Source : Globe & Mail

Canadian television shows are getting better at drawing large audiences - and changes to the way the production industry is funded could put that success at risk, officials with the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) told federal hearings yesterday.

As the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission contemplates restructuring the fund, CTF president Valerie Creighton warned that linking dollars too closely with ratings could hurt the production sector.

The fund gets $120-million a year from the Department of Canadian Heritage and $150-million from cable and satellite TV companies, which collect fees from subscribers on monthly bills. The money is then distributed among producers to make domestic programming.

It has come under fire in the past year from its biggest contributor, cable provider Shaw Communications Inc., which has criticized the fund for spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year but producing only a small number of successful shows. The company's chief executive officer, Jim Shaw, threatened to halt the company's contributions last year unless changes were made.

An independent report on the CTF commissioned by the regulator recommended the fund take a more market-oriented approach to TV production. Among the suggestions were less stringent Canadian-content requirements on domestic productions in an effort to make them more competitive with U.S. shows.

As well, the report suggested Canadian programs could be designated either "commercial" or "cultural." The cultural shows would then receive money from government dollars, while cable industry contributions would go towards shows considered more commercially viable. However, fund officials rejected that idea.

"When a producer considers a project, they don't think, 'this is cultural or commercial,' " Ms. Creghton said.

She said reducing Canadian-content requirements on productions may also be harmful, since the dollars are meant to create jobs within the domestic industry.

In a move that angered the production industry, the independent report last year called for Canadian-content requirements to be lowered in several key areas. Under existing rules, domestic shows must score 10 points on a checklist of items in order to be eligible for CTF money. Two points are allocated for using a Canadian director or scriptwriter, and one point is given for other roles such as lead actor, second-lead actor, director of photography, art director and editor.

One proposal was to lower the requirement to eight points, with an eye to producing shows with a broader appeal and talent base, but the production industry warned that would lead to jobs going to U.S. actors, writers or directors.

"Our objective is to ensure that Canadians are working, that Canadian stories are being told," Ms. Creighton told the hearings.

The fund has contributed more than $2.5-billion to the production industry since 1995 and has helped create programs such as Trailer Park Boys, Little Mosque on the Prairie and Da Vinci's Inquest. The CTF officials said every dollar of funding leads to $3.20 being spent in the Canadian production industry, and contributes to 22,000 jobs.

Mr. Shaw, who refused to appear at this week's hearings after learning CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein would not be there, has attacked the fund as a waste of money and wants to see more detailed financial reports indicating how the cash is spent.

However, CTF officials said yesterday that shows supported by the fund are drawing large audiences for domestic programs.

"Shows like The Rick Mercer Report and Little Mosque on the Prairie regularly attain audiences of over one million," the CTF said in a statement issued Monday. New shows such as The Border, Sophie, Heartland and The Guard are getting between 500,000 and 800,000 viewers, the CTF said, which are good numbers for new programs.

"All of these culturally and commercially successful shows would not exist without the vital support provided through CTF funding," Ms. Creighton 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.