longer period of time before the licences are renewed, but that’s because the commission was responding to requests from the broadcasters to build a framework with more flexibility,” Bolen said. Goldstein wrote that the financial realities surrounding conventional over-the-air stations mean that it should receive more programming flexibility before the new television policy framework is implemented. According to the CRTC’s annual statistical report on the communications industry, revenues for conventional television stations decreased by 7.9 per cent, from $2.1 billion to $1.9 billion, between 2008 and 2009. Private conventional stations saw the biggest revenue dip among the entire television sector, which includes the CBC and specialty and pay-per-view services. But Bolen said the CRTC should look at conventional stations in the context of the private broadcasters’ entire holdings, which include more commercially successful specialty channels. “If you look at the whole CTVglobemedia package, or the Shaw/Canwest package, or Rogers, and you look at their services across the board they’re doing very well,” Bolen said. “It’s just an attempt to get around the rules and get them quick relief in areas where they are maybe struggling a little more than others.” Goldstein said that a five per cent reduction in Canadian content obligations would not have any impact on the volume of Canadian programming produced for over-the-air television. He wrote that the 50 per cent Canadian content quota during primetime hours would remain intact. jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Canwest, Quebecor urge commission for all-or-none regulatory relief

News | 08/24/2010 10:39 pm EDT

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