CBC wants in on news fund despite $150M funding increase

CBC/Radio-Canada told the CRTC Friday that if it sets up a fund for local news, the public broadcaster should be able to participate, despite the Liberal government’s promise to increase its funding. “I would say that there is a huge pent-up demand on any new dollars that we might get. We have made significant cuts over the past 10 years,” executive vice-president of English services Heather Conway said on the fifth day of the CRTC’s eight-day hearing on local and community TV. CBC suggested a $68 million fund, which would be accessible to 65 stations, including five CBC and nine Radio-Canada stations. It would be funded by one per cent of cable and IPTV providers’ broadcasting revenues and 0.4 per cent of broadcasting revenues from satellite providers. That’s about the same size as the fund proposed by BCE Inc. and about twice the size that Rogers Communications Inc. would like to see. CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais asked CBC representatives why the CRTC should increase the amount of money accessible to the broadcaster, when the Liberal government has promised a $150-million annual increase in funding. “We’re not in a situation of knowing what exactly that will look like and what areas and so forth. In light of this uncertainty, what do you answer to those that say it’s perhaps premature to include the CBC within a new policy framework to support local news?” Blais asked. Conway said the broadcaster’s understanding is that the promise was for $75 million in the first year, and then for $150 for each of the following two years, following consultations with Canadians. The Wire Report reported earlier this month that it’s still unclear what the government’s intentions to consult ahead of the funding mean for the CBC’s current strategic plan, which it developed under the previous Conservative government. Conway said it’s “money we don’t have yet,” and that CBC faces the same pressures as private broadcasters. “Our advertising revenues are challenged, there are great pressures on every conventional broadcaster, the shift to digital platforms, in particular to search engines, is a phenomenon that we’re experiencing along with everybody else,” she said. “We have a need to invest in digital technologies, in digital platforms, in data analytics, all of which are expensive. We would like to invest in foreign news coverage … all of the things we’ve had to scale back on as a result of our financial challenges. There’s a call on every dollar that’s probably three times for every available dollar that might come in. So the dollars we do not have are spent five times already,” Conway said. “Finally, I would say that there are markets where we are the only broadcaster. And so obviously in the official language minority community markets, to deny us the opportunity to participate in the news fund for those markets is simply to deny those communities access to the content that might be created,” she said, citing examples of Yellowknife and Charlottetown. “And I’m not sure why the people of Yellowknife would not be entitled, through us, to have access to funds to create content that otherwise wouldn’t happen,” she said. Blais responded that he understood the argument in markets where CBC is the only broadcaster, but noted that it’s CBC’s mandate to provide service in official language minority markets. Under CBC’s proposal, the news fund would be open to all over-the-air TV stations in small markets, and all private independent OTA stations in medium markets. That means CBC/Radio-Canada stations in Regina, Fredericton, Charlottetown, St. John’s, Yellowknife, Saguenay, Moncton and in Quebec, in Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, and Rimouski, as well as in five official-language minority stations, which include Moncton, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Quebecor Inc. representatives told the CRTC Friday that a local news fund should only be accessible to private stations, according to a written version of the company’s opening statement. Under Rogers’ proposal, CBC stations would be eligible for the fund and in Bell’s model, the fund would be accessible to all local over-the-air stations that broadcast a minimum amount of local news. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated the Liberals promised to restore CBC funding the Conservatives cut and increase it by $150 million a year. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca

CBC wants in on news fund despite $150M funding increase

Broadcast | January 29, 2016

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CBC wants in on news fund despite $150M funding increase

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