TORONTO – The recent cutbacks and sharp shift in focus for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is something that should be re-thought, say its independent broadcast members.
Readers will recall that the group recently cut its size in half and retrenched its focus so that it will be much less involved with the CRTC and spend far more time and resources lobbying government MPs directly instead.
That’s not to say the smaller members don’t recognize some change is required. “I think it’s important to recognize that the CAB leadership had every good intention of being responsible and changing with the times,” S-Vox president and CEO Bill Roberts told Cartt.ca.
“And these times are truly unprecedented with regard to market failure and technologically change.”
However, “very good intentions give rise to bad consequences. As the CAB lets the dust settle during this transitional phase, as a CAB committee chair, former senior vice-president of the CAB, and a former board member, I’d invite some sober second thought,” added Roberts, whose company runs VisionTV and One: Body, Mind and Spirit.
“As a small and independent broadcaster, I think I have to raise my hand and say this ‘new’ CAB may be a folly.” The independents are not prepared to walk away from the organization, however.
Specifically, said Roberts (and his inclinations were backed up by other independent broadcasters Cartt.ca contacted), taking the association’s attention away from the Commission – a learned organization with much industry knowledge and policy-making history – “and towards quixotic politicians is a mistake.”
Especially with minority governments and the shorter terms we Canadians have been dealing with. Re-lobbying and re-informing new Industry and Heritage Ministers is an involved, expensive, process.
While it’s important to educate the politicians and their staff on the issues, said Roberts, “in a hockey game you don’t want on-ice, skilled and informed referees and linesmen replaced by remote NHL owners from Nashville and Florida carving up the bounty amongst friends –indeed those guys probably think ‘icing the puck’ is a new martini,” he quipped.
In short, I don’t think public policy should become the domain of private dinners at Hy’s in Ottawa.”
Roberts believes that thanks to the CRTC, whose processes are very open and transparent, Canada has one of the best broadcasting systems in the world. Where else could the likes of Vision, APTN and the Accessibility Channel exist, for example? But with a broadcasting association that now will do it’s best to avoid the Commission – all members will be largely left to themselves to file regulatory briefs – in favour of targeting Parliament Hill, that may, in fact, end up undermining the Commission’s work.
(Ed Note: It’s worth saying that the CAB’s two largest members, CanWest Global and CTV, have lobbied the CRTC hard of late for items like fee-for-carriage and have so far come up empty in Commission decisions – so going after MPs is perhaps what they feel will be the best tactic to get what they want.)
But, says Roberts, “instead of undermining the CRTC, we as broadcasters should be supporting it — and helping it secure the talent and resources to do a better job in challenging times.
“The CRTC should have more research capacity, more ability to stay current with fast-paced technological and cultural trends, and more ability to nurture institutional memory,” he added.
“To put our industry’s eggs into the basket of an ADM at Heritage that last week was a director-general at Fisheries and next year will be a DM in Northern Affairs seems cracked.”
“Admittedly, our large and integrated media companies, especially those with BDU connections, have now amply bulked up on regulatory hired guns. I think one of the BDU entities probably has more Ottawa lobbyists than S-VOX has employees!”
However, more and more the CAB has been unable to present a unified, coherent position to the CRTC on issues. Most notably – fee-for-carriage. CTV and Canwest want it (and have blamed recent employee cutbacks partially on that denial decision) while Rogers and small members do not.
Even so, a CAB that works with the Commission as well as MPs, is something that should be reconsidered, say the independents.
“I have yet to meet a Minister – even those special people who once worked in our world – who really, and objectively, understood the history, pace and detail of our complex media environment. Without the best and authoritative CRTC referee we’d have a brawling goon show of survival of the fittest that would make ‘Survivor’ look like high art.
“Putting our lobby focus on ideologically motivated politicians of any stripe invites the kind of interference and influence mischief that often ends up with jail terms,” said Roberts.
That doesn’t mean he has any disdain for our duly elected MPs, who “are courageous and command our respect and appreciation for their commitment to public service… But they can’t be expected to care for constituents or portfolios, and also be experts on the genesis and intricacies of Canadian broadcasting in the digital era,” Roberts continued.
“As a small and independent broadcaster, I’d just like our CAB leadership to have a moment’s pause before we set this new course in concrete.
“I don’t want it to sink us.”
