OTTAWA – CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein didn’t touch much on the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), but did announce Thursday morning that the Commission would hold a hearing on new media in the fall or winter.
“I have nothing to say on that subject [CTF] today, except that our decision and recommendations will be released in a timely manner,” von Finckenstein told a room of producers and other delegates at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA)’s Prime Time annual conference in Ottawa.
Canadian Heritage minister Josee Verner in a speech Friday night that kicked off the conference said the government would take recommendations from the CRTC on the CTF, but that it would ultimately decide the fate of the fund.
CTF chair Douglas Barrett told Cartt.ca the government’s announcement gives the “process clarity” since some of the preliminary recommendations made by the CRTC would require changes to the government’s contribution agreement with the CTF.
“Some of the recommendations made by the CRTC need the approval of Cabinet [because the contribution agreement must be changed], so without the government on board, there was no guarantee the commission’s ultimate recommendations would have been made,” noted Barrett, who will be stepping down as chair of the fund after four years this June.
Industry analysts expect some kind of response from the federal government by June, when the CTF holds its next annual meeting.
On new media front, Von Finckenstein didn’t reveal much, but the CRTC is currently undertaking a study of new media, which will be published in May.
“There is an elephant in the room called new media. We all know about it, we are challenged by it, and we need to find answers to these challenges,” noted the CRTC chair. “I expect that by this time next year, this topic will dominate our discussions. I am sure that with your [producers] customary creative and innovative attitude, you will be a major contributor to that debate.”
Von Finckenstein spend the majority of his speech – which was much more conciliatory than the one he delivered at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual convention held last November in Ottawa – discussing diversity of voices and terms of trade.
Referring to the “urge to merge” as an economic fact of life, the Commission chair said he anticipated another wave of media mergers. The CRTC approved four major media consolidations in 2007 – Astral Media-Standard Radio, CHUM-CTV, Citytv-Rogers and CanWest-Alliance Atlantis.
With more mergers expected on the horizon, the CRTC announced restrictions on cross-media ownership in January to protect local voices.
Von Finckenstein explained Thursday that the 45% of total audience share limit placed on media transactions was taken from thresholds developed by the Competition Bureau for measuring competition in banking services.
The chair also noted that disclosure of financial data by consolidated broadcasting groups could be approved to “provide greater transparency for all interested parties, including producers like you, while respecting the need for protecting the confidentiality of sensitive commercial data.”
Last month, the CRTC issued a call for comments on its proposal to publicly disclose that data.
“Whatever the final disposition of this matter, we see it as complementing your initiatives regarding terms of trade and our goal of encouraging an efficient, balanced and productive relationship between producers and broadcasters,” stated von Finckenstein.
The chair noted that the commission wanted to “smooth the way toward” terms of trade agreements between broadcasters and producers, but didn’t want to get involved in contractual arrangements.
The CRTC has been encouraging the development of such agreements by, for example, telling CanWest in approving its acquisition of Alliance Atlantis Communications that it must provide draft, or signed, terms of trade agreements with independent producers as part of the licence renewal process.
“Our recent decisions demonstrate that we are putting pressure on the broadcasters we license to conduct serious and productive negotiations with you,” von Finckenstein said.
Norma Reveler is an Ottawa-based freelance writer and is covering Prime Time for Cartt.ca.
