TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) blasts Canadian broadcasters in a media release Wednesday as they gear up to spend millions on U.S. film and television shows down south at the LA Screenings.
“Once again, Canada’s private broadcasters are in L.A. spending millions of Canadian dollars on Hollywood productions, ignoring their obligations to Canada’s culture and taxpayers. They make millions off Canada’s public airwaves thanks to the CRTC, by showing U.S. programming, while letting Canada’s film and television industry wither,” said ACTRA National Executive Director Stephen Waddell.
ACTRA notes that Canada’s over-the-air private broadcasters spent more than $718 million on foreign programming in 2007 – 17 times as much as they spent on English-Canadian drama.
“Canadians deserve to be able to produce and watch their own stories. We create quality programming that is pushed off the dial by American content. Our private broadcasters don’t care because they can purchase U.S. programming and ready-to-go promotion packages without having to do any work of their own,” stated ACTRA National President Richard Hardacre.
ACTRA again called on the CRTC to ensure private broadcasters spend at least 7% of their advertising revenue on new Canadian English-language dramas and schedule a minimum of two hours of these dramas in real prime-time (Sunday to Thursday, 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m).
