TORONTO – With the deadline for initial submissions into the CRTC’s policy review of the broadcast distribution undertaking and specialty services regulations, the Coalition of Canadian Audio-Visual Unions (CCAU) beat their familiar drumbeat that “a strong Canadian cable and satellite industry should directly contribute to creating a strong television production industry for Canada,” reads its press release this afternoon.
(Of course, the drumbeat from all sides will sound pretty similar we think. Cartt.ca is gathering the submissions from many of the major players and will have much more on this topic next week.)
The CRTC is holding public hearings in February on the regulation of cable and satellite services, in addition to specialty and pay channels.
"Market forces are not enough to ensure that scripted, Canadian drama gets on our television screens – it’s not a level playing field," said Monique Lafontaine, general counsel and director of regulatory affairs, Directors Guild of Canada, in the press release.
"Licensees will not spend on drama unless they are regulated to do so. We know this from the fallout of the CRTC’s disastrous 1999 Television Policy that caused Canadian English drama to virtually disappear from primetime conventional TV,” added Stephen Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, the actors; union,
The CCAU wants the CRTC to:
* Maintain current Canadian programming spending requirements on pay and specialty TV services.
* Remove the ability of specialty and pay television licensees to use Canadian Television Fund licence fee top-up monies to reach their Canadian programming expenditure targets.
* Increase cable industry contributions to Canadian programming to 6% of their revenues from the current 5%, with a portion of the additional 1% directed to new media production.
"Canada’s robust, multi-billion-dollar cable industry can afford to increase the amount it puts into Canadian programming – they made more than $6 billion in 2006," said David Hardy, business agent, NABET 700, in the release. "The Broadcasting Act requires cable companies to contribute to the creation of Canadian programming," adds Hardy.
(Of course, cable company cash comes from Canadian consumers so any increase would come out of the pockets of everyday Canadians.)
"Television reflects and shapes national identity," said Maureen Parker, executive director, Writers Guild of Canada. "If the cable companies have their way, broadcast schedules will be filled with foreign content. Canadian audiences must have the opportunity to choose Canadian. The regulatory framework is in place to ensure that choice, and we should be careful not to disassemble it in the interest of higher corporate profits."
Participating in this CCAU submission and the public hearings in February relating to this matter are ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists), the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Local 700 CEP (NABET). Other members of the CCAU are: the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) the American Federation of Musicians – Canada (AFM Canada), Union des artistes (UdA), Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ), Association Québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son (AQTIS), and Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTeC).
