TORONTO – The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) took a little more time to review last week’s CRTC’s broadcast policy changes and licence renewals before joining its fellow associations in denouncing the move to allow broadcasters to spend less on Canadian Programs of National Interest (PNI).
DOC said Tuesday that it applauds the extra credits offered for programs produced by Indigenous producers and producers from official language minority communities, and “fully supports” the convening of an event on increasing women’s access to key creative and production positions.
Executive director Pepita Ferrari said that DOC is pleased that the CRTC plans to revise PNI reporting and annual returns to provide better information regarding Canadian productions, adding that organization will follow the process closely “to ensure that reporting requirements will be consistent across the board.”
However, DOC joined the CMPA, WGC, DGC and ACTRA in their condemnation of the Commission’s decision to set PNI requirements at 5% of the previous year's gross revenues, noting that the percentage of revenues by broadcasters such as Bell, Corus and Rogers had historically averaged much higher.
“We are also disappointed to see that our recommendation that a condition of licence require group licensees to spend 1.5% of the previous year’s gross revenues on long form documentary was not heard,” added Ferrari, in a statement.
In relation to this, DOC said it reiterates its support for the CMPA’s position that the CRTC needs to set a clear new definition for what constitutes “independently produced program” and “independent production company” to ensure that a producer owns and controls both the production company and the content it creates.
The Documentary Organization of Canada | Documentaristes du Canada (DOC) is a bilingual national arts service organization of over 750 members dedicated to supporting the art of independent documentary filmmaking in Canada.
