CAB retains membership, reduces mandate to focus on copyright

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) may have retracted its plans to shut its doors, but will no longer advocate on regulatory policy. “ is going to stay out of policy and regulatory debates. That’s very telling that they’ve really realized as an industry that they don’t share the common ground that they used to. For 80 years the CAB was a collective voice specifically for regulatory and policy debates and that’s not going to be a part of this structure,” Ian Morrison, spokesman for watchdog group the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said in an interview. The CAB announced last February that it would be closing its doors in June, but the organization has decided to move forward following reorganization, governance changes and the restructuring of its mandate. “We will continue to represent Canada’s private broadcasters in areas of common concern, and these have been found to be copyright advocacy, administrative issues and accessibility … The activity that we no longer pursue is advocacy on the regulatory policy side,” Sylvie Courtemanche, the new CAB chair, said in an interview. Courtemanche took over the position of CAB chair from Elmer Hildebrand during the restructuring. After hiring a consultant to evaluate the association’s closure, activities were brought to light that the CAB did not want to abandon, Courtemanche said. “The first thing was copyright advocacy, including copyright reform. The second was the continuation of the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council and its funding, and there were some administrative functions related to the various funds we support. We wanted to continue administering those,” she said. “Then there were a number of accessibility issues such as close captioning and described video that we wanted to continue with as an industry.” Founded in 1926, the CAB used to operate under the governance of four boards, but has now streamlined them into one. The organization also got rid of its full-time staff and moved to a smaller office in downtown Ottawa, Courtemanche said. “Essentially we will become a much more active board and members will become more active in the few committees that we have left. When we need somebody to support us, we’ll hire a consultant to do it,” she said. Courtemanche also said the CAB has retained the majority of its members, while reducing membership dues. “Essentially all of our members stayed the same. We had a couple of very small-market radio members who during the recession period left the association because of economic reasons. Everyone else who was there prior to the reorganization is still there,” she said. “Right now our number one issue that is keeping us going almost full-time is trying to get passage of Bill C-32 … We didn’t always agree on all issues; there were issues before, mostly on the policy or regulatory side. But when it comes to copyright, we have always been in complete unison.” Morrison said the CAB’s restructuring is derived from structural changes in the private broadcasting industry. “The television side, which dominates in size, is now heavily controlled by the distributors. The radio industry is now dominated by very few players, some of whom are linked to the distributors as well,” he said. “A decade ago the CAB was a forum where the broadcast industry brought together its key players. They had divergent interests, they were competing with each other and it sought accommodation and a common position. would be a voice for that industry at the CRTC and with the government.” Morrison said that the over the past year or so the CAB was no longer fulfilling its basic functions because most of its major members had their own government relations departments to deal with regulatory issues. But the work the association has done on Bill C-32 has been in process for a long time, Morrison said, adding that he isn’t surprised that they want to see it through to completion. “ has become a very modest enterprise, not because of any failings of itself, but because of the changing structure of the broadcasting industry.” Bill Roberts, president and CEO of ZoomerMedia Ltd.’s television department, said in an interview that over the past few years the CAB had become useless to independent television broadcasters. “The CAB had de facto become the Canadian association of cable, satellite and telephone companies,” Roberts said. ZoomerMedia has joined the Independent Broadcasters Group (IBG), an organization that will replace the CAB as a representative body for independent broadcasters’ regulatory concerns. Current members of the IBG are ZoomerMedia, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, TV5 Québec Canada, Channel Zero, Fairchild TV, Ethnic Channels Group and Stornoway Communications. Formed three years ago, IBG began working on an ad hoc basis before formalizing its mandate last year, Martha Fusca, president and CEO of Stornoway Communications, said in an interview. “Our priorities are really in terms of representation of the issues that are of concern to small and independent broadcasters across the country for the purposes of making submissions or presentations to the CRTC and ,” she said. Fusca said the IBG will expand to include staff and membership dues, and that the group is also going to be speaking with other broadcasters interested in joining over the next several months. Independent radio broadcasters are also seeking representation outside of the CAB. Elmer Hildebrand, CAB board member and former chair, is leading the development of the new Canadian Association of Radio Broadcasters (CARB). asmith@thewirereport.ca

CAB retains membership, reduces mandate to focus on copyright

Broadcast | January 11, 2011

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