CBC calls for ‘streamlined’ regulation to compete new, in multi-platform market

The CBC/Radio-Canada is asking the CRTC to streamline its broadcasting regulations to provide it with more freedom to shift content from one platform to another and better access to private distribution platforms. “In the new multi-platform environment the Corporation needs to have the flexibility to adjust its approach—for example, shifting content from one platform to another—in order to meet the evolving needs of distinct audience segments,” CBC wrote in its licence renewal application to the CRTC. “At this point in the industry's evolution the Commission's primary concern should be to ensure that CBC/Radio-Canada’s services are provided with access and prominence on reasonable financial terms to the numerous distribution platforms controlled by private corporations. Without such access, the Corporation cannot possibly fulfill its statutory mandate.” Last Friday, the CRTC opened a consultation on the renewal of the CBC's broadcasting licences, which will be the subject of a hearing in September. CBC’s previous licensing reaches back to 2000. In its application, CBC made three main requests of the CRTC: streamline its regulations, provide stable funding, and ensure that its specialty channels have access to distribution platforms. Steven Guiton, the CBC's vice-president and chief regulatory officer, said in an interview that the public broadcaster’s last licence imposed more than 100 micro-conditions and that it now wants to be freed from them for more flexibility in the way it offers content. “There is content all over the place; Canadians are on all sorts of platforms. And that kind of regulatory detail just won’t work for us,” he said. “We’re looking for the same kind of treatment ... it’s definitely not the idea that we want to do less Canadian programming or somehow evade the commission’s oversight.” Guiton cited an example of programming aimed at children about 11 years old. He noted that the CBC is currently required to offer 20 hours a week of kids’ programming but many pre-teens are now watching content on digital platforms. “If we have to do a minimum amount of kids’ programming instead of doing a mix of television and digital, then that doesn’t really allow us to get where the kids are,” Guiton said, adding that CBC is seeking more flexibility in the number of hours of programming it offers in each genre. CBC has also asked that regional, independent production requirements are not imposed so that it can have more freedom to consider content from across the country. Ian Morrison, spokesman for watchdog group the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said in an interview that by asking for “streamlined” regulation, the CBC is trying to lower its requirements. “The CRTC has the role, on behalf of the public, to supervise public broadcasting and compare what CBC is doing to what the Broadcasting Act says it should be doing,” he said. “CBC is trying to escape from what is already too modest.” CBC also asked for stable funding from sources such as the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), which provides funding for local content. “The continuance of the LPIF is absolutely essential to ensure the maintenance of the quantity and the quality of local programming in small and medium-sized markets,” the CBC wrote in its application. Guiton added that the CBC is not necessarily concerned about the LPIF’s future but wants to ensure it has enough funding to get through its five-year plan announced in February. Karen Wirsig, the Canadian Media Guild’s (CMG) communications coordinator, said in an interview that there are concerns in the industry that the LPIF may disappear after a value-for-signal regime takes shape. “The LPIF was always seen as a stopgap measure by some until the value-for-signal regime could come through,” she said. “Now what you have are four very large companies, which I am sure would want to do what they want and spend their money the way they want and not subsidize all the other broadcasters. This is where CBC is in a dangerous situation, as are some other smaller broadcasters, such as Pattison Group and Corus .” Wirsig said the CMG would like to see the LPIF maintained and extended to community and other public stations to promote the creation of more local content. In its application, CBC argued that private broadcasters should provide compensation for its signals. “It is grossly inappropriate for BDUs to be permitted to free-ride in this manner; some form of compensation to the Corporation is necessary from the perspective of elementary fairness,” the CBC wrote. “The simplest and most direct way to address this free-riding problem would be for the Commission to require BDUs to pay a fixed amount per subscriber per month by way of compensation to CBC/Radio-Canada for the BDUs' use of the Corporation's signals.” But Wirsig said value-for-signal isn’t the best regime for public broadcasters as it implies putting a price tag on public television. “In a value-for-signal regime, the signals that are going to be the most valuable are in the big cities … I don’t think it’s a very good way to fund public broadcasting because I think it takes it further down a commercialized road,” she said. Wirsig said it is important to maintain funding mechanisms and Canadian content requirements for the public broadcaster. She added that the CBC should consider using its digital TV transmitters to create its own distribution network and offer mobile television through mobile data transmission. “We know that mobile television is coming. They could actually have their own over-the-air network using their existing infrastructure. You wouldn’t have to pay for data to access CBC content if they were to broadcast it for free to digital applications,” she said. Guiton said the CBC is now testing mobile broadcasting on its network. The CBC application also addressed terms of trade. Guiton said CBC is hoping to reach an agreement with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), with which it began negotiations in May. The agreement may be different from the one that the association reached with private broadcasters last April. But Norm Bolen, president of the CMPA, said in an interview that the group intends to arrive at the same or better terms with the CBC as it agreed to with private broadcasters. These would set the terms on production rights and allow producers to retain tax credits and international rights, among other conditions. “Frankly, our members are not happy with the current practices of the CBC,” he said. “Their current business practices are onerous, they have a very unbalanced power relationship with independent producers and they impose on us licence conditions that we can no longer accept and that the private broadcasters have agreed to abandon.” Bolen said he hopes the CMPA and the CBC can reach an agreement by the hearing in September, but the CMPA is willing to go to the commission to settle outstanding issues. As part of the hearing, the CRTC has announced an online public consultation looking at the CBC’s overall mandate. On Monday, the Friends wrote a letter to CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, recommending a deadline extension until Aug. 2 to provide “sufficient lead time” during the summer holiday season. Last week, the CBC released a study by Deloitte and Touche that said the CBC contributes $1.3 billion more to the economy than it would as a private broadcaster. news@thewirereport.ca

CBC calls for ‘streamlined’ regulation to compete new, in multi-platform market

Broadcast | June 22, 2011

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