CRTC demands Bell, Corus spend more on Canadian shows.
TORONTO• Made-in-Canada dramas, documentaries and award shows will be guaranteed more funding after the federal broadcast regulator bent to intense pressure from creative groups and the federal government.
The Canadian Radio television and Telecommunications Commission announced Thursday that large television groups must spend a larger proportion of their revenue on Canadian content production to renew their broadcast licences.
As of Sept. 1, Bell Media Inc., Corus Entertainment
Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. must spend 7.5 per cent, 8.5 per cent and five per cent, respectively, of their previous years’ revenue on programs of national interest. It’s a revision of a May 2017 decision that set a uniform spending floor of five per cent of revenue.
The decision comes as the government reviews broadcasting laws to adapt to disruption from the internet. Quotas and Canadian content requirements can seem ineffective and dated in a world where consumers can watch whatever they like, whenever they want, online.
To adjust to this digital era, the CRTC originally lowered Bell’s and Corus’s spending requirements to match Rogers’, which was already set at five per cent. (Bell had acquired Astral, which was required to spend 16 per cent, and Corus spent nine per cent).
The CRTC said the decision would enable TV providers to “compete on equal footing and give them the flexibility to adapt in a more competitive marketplace.” Broadcasters have been struggling with stagnating revenue as advertisers spend less on commercials given consumers are increasingly cancelling television packages to watch video online. Unlike global competitors such as Netflix, which boasts more than six million Canadian subscribers, they’re also strapped with Canadian content regulations.
But the decision sparked outrage among members of the creative community. They argued it would slash funding of Canadian production by $189 million in 20172018 and by $911 million over the five-year licensing period, according to an analysis Nordicity conducted for the Canadian Media Producers Association.
The broadcasters insisted that wasn’t the case. In a joint letter, they said the move away from protectionist measures allowed them to compete against digital services and to invest in programs people want to watch. They also stated they historically exceeded spending requirements.
Despite their charm offensive, thousands in the creative community petitioned the government to restore funding levels. The lobbying worked. In August, cabinet took the unusual step of ordering the CRTC to revisit its decision at the request of Mélanie Joly, who was then the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It asked the CRTC to consider Canadian programming as key to the broadcasting system.
A year later, the CRTC delivered a happy ending to the content creators.
The Writers Guild of Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association and the Directors Guild of Canada all celebrated the decision, praising both the CRTC and the Liberal government.
“This is a big win for Canadian independent producers, creators, crews and, of course, audiences,” CMPA president Reynolds Mastin said in a statement. “It also reaffirms the role of the large private broadcasters as valued contributors to Canadian content.”
Despite the funding concerns that led to the revised policy, television and film production in Canada had a record year in 2016-2017. Overall spending hit an alltime high of $8.4 billion, according to the CMPA’s annual report. Canadian television spending also hit a 10-year high of nearly $3 billion.
Canadian broadcasters are tied with distributors and foreign sources as the second-largest funders of fictional TV programming, according to the CMPA. The largest source is public funding and tax credits.
Bell and Corus declined to comment on the decision, and Rogers did not respond to a request for comment.