TORONTO – Canadians don’t trust deregulated cable and satellite TV companies to promote and deliver Canadian content on TV, and see the CRTC and the federal government as guardians of Canadian culture, states a Pollara survey conducted on behalf of some creative guilds and unions.
The survey results were released Monday, the day before the CRTC is set to start three-week-long public hearings into a new framework for broadcast distributors and specialty TV.
“Canadians have a strong sense of national identity; they want their TV programming to reflect and support that identity and values, and they look to Ottawa to ensure that it does,” said Pollara executive VP Robert Hutton.
The survey revealed that eight in ten respondents feel they have unique values and identity as Canadians and 92% say preserving Canadian values and identity is important to them personally.
Some 74% of respondents stated they thought less regulation is likely to reduce the choices of Canadian programs on TV.
“These results clearly point out that Canadians strongly support regulations that ensure access for independently owned broadcasting companies on both cable and satellite distribution systems in Canada,” said Stornoway Communications president and CEO Martha Fusca.
Pollara found that the customers of TV distributors are satisfied with their TV services. Six in ten Canadians are satisfied with pricing and program packages offered by their supplier, and the industry scores even stronger when it comes to reliability (83% satisfied), and picture and sound quality (90% satisfied).
Pollara conducted telephone interviews from March 14 to March 19, with 1,200 randomly selected Canadians who currently subscribe or have subscribed to a cable or satellite TV service in the past five years. The data were weighted by region and by age to be representative of the general population. Results of the survey are accurate to within +/-3%, 19 times out of 20.
