Source : Globe & Mail

The Canadian Press

GATINEAU, Que. — — It makes no sense to force private-sector broadcasters to pay for programs designed to further social-policy or government objectives, the vice-chairman of Rogers Communications Inc. told a CRTC panel Tuesday.

Officials from Rogers, which owns numerous conventional television stations in addition to major cable, wireless and media businesses, said the Canadian Television Fund should provide separate cultural and commercial funding streams.

The Rogers proposal calls for about $120-million of the $288-million fund paid for by the federal government to go toward programming that would go solely to the CBC and other public-sector broadcasters, leaving the remainder to be streamed to private-sector broadcasters such as Rogers and CTV.

"We don't think it's a radical proposal," Rogers vice-chairman Phil Lind said Tuesday. "We think it would simplify things."

"We're interested in Canadian eyeballs for Canadian programs," Mr. Lind added. "Our proposal would result in more audiences on prime time for Canadian programs because we would be dedicating ourselves to that objective rather than 15 or 20 other objectives."

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is holding hearings on the future of the Canadian Television Fund after two major contributors — Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor's Videotron — caused a crisis by temporarily suspending their funding.

Shaw and Quebecor Inc. complained the CTF was squandering their money on shows few watch.

The problem, said Mr. Lind and Rogers vice-president Ken Engelhart, is that there are too many competing objectives — such as whether a show is culturally relevant or reflects Canadian values — go into the choice of programs that receive CTF funding.

In its written submission to the commission, Rogers had suggested that one solution would be the creation of a separate fund for private broadcasters.

But the company's officials told the commission Tuesday they had changed their mind and would prefer to follow a task force recommendation last summer that the fund be split into separate cultural and commercial streams.

"It doesn't need radical surgery," said Mr. Engelhart. "We do think it's working, but we think it is losing its way a bit and needs to be refocused a bit."

During the first day of the weeklong hearings on Monday, the commission heard from the creative side of the industry, including producers, actors, writers and directors, along with the fund's managers, who argued that the system is not broken and should not be altered.

The witnesses noted that critics of the fund have misfired in claiming Canadian shows are not popular, ticking off a lengthy list of Canadian programs, from "Little Mosque on the Prairie," to "Degrassi," "Da Vinci's Inquest," and other programs that are hits with Canadian audiences and in some cases worldwide.

"When you consider that our programs are on three of the major U.S. networks, that's phenomenal. That's got to be a first for Canadian programming," CTF president Valerie Creighton said Monday.

Some witnesses called on the commission to increase the fees charged to cable and satellite distributors in support of the fund, but Mr. Lind rejected the suggestion out of hand.

"The perception is that cable is some unending money tree that can constantly be picked," Mr. Lind said. "You load us up with more fees and it's going to be impossible for us to compete against the unregulated market, such as the Internet."

Rogers owns Canada's largest cable company, with a presence mainly in Ontario and some parts of Atlantic Canada. Videotron is the largest cable company in Quebec and Shaw is the largest cable company in the West.

Mr. Lind also suggested that broadcasters could get along without the Canadian Television Fund, saying they already spend "hundreds of millions of dollars" on Canadian content.

"But I don't think that's within the range of possibilities," he said.

© Globe and Mail

Related Documents:

July 27, 2007 - Submission to the CRTC on the CTF Task Force Report
FRIENDS comments on proposals from a CRTC Task Force on the governance and operation of the Canadian Television Fund.