CBC’s new licence should bar U.S. programming in the evenings, Shaw says

CBC/Radio-Canada's new licence should bar the public broadcaster from airing American programming in the high-ratings period of 6 p.m. to midnight, Shaw Communications Inc. said. In a 12-page intervention submitted to the CRTC as part of CBC’s licence renewal hearing, scheduled to start Nov. 19, Jean Brazeau, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at Shaw, said CBC’s priorities should be guided by social responsibility, Canadian programming, and other “complementary” content. Brazeau said CBC should “formally commit” to a 100 per cent non-U.S. content rate every evening from 6 p.m. to midnight. “This would still allow the corporation to air U.S. programs during other day parts, and non-U.S. foreign programming (including Coronation Street) at any point during the broadcast day,” the company said. Brazeau wrote that CBC is now close to achieving this non-U.S. content rate. Mark Starowicz, executive director of documentary programming at CBC Television, said during a debate on Oct. 5 that data from a broadcast week in September showed CBC aired 94 per cent Canadian programming between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Shaw said Hollywood films and foreign game shows such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! do not contribute to the public broadcaster’s mandate. Shaw said CBC is capable of providing “complementary” programming that is different and is not a reproduction of content found elsewhere in the broadcasting system. The public broadcaster is “well-positioned” to support a number of social and cultural issues related to accessibility and diversity, Shaw said, adding that CBC worked with private broadcasters to help develop closed captioning standards and described video best practices. Shaw, Rogers Communications Inc. and Bragg Communications Inc. subsidiary Eastlink, in comments filed with the CRTC, said they oppose CBC’s carriage requests for “prominent placement” on the dial for ARTV, a French-language arts and culture channel, as well as a request for fees for the carriage of its local TV signals. In its licence renewal application filed with the CRTC, dated May, 18, 2011 and published in September 2012, CBC said it makes sense for the CRTC to ensure that French-language minority communities have “reasonable and affordable” access to ARTV in anglophone markets. Shaw said the CRTC now mandates the distribution of CBC stations on direct-to-home TV systems, as well as the carriage of CBC News Network and Radio Canada International (RDI) in minority-language markets in Canada. It added that ARTV currently receives mandatory distribution in francophone markets. “Despite all of these regulatory benefits, the Corporation is seeking to entrench and even enhance the distribution of its specialty services, in particular on digital basic,” Shaw said. “We vigorously support a more flexible regulatory regime in order to address competitive concerns and meet consumer expectations.” Natalie MacDonald, vice-president of regulatory affairs at Eastlink, said in the company's comments filed with the CRTC that Eastlink is “strongly opposed” to CBC’s carriage requests for ARTV. MacDonald said placing ARTV in a “high penetration tier” would increase the cost of the package and force ARTV onto customers. “This is contrary to consumers’ increasing demands for more value, choice and flexibility over the services to which they subscribe,” the company said. Ken Engelhart, senior vice-president regulatory affairs at Rogers, added in the company's comments with the commission that CBC is seeking an “extraordinary” access right for ARTV. All three companies said they opposed CBC's request that distributors pay a per subscriber per month fee for the carriage of over-the-air TV signals, which the broadcast distributors currently carry in local markets free of charge. “he BDUs are reaping a financial gain for themselves at the expense of their subscribers and the Corporation,” CBC said in its application. “In other words, BDUs are free-riding.” Engelhart wrote that the request for compensation “mischaracterizes” the financial relationship between distributors and CBC, and that, to “suggest that there has been unfair treatment by BDUs at the expense of the Corporation is simply untrue.” Engelhart said subscribers now pay for CBC as taxpayers and that requiring an additional subsidy is “highly inappropriate.” CBC/Radio-Canada last year received $1.1-billion in parliamentary appropriations. The Conservative government's spending-cutting 2012 federal budget will reduce CBC's funding by $115 million annually by 2014-2015. CBC said last spring that, to help deal with the budget reductions, it will lay off 650 full-time positions within three years and that it has applied to the CRTC to introduce advertising and sponsorships on its two national music networks, Radio 2 and Espace Musique. Nearly 4,500 comments have been submitted in advance of the hearing to renew CBC's radio and TV broadcasting licences. Interveners for the proceeding also include Quebecor Media Inc., Astral Media Inc., BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media and Stingray Digital Group Inc. CBC’s deadline for reply comments was extended to Oct. 19, according to a request from the broadcaster, the CRTC said in a letter Monday. The CRTC released CBC’s revised programming budgets by genre Wednesday, and said the deadline for interventions on the new information is Oct. 23. CBC's reply comments to those interventions are due Nov. 1, 2012. news@thewirereport.ca

CBC’s new licence should bar U.S. programming in the evenings, Shaw says

Broadcast | October 16, 2012

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