OTTAWA – The CBC was specifically denied inclusion into the value for signal club on Monday by the CRTC.
The Broadcasting Act specifically says the CBC has to be made available to the largest number of Canadians possible. But, the new value-for-signal regime would let broadcasters pull their signals in a contract dispute.
Those two ideas don’t go together, said the Commission.
“(T)he Commission notes that section 3(1)(m)(vii) of the Act states that the programming provided by the CBC should ‘be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose,’” says the decision from today.
“(T)he regime foreseen by the Commission would allow broadcasters to require program deletion when negotiating for a fair value for the distribution of their programming services. In light of the objective above, the Commission considers that it would be inconsistent to permit the CBC to require deletion of its programming from a BDU and hence prevent the public from receiving its programming.”
The Corp disagrees saying that with over 40% of its budget dependent on advertising, it is being hit by revenue decreases, too, and should be able to push for a wholesale carriage rate. The rest of CBC’s budget (about $1 billion), comes from all Canadian taxpayers.
The decision recognises the market fragmentation that is harming private conventional broadcasters but is “wilfully blind” to the fact that CBC/Radio-Canada is subject to the same pressures, reads the CBC’s reaction.
“The CRTC’s decision defies logic,” said Hubert Lacroix, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada. “The Commission wants to save Canadian programming. CBC/Radio-Canada invests more in Canadian programming than all of the other broadcasters combined. Denying us the same rights held by every other broadcaster in this country means that this supposed solution will not apply to over half of the Canadian content produced and aired in this country – over $650 million last year alone.”
“We’ve been evaluating the potential repercussions of a decision like this for several months now,” continued Lacroix. “One thing is clear: this will force us to cut programs and services, and our ability to fulfill our mandate has been compromised. The independent production sector, the cultural community, and the public will all suffer as a consequence.”
The Commission will look deeper into the CBC’s issues during its next license renewal hearing.
