Give CBC more flexibility, von Finckenstein tells Senate committee

Regulatory oversight over CBC/Radio-Canada should be loosened, former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein told the Senate standing committee on transport and communications on Tuesday. The CRTC should “seek greater flexibility from government in terms of oversight in order to compete in the modern, hyper-competitive media environment,” he said. Von Finckenstein said CBC’s status as a Crown corporation means it is “encumbered” by “all the onerous reporting and approval requirements that entails.” He noted the public broadcaster is subject to a number of oversight bodies, including the CRTC, the heritage minister, the Treasury Board, and the commissioners of access to information, privacy and official languages. He said reporting to multiple bodies costs the public broadcaster “an awful lot of money.” “If you look at the corporate structure of the CBC, it’s neither fish or fowl. It’s neither government agency nor is it part of the private sector, but it’s asked to compete in the private sector. So I say set it up like a private corporation and put some specific accountability we want to it,” von Finckenstein said. He said CBC could seek permission to form subsidiary corporations that would not be Crown corporations, which could “be less constrained” in entering joint venture deals with other broadcasters. While those deals are possible under the broadcaster’s current structure, von Finckenstein said during his time at the CRTC he heard from both people from the CBC and other broadcasters that “dealing with the CBC is extremely cumbersome and difficult because of all the restrictions and approvals that they need.” Von Finckenstein also suggested that the CBC’s governance structure be modernized. “Its governance structure is also very outdated and comes from the 1980s,” he said. “For instance, the president is appointed by the governor-in-council and not by the board,” he said, adding that it also needs approval from the governor-in-council approval to buy and sell shares in other companies. “And it’s limited in finding new sources of revenue. For instance, recently it needed to seek CRTC approval to introduce advertising on CBC Radio, which came with a lot of strings attached.” Von Finckenstein spoke in favour of the broadcaster’s move to air advertising on its Radio 2 and Espace Musique stations. “I say let the market decide. I don’t see any reason why, if the CBC thinks that the only way it can survive is to put advertising on CBC Radio, then let them do it and see what happens,” he said. Von Finckenstein noted CBC is facing a loss of “significant” advertising revenues as a result of its loss of national broadcast rights for the National Hockey League to Rogers Communications Inc., in addition to the government funding cuts scheduled for the next several years. In 2012, the federal government announced reductions to CBC’s parliamentary appropriations, cutting funding by $115 million annually by 2014-2015. The CRTC decided last year to phase out the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), which a CBC report said would reduce the broadcaster’s budget by an additional $28.4 million by 2013-2014. Von Finckenstein said for the CBC to “survive and flourish,” the funding provided by government should be stable and allow it to plan for periods longer than a year. He said that if the government wants CBC to be like a government corporation, then it should fund it in that manner. “But we don’t. We fund it far less than they need. We say earn some of it on the market ever so tightly, but meet … all of these special needs,” he added. Von Finckenstein’s appearance follows last week’s presentation by Ian Morrison, spokesman for watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, who told the committee that a non-commercial CBC should be considered. Testimony from the CRTC and CBC, among others, is expected in the coming weeks. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Give CBC more flexibility, von Finckenstein tells Senate committee

Broadcast | February 11, 2014

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Give CBC more flexibility, von Finckenstein tells Senate committee

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