TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has a prescription to fix what ails Canada’s broadcasting system – let Canadians see their own dramatic programming in prime time.
"What use are Canadian broadcasters if they only air foreign content?” asked national president Ferne Downey in a press release. “It’s time to end the free ride for broadcasters and big cable and make them earn the money Canadian consumers give them by giving something back.”
Noting that private broadcasters spent $740 million on U.S. and foreign programming versus $54 million on Canadian English-language drama last year, ACTRA suggested keeping Cancon spending and programming rules in place for specialty TV channels and expanding that model to conventional broadcasters.
In advance of the CRTC’s broadcasting policy review, ACTRA’s recommendations submitted on Tuesday also proposed setting broadcast-group-based expenditure and exhibition requirements for drama, docs and children’s programming; and recommended that BDUs pay conventional broadcasters “fairly” for their signals if broadcasters commit to spending the new revenues on Canadian programming.
