OTTAWA – The CRTC should immediately regulate monthly contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) and establish an arms length dispute resolution mechanism to deal with any concerns raised about the fund, recommended the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications in its report released Thursday.
The second recommendation of the report, The Challenges Ahead for the Canadian Television Fund, is that the government re-examine the CTF’s spending envelopes, especially with respect to the CBC/Radio-Canada.
One of the complaints of Shaw and Quebecor when they withdrew their monthly contributions earlier this year was that 37% of the CTF went to the public broadcaster. Shaw and Quebecor argued the CBC should get its money directly from Parliamentary appropriations and not the CTF.
The report’s third recommendation is for the CTF to include new media projects in its spending envelopes. The neglect of new media was the biggest concern of Quebecor, which would like to receive CTF funding to produce content for its cableco Videotron’s video-on-demand service.
“The committee recognizes that the media landscape is changing rapidly and warns that those involved with the funding must become more forward looking,” states the report.
The CTF should be assessed annually using objective measures such as audience share and revenues generated by programs funded by the CTF is the fourth recommendation.
The report noted, “One important finding of this committee’s study is that transparency is a big problem with the CTF….Canadians, as taxpayers and subscribers to cable and satellite services, should have a better idea about how their money is being used.”
The fifth and final recommendation is that the annual report of the CBC/Radio-Canada be transparent concerning the sources of its funding, including CTF funding as a separate item.
Shaw and Videotron resumed their monthly contributions to the CTF when the CRTC announced in February it had created a task force to examine the fund. The CRTC’s report on the CTF is due out in June.
Shaw and Videotron contribute about $6 million monthly to the CTF, with their annual contributions accounting for about 30% of the fund’s budget.
The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications passed a motion that it be authorized to examine and report on the objectives, operation and governance of the CTF on February 8. It began its study on February 20. The committee said it would submit its final report no later than June 30, 2007.
