TORONTO – With the CRTC’s annual release of financial and other statistics from Canadian broadcasters, ACTRA, the actors union, is up in arms.
"Last year we were shocked that so-called Canadian private broadcasters spent four times more on U.S. programming than they did on original Canadian drama. Now we’re appalled to learn that in 2005, they spent almost five times more. The system is clearly broken," said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director, in a statement.
According to the CRTC’s report, broadcasters spent $401 million on imported drama, mostly from the U.S., and $86.6 million on original Canadian drama in 2005. Besides drama, private broadcasters also spent $310.2 million on news programs, $59.4 million for other information programs, $83.1 million for general interest programming, and $29.2 million for musical and variety shows, for a total of $568.5 million.
(The industry also employs over 8,110 people [up from 7,685 in 2001], working for an average annual salary of $69,832, a 9.4% increase from 2001.)
"U.S. programming is a cash cow. Instead of investing in our own industry, Canada’s private broadcasters are sending their money to Los Angeles," Waddell added. "The CRTC has to fix its 1999 mistake and implement strong content and spending requirements. Broadcasters must be made to live up to their obligations under the Broadcasting Act and be held accountable to the system that serves them so profitably."
The CRTC’s 1999 Television Policy continues to allow private broadcasters to satisfy Canadian content requirements by pouring money into cheap reality programming at the expense of original drama, says ACTRA.
"Broadcasters’ primetime schedules are driven by Hollywood dramas dumped onto Canadian airwaves at bargain-basement prices. As a result Canadians have lost the ability to see and hear their own stories played out through weekly dramatic series," said Waddell.
