GATINEAU – Telus senior vice-president regulatory and government affairs Michael Hennessy asked a question that was a little uncomfortable for the commissioners – and probably the employees at broadcast stations – to hear:
To paraphrase, Hennessy asked: What if viewers in the communities of the smaller nets which are in the most dire financial circumstances (E! and A Channels) have simply decided those stations are just not good enough to watch any more?
“What we’re looking at is nothing else than a very normal response of the market as designed by audience preference,” said Hennessy. “Perhaps these channels are not as attractive as other conventional channels like CTV or CBC.”
And if the consumer has spoken, if the channels have faltered because the viewer simply doesn’t want to watch them any more, does throwing more money at something that’s failed or is failing (in the form of a fee-for-carriage or the Local Programming Improvement Fund) just make a bad thing worse?
“If that’s the case, does a tax really help these channels or does it sustain something that the market has decided it doesn’t want and does it sustain it at the cost of the strength of the industry and the strength of the broadcasters that have actually proved they can serve the market?” asked Hennessy.
Hennessy also pointed out that we already know the existing way of doing those channels has failed – because the owners have said so. Canwest has put E! on the block saying they are non core and have never been profitable and CTV has dramatically slashed programming at its A Channels, and decided to shutter stations in Windsor, Wingham and Brandon, MB.
Under questioning, Hennessy did concede that if the only station serving a market was up for closure and there’s nothing left, such as CKX Brandon, which produces two hours a day of local news and information, then perhaps that situation should be looked at individually. “That is a significant public policy question,” said Hennessy.
However, taking the Brandon situation further, perhaps regulations stand in the way of making CKX viable. “It’s possible that Dave Baxter and Westman Communications could do a better job” of providing local content if the rules surrounding what a community channel can do were “more flexible,” added Hennessy.
(Ed note: Westman is Brandon’s local cable company as well as a Brandon radio broadcaster with Star 94.7FM and CKLQ 880 AM.)
– Greg O’Brien
