TORONTO – The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is urging the CRTC to require Canadian broadcasters to stick to last year’s TV Policy, thereby living up to their obligations to Canadian audiences.
In a submission filed Friday as part of the Commission’s reply phase in the group-based licence renewal hearing, the WGC said that the 2010 TV Policy created a balanced framework in which broadcasters received programming flexibility and a reduced exhibition requirement in return for guaranteed commitments to making quality Canadian programming, particularly Programs of National Interest (PNI) like dramas, documentaries and awards shows.
"The WGC came into the licence renewal hearing respecting the terms of the new 2010 TV Policy, but the broadcasters did not”, said WGC executive director Maureen Parker, in a statement. “Instead they fiddled with their data in the midst of the hearing – adding some new, changing some old, with one of them going so far as to reclassify reality shows they had previously called docs – all to reduce their historical expenditure on PNI in order to reduce their future obligations. While broadcasters want to cherry-pick the TV Policy for the terms most favourable to them, they are working very hard to minimize any obligation to Canadian drama and docs. Yet that programming is the only thing that differentiates our broadcasters from the Americans.”
The WGC also took issue with the broadcasters insinuation that there may not be capacity in the Canadian production community to deal with increased demand, calling the suggestion “outrageous”.
