OTTAWA – The promise of more regional and children’s programming as well as more programs of national interest (PNI) were not enough for some of CBC/Radio-Canada’s detractors. In final comments to its licence renewal filed this week, many suggested that the public broadcaster needs to still do even more Canadian programming than it committed during replies stage.
ACTRA said the CRTC shouldn’t been fooled by CBC’s request for flexibility, which has usually been synonymous with airing less Canadian content. Nor should the CBC shouldn’t be able to use its fiscal challenges as an excuse to its lessen its obligations. “Without clearly-defined minimum category expectations, we’ve seen first-hand that broadcasters will abandon PNI in pursuit of less costly programming options. Clear evidence of this can be seen in the corporation’s proposals regarding PNI, and children and youth programming,” the association wrote in its December 11 final comments.
ACTRA acknowledged that CBC bettered its children’s programming commitment, but criticized the public broadcaster for forgetting the youth segment (12 to 17 years old), something the CBC executives were questioned on by the panel of commissioners, too. The actors group noted that despite suggestions this age group is moving away from TV, CBC still has an obligation to serve this segment.
“Accordingly, we request the Commission make it a condition of licence the that CBC broadcast five hours of programming per week to youth (12 to 17 years), 30% of which should be original programming.”
Even the CBC’s decision to boost its original seven hours of PNI per week to nine was met with some harsh criticism. ACTRA noted that if this was accepted, the corporation would have lesser commitments to independent productions for PNI than the private broadcasters. This is “unacceptable,” the group argued.
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) was particularly critical of the public broadcaster’s commitment to independent production for PNI. It described CBC’s suggested nine hours as falling short of current levels and told the CRTC that the corporation shouldn’t be allowed to show fewer PNI programming than others because of its financial challenges.
Besides, the CMPA added, the CBC’s commitment to independent production seems dubious. The 5.3 hours per week of independent PNI programming “makes a mockery of the general broadcasting policy objective that the broadcasting system should ‘include a significant contribution from the Canadian independent production sector’.” (Ed note: The preceding paragraph in an earlier version of this piece contained stronger descriptors in our copy to which the CMPA objected. We agree they were too strong and have adjusted it.)
Overall, the corporation’s reliance on independent production isn’t high enough, said the independent producers group, noting that a “balanced and diverse schedule” requires more than a commitment to 9% of programming sourced from indie producers. CBC has accepted a balanced schedule as a condition of licence (COL), but the CMPA says this COL should require to CBC “to acquire at least 50% of its programming from independent sources.” The current 9% level places “Canada's national public broadcaster far below numerous niche specialty services.”
ADDING NATIONAL ADVERTISING ON RADIO 2 and Espace musique was, of course, another big bone of contention for many parties during CBC’s licence renewal hearing. In final arguments, those issues remain. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Radio Council noted that the corporation has “grossly” underestimated the impact of national advertising in small markets. It points to CRTC data to support its argument.
Data for 2011 shows that national advertising accounted for 21.8% of total advertising in all small radio markets. For English-language small market radio, it was 21.2%, while French-language markets saw 25.4% national advertising. “Thus, the CBC commercial radio proposal could put at risk a significant portion of 20%-25% of the advertising revenues of small market radio stations,” states the CAB.
Independent broadcaster MZ Media (a division of Zoomer) reiterated its fierce opposition to allowing advertising on the two radio properties. The phased-in approach as proposed by CBC during the reply stage did nothing to allay the company’s concerns. It noted that the public broadcaster could bank unused advertising minutes in some hours, only to allocate them in peak listening periods in direct competition with MZ Media’s radio stations.
“From the standpoint of MZ Media, it is feasible that in the first broadcast year, CBC would broadcast well in excess of five minutes per hour, in programs that compete for audience directly with CFMZ-FM Classical 96.3 – such as the classical music programs and programs that attract an older-skewing audience,” read the company’s final comments.
Final reply comments from CBC/Radio-Canada itself are due December 18.
