[Ott8915]

The CBC has just posted an article which lists some of the issues the CRTC will examine during the Spring 2009 broadcast hearings.

These include:

* The appropriate contributions to Canadian programming in current economic conditions.
* Terms of administering the fund that seeks to promote local program spending, in current economic conditions.
* Whether to impose a short-term requirement that spending on Canadian programming equal spending on foreign programming.
* Terms for the transition to digital by August 2011.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/02/13/crtc-renewal.html

 

[Walter Dnes]

* Whether to impose a short-term requirement that spending on Canadian programming equal spending on foreign programming.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/02/13/crtc-renewal.html

On the sidebar, to the right of the article on the cbc.ca webpage, I notice the a couple of links right next to each other. Kinda hard to complain about the US wanting to "buy American", if we insist that our broadcasters "buy Canadian". (Image cropped to fit into limits and fair use)

 

[CrazyInSane]

From the article:

Now the CRTC says it will look in 2010 for ways to implement "effective regulatory mechanisms to ensure that private ownership groups with television licences contribute appropriately to the creation of Canadian programming."

Among the measures it will consider is demanding spending on Canadian programming equal spending on foreign shows.

Canada's actors' union ACTRA welcomed that proposal and asked that the CRTC also consider when Canadian programming is broadcast. Private broadcasters often reserve Canadian fare for unpopular time slots.

"Today, performers have reason to believe that the CRTC is finally listening to Canadians' desire to see more Canadian content," Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director said in a statement.

"Especially on the heels of a record-spending year buying Hollywood shows, it's good to hear the CRTC suggest that it's now time for private broadcasters to invest equally in Canadian content as they do on foreign programming."

This is great to hear, although with the current economic situation (an excuse we hear overused so often), I'm betting CTV and Global will argue to the bone against any of this.

Kinda hard to complain about the US wanting to "buy American", if we insist that our broadcasters "buy Canadian". (Image cropped to fit into limits and fair use)

Oh, please. We're not insisting that our broadcasters "buy Canadian", we're asking that they at least make themselves somewhat distinct from any random US broadcaster, and give Canadian content a chance to compete.

Another great article from TG&M is here as well:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090214.RCRTC14/TPStory/Business

 

[Ott8915]

CRTC Notices regarding Conventional Broadcasters

Here are the most recent CRTC Notices regarding Conventional Broadcasters

The CRTC Announcing they will begin hearings on Conventional broadcasting in April 2009
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2009/r090130.htm

CRTC Releasing Financial results for Conventional Broadcasters
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2009/r090210.htm

Here is the CRTC Notice which the various news articles used as the basis for their stories:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-70.htm

In addition, the CRTC will release the result of a review of Conventional Broadcasters on Monday, which should provide more detail for this discussion.

Specifically, this section:

* the appropriate contributions to Canadian programming (local, priority and independently-produced programming), given the current economic conditions;
* the terms of administration and delivery of the LPIF, including the method of establishing the base-level expenditures for the purpose of determining incrementality;
* whether to impose a 1:1 ratio requirement between Canadian and non-Canadian programming expenditures, both on a trial basis during a short-term licence, and on a longer-term basis; and
* consideration of the terms for the digital transition by August 2011, in light of an industry working group report being prepared for the current public process.

I will admit that the CBC article is much more understandable even though the bullet points cover the same topics (the Globe and Mail article only covers the 1:1 ratio requirement).

 

[GeorgeMx]

On the sidebar, to the right of the article on the cbc.ca webpage, I notice the a couple of links right next to each other. Kinda hard to complain about the US wanting to "buy American", if we insist that our broadcasters "buy Canadian". (Image cropped to fit into limits and fair use)

I think NAFTA excludes cultural industries. Even so, the U.S. has access to a huge amount of the market, I think around 90%, through books, magazines, movies, CDs, DVDs, etc.