CRTC’s new Cancon policy pushing broadcasters to seek better ratings, expert says

OTTAWA—Canadian English-language drama represents a content “success story” under the CRTC’s new group-based licensing model, where broadcasters are now focused on better ratings for their Canadian dramas, comedies and other programming, Peter Grant, a broadcasting expert and partner with McCarthy Tétrault, said Thursday at a broadcast industry conference. In March of 2010, CRTC decision 2010-167 introduced a group-based approach to licensing for large broadcasting groups, which granted more flexibility to English-language TV stations. A follow-up decision on licence renewals last year released the requirements for English-language broadcast groups and introduced a new policy for the airing of “programs of national interest,” which covers Canadian drama and comedy, long-form documentaries, and awards shows that celebrate Canadian talent like the Junos. “The PNI policy was a laborious effort by the commission to address the single most difficult problem in Canadian broadcasting, and that’s how to support funds for Canadian drama and comedy,” Grant said Thursday in a presentation to industry professionals at the Canadian Media Production Association’s (CMPA) Prime Time Conference in Ottawa. He said that because broadcasters are now required to spend money on this type of content, the question for them becomes, “how can I get the highest ratings for the programs that I commission?” Grant said Canadian programming will continue to improve as private broadcasters put more funding into and greater emphasis on ratings for their Canadian dramas. “I think that it represents a success story given the competition from Hollywood,” he said. Broadcasters see the sale of high quality Canadian dramas—such as CTV’s Flashpoint and Global TV’s Rookie Blue—to U.S. broadcasters as a “holy grail,” he said. “Not only do these count as high value Canadian shows,” Grant said, “but they can be simulcast with U.S. stations, thereby increasing the audience.” Grant said drama and comedy is a popular genre, pointing to the CRTC's Communications Monitoring Report, released last year, which showed that all drama and comedy programming accounted for a 43.2 per cent share of viewing on all English-language broadcasts in Canada in 2009-2010. Canadian drama and comedy accounted for 19.2 per cent of viewing in the 2009-2010 broadcast year. Grant said broadcast companies BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc. and Astral Media Inc., “will account for 75 per cent of PNI spending by English-language broadcasters over the next five years.” This is a “dramatic change” from Canada’s previous broadcasting situation, he said. Shaw and Bell agreed Thursday that Cancon spending, related to the requirement to air programs of national interest, could increase, but neither company could predict by what amount. “I have no doubt that we will spend on PNI, but I don’t know how much,” Christine Shipton, vice-president of original content at Shaw Media, said during a panel discussion. “Maybe more, but I don’t know.” “Whether there’s a drastic rise depends on revenues,” Mirko Bibic, senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs at Bell, said during the discussion. He said the CRTC’s group-based licensing approach is a great concept “but for us, we haven’t seen that much of an advantage.” Rogers’ new group licence is good until 2014 and the other large broadcast groups involved in the proceeding—Bell, Corus and Shaw—got five-year terms good until 2016. Under the new licensing framework, Rogers must spend at least 23 per cent of its gross annual revenues on Canadian programming for its conventional television stations while the other groups must spend 30 per cent of revenue on Canadian programming overall. Rogers must direct 2.5 per cent of its Canadian expenditures to national interest programs and 2.5 per cent to new local programming over the first two years of its licence. Those numbers will increase to three per cent and two per cent, respectively, in the third year. Grant said the private broadcasters got off “relatively lightly” in terms of the requirements of programs of national interest because the commission based the rates on historical expenditures for the programming. Over the past few years, he said, the rates were at an “all-time low” for conventional TV stations. Grant added that public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada, will still be an important player for distinctive drama and long form documentaries. The CBC’s licensing hearings were planned to take place last fall but have been postponed until after the broadcaster’s budget for the year is released in the Conservative government's federal budget on March 29. dgrenier@thewirereport.ca

CRTC’s new Cancon policy pushing broadcasters to seek better ratings, expert says

News | 03/02/2012 9:17 pm EST

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