OTTAWA – At its annual board meeting, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters board of directors has given its new chair, independent radio broadcaster Elmer Hildebrand of Golden West Broadcasting, 45 days to come up with a new strategy for the group.
When contacted by Cartt.ca on Wednesday, Hildebrand asked for patience as he meets with various member companies to sort out next steps. However, several sources with both large and small broadcasters who spoke to Cartt.ca on condition of anonymity said the Association is almost certainly finished as an association representing TV broadcasters.
Simply put, Canwest and CTV too often want to do their own thing and represent themselves in Ottawa – and they feel very little is left in common on the TV side with Rogers Communications-owned TV properties like Citytv and Shaw family-controlled Corus Entertainment (the main problem is those broadcasters’ affiliation with the two biggest distributors, in case you were wondering).
“I think we can play nice on the radio side, though,” said one well-placed source who believes the fractures are now far too wide among the TV groups for the CAB to continue representing Canadian television broadcasters, but that the radio sector will keep an association going, in some form.
Indeed, if you read between the lines of the CAB special update to members sent Tuesday afternoon, one might sense an association ready to return to its roots – as a radio organization founded in 1926.
“The CAB was established 83 years ago out of a collective need for radio broadcasters to join together to deal with issues of common concern. Over the years, the Association has evolved and grown to adapt to the changing realities of the broadcasting industry,” said past chair Charlotte Bell in her message to the membership.
“An increasing number of common goals brought companies together under the umbrella of an Association representing the interests of all. However, in today’s ever changing media landscape, it has become more difficult to align the goals of all members within the three media sectors of the Association: radio, television and pay and specialty.”
And, members voted in a new board of directors which appears to Cartt.ca to be heavy on the radio side.
There have also been growing grumblings from the independent TV broadcasters side of the industry, too, on how the CAB has not adequately represented its wishes in favour of the largest members (which foot the bulk of the CAB’s approximate annual budget of $3 million). Cartt.ca has learned a number of those independents will meet soon to discuss the potential for formalizing their own association or lobby group in Ottawa.
While none would speak on the record to Cartt.ca, there are at least 25 such companies one could classify as independent broadcasters – companies unaffiliated with major ’casters or carriers, such as Pattison, WildTV, Pelmorex, Channel Zero, ATN, Glassbox, Ethnic Channels Group, Insight, Score Media, OutTV, Odyssey, The Accessible Channel, Fairchild, Stornoway, TV5, AllTV, APTN, S-Vox, CHEK, CTS, Miracle Channel, Fight Network, NTV, V, RNC Media.
Once the new strategy is set, expected sometime after Christmas, the new CAB would then search for a new president. It has been without a chief executive for nearly a year. It would also farm out certain other functions such as the compensation cash it collects on behalf of local broadcasters not carried on DTH.
“On behalf of the membership of the Association, I would like to thank the CAB staff for their dedication and commitment through this process.” added Hildebrand.
There will be more to come on this story in the coming weeks.
– Greg O’Brien
