Source : CBC News

A new Heritage committee report is calling for the federal government to provide stable, long-term funding for the CBC and agree to a renewable "contract" outlining specific mandate objectives for Canada's public broadcaster.

These recommendations were just two of nearly 50 in the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage's report, CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in the Changing Media Landscape, released Thursday.

Both the suggestions of stabilized, multi-year funding, indexed to the cost of living, and a long-term, renewable contract on a seven-year cycle (like the BBC's Royal Charter and Agreement, which is revisited every 10 years) were similar to those the CBC itself introduced during hearings last year.

Richard Stursberg, CBC's executive vice-president of English services, was one of the broadcaster's representatives at committee hearings in 2007 and described Thursday's report as "a pretty impressive piece of work."

"The thing that surprised and pleased me was what an extraordinarily thorough and thoughtful and non-partisan job the committee did," Stursberg told CBC News.

Some of the report's recommendations for CBC and its French-language service, Radio-Canada, include:

- That the government increase its core funding to CBC.

- That CBC boost the number of programs, including in prime-time hours, that reflect all regions of Canada, and produce more programs from its regional stations.

- That CBC team up more often with affiliates to ensure all Canadians have access to its programming.

- That CBC continue ramping up its internet presence and build on its new and emerging media offerings.

- That the government amend the Broadcasting Act to include digital media and emerging technologies as part of the CBC mandate.

- That CBC prioritize rights negotiations with artists and producers over new and emerging platforms.

- That CBC submit revised plans and financial details regarding its transition to HD and digital television.

- That CBC devote a greater share of its programming to the arts.

- That the government and CBC work together towards reducing the need for advertising on its television services.

- That CBC report financial and accounting information for both French and English networks in the same way.

- That CBC build on its efforts to preserve its radio and TV programming.

Conservatives disagree on some points

The committee's Conservative party members included a notable appendix to the main report, outlining their disagreement with several of the recommendations, including rejecting suggestions that CBC broadcast only Canadian TV programming in primetime during the week or that the broadcaster become more involved in the Canadian feature film industry.

"[W]e disagree with recommendations that micro-manage our independent public broadcasting corporation," the Conservative statement read.

While agreeing that the CBC needs stable, multi-year funding, Conservative members also backed away from recommendations for specific increase amounts detailed in the report.

The NDP and the Bloc Qu?b?cois also included general statements in the appendix of the report.

Stursberg said he isn't discouraged by the Conservative addendum.

"They don't raise any objections about the direction of the overall recommendations. Their concerns seem more to be about timing or technical issues."

Report urges accessibility

One of the report's main thrusts was a repeated call for the CBC to keep expanding accessibility to its offerings: across regions, platforms (via investments in new media and the transition to HD) and for an increasingly diverse audience (i.e. people from different cultural backgrounds and age groups, as well as those wishing to access information and programming in a multitude of ways).

During its many information-gathering sessions across the country, "the vast majority of the evidence stressed the distinctiveness of CBC/Radio-Canada, reflected in the quality, originality and creativity of its programming," the report read.

"Being distinctive should not however mean being inaccessible. Its services must be accessible to the various elements of the Canadian public."

Following Thursday's release of the committee's "encouraging" report, Stursberg said he anticipates the government to respond sometime in the next few months.

However, there is no guarantee that the government will act on the report's recommendations.

With files from the Canadian Press

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