TORONTO – Canada’s public broadcaster has a key role to play, perhaps even more vital in this era of vertical integration, but it needs the Local Program Improvement Fund and “a flexible regulatory framework" to continue to do so.
That was the gist of an address given Thursday afternoon by CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix at the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto.
In his first public address since the federal government handed the Corp. $115 million in budget cuts this spring, Lacroix wasted no time in taking issue with the popular refrain that CBC, which receives about $1 billion from the government, competes unfairly against private sector broadcasters who claim to “struggle from a position of unfair economic disadvantage” because they do not receive public support.
“This is false”, Lacroix said. “All media organizations benefit significantly (i) from sources like the Canada Media Fund and the Local Programming Improvement Fund and (ii) through direct or indirect regulatory or fiscal advantages, which are specially designed and set up to help fulfill legislative objectives.”
Noting that private broadcasters such as Bell, Shaw and Quebecor receive about $900 million per year in public subsidies and benefits, Lacroix reiterated his position that "there’s no such thing in this country as a purely private broadcaster."
“There is no sustainable free-market model that will support a significant Canadian broadcasting industry without public regulation and/or subsidy”, he added. “Buying and airing American programming is just too easy and too profitable.”
The challenge, he continued, is to ensure that both the public and private parts of the industry have the necessary capital, business models and resources to offer Canadians the content they want across all platforms.
For Canadian broadcasters to continue to do what they do best, the three-year old Local Program Improvement Fund (LPIF) must be maintained, Lacroix said, noting that it has allowed CBC to offer local viewers 30% more “high quality” news and non-news programming, and Radio Canada to offer 23% more local programming in eligible markets than pre-LPIF levels.
Looking ahead to CBC/Radio-Canada’s license renewal hearings in November, Lacroix said that he’ll be looking for conditions of license that enable the ‘pubcaster’s “continued transformation”.
“As the industry has trended and continues to trend towards greater deregulation, the public broadcaster absolutely needs a flexible regulatory framework that will support us as we move to become more distinctly Canadian, more regional and more digital.”
And despite the budget cuts and resulting scaling back of its ambitious five-year strategy ‘Everyone, Every Way’, it’s still full speed ahead at CBC/Radio-Canada “to ensure that we are, and can continue to be, the first place that Canadians think of when it comes to the Canadian experience, Canadian culture, and Canadian democratic life.”
“But even with all that (planned cutbacks to programming and jobs), it is our intention over the next three years, as our per capita funding declines from $34 per Canadian per year to $28.60 per Canadian, to hold to our commitment to be more Canadian, more regional and more digital”, he added.
– Lesley Hunter
