Coalition of Canadian multicultural media producers readying competing proposal to OMNI in anticipation of CRTC call
FEW CANADIANS OUTSIDE of the TV industry are aware of a major decision under consideration by the CRTC right now that involves the Rogers Communications-owned multicultural TV channels known as OMNI TV.
Rogers is asking the Commission to turn OMNI Free TV into OMNI Pay TV and for all Canadians to chip in about $80 million to help Rogers run the channel (Cartt.ca has reported on that here, here, here and here). It is a financial bailout request by one of Canada's richest companies. A bailout bid framed as an exceptional new TV initiative.
Rogers' argument is that OMNI TV has been so unsuccessful in the past few years that the CRTC needs to urgently award it this exceptional mandate without requesting and considering competing proposals from other interested parties.
In a rare show of solidarity, last summer all five of Canada’s charter ethnic broadcasters objected to the odd way this proposal came up and the lack of a clear, open call by the CRTC inviting interested parties to make competing proposals.
What has been called into question is not the long overdue need for a national multicultural channel. Discussion about that need has been avoided and discouraged for decades by various interests, including Rogers itself. So, we are among those applauding Rogers for finally making a forceful argument about this unmet need in the broadcast system. What is questionable, however, is the appropriateness of rushing to grant such an exceptional mandate on a sole source basis, especially in these circumstances.
Rogers told the CRTC in December that even if it doesn’t get the financial bailout it is asking for, OMNI TV will continue for the foreseeable future. So the supposed urgency to 'save' OMNI does not exist.
“The form of the bid was unusual and the quality of the bid is uninspired.”
The form of the bid was unusual and the quality of the bid is uninspired. Last year during the regular license renewal process for the existing OMNI free over the air TV channels, Rogers made a brand new request. It proposed a new specialty TV channel to be known as OMNI Regional, not in substitution for, but on top of OMNI Free TV. The new OMNI would be a mirror of the existing OMNI. Same shows, same name. The only real change would be that every Canadian TV subscriber would have to pay for the new channel. If approved, the old OMNI Free TV would effectively become OMNI Pay TV.
It's not that the CRTC has ignored OMNI’s problems. Last year the CRTC freed up $3 million a year from local and community TV funding so Rogers can divert its spending to support OMNI Free TV. Rogers wants another $16 million a year more than that. It adds up to $95 million over the next five years.
And when it comes to figuring out the real numbers, what Rogers said to the press in 2015 is not what Rogers is saying now. At the time, a Rogers executive told the Globe and Mail that the cancelled multilingual newscasts were costing $9 million per year and bringing in only $3.9 million in advertising. The claimed $5.1 million annual shortfall has ballooned into a $16-plus million dollar annual request. The reinstatement of these cancelled newscasts is the only clearly promised programming on the new OMNI Pay TV channel. Yet these are the same newscasts that Rogers argued in 2015 were no longer necessary or desired by audiences who have access to news from a number of digital sources.
“Do you support OMNI's new application or are you against multicultural media? It is a false choice.”
The OMNI financial bail out request is truly a drop in the bucket for Rogers which brings in revenues of $14 billion a year. And it seems even more inappropriate given Rogers' recently announced write-offs of about $600 million dollars for its other TV ventures in IPTV and OTT.
The loaded question that has been presented in this case is troublesome: Do you support OMNI's new application or are you against multicultural media? It is a false choice.
Why would the CRTC even consider such a thing? Because the truth is, Canada really does need to have a flagship national multicultural TV channel. It is decades overdue. But the OMNI model for TV is not that channel. OMNI has always been a part-time multicultural channel that relied on hit American series to generate the dollars to support multicultural shows.
Multicultural TV in Canada is very important. It is generally accepted, and enshrined in legislation, that Canadian multicultural TV can and does play an important role in newcomer integration, cross cultural understanding, social cohesion, harmony, trust and unity.
We believe that multicultural TV in Canada is so important that it should not be sole sourced. Canada deserves better than an improvised approach to Multicultural TV. Compounding the situation is the fact that the CRTC’s 1999 Ethnic Broadcasting Policy has never been revisited and is now completely out of date.
Multicultural TV in Canada is much more than OMNI TV and Rogers. For too long Rogers has dominated the sector and marginalized the importance of other operators. Now that OMNI is an admitted failure, it is important to recognize that the most watched multilingual, multicultural TV channels in Canada are, in fact, run by other Canadian companies.
For instance, Telelatino Network and Fairchild Media together have over 65 years of ethnic broadcasting experience and the communities they serve represent the #1, #2, #3 and #4 most spoken foreign languages in Canada. And they have shown a level of commitment that is unwavering. While Rogers has been cutting OMNI programs, other ethnic media companies have been expanding, adding new programs and launching new services. Telelatino's networks alone have grown from a single channel to seven TV channels dedicated to various communities and interests.
The CRTC policy for permitting a channel to get the kind of privileges Rogers is seeking for the 'new OMNI' is that it be “exceptional”. But how is a “mirror” channel of OMNI TV “exceptional”? It is not.
Rogers has even suggested that its motives are purely philanthropic because it says the new OMNI Pay TV would be run on a “not for profit” basis. It is an odd and misleading statement since there is no not for profit organization involved whatsoever. The terminology of charitable organizations is simply being appropriated and misused by a purely commercial business.
Canadians deserve better than a failing, out of date model, a mediocre new vision and a limited process. We anticipate the CRTC will set aside the OMNI Pay TV proposal and make a call for applications from all interested parties to operate such an exceptional multicultural and multilingual Canadian channel. One which demonstrates an inspired vision by dedicated and reliable operators in a new digital media world.
Aldo Di Felice is president of Telelatino Networks
