Source : Globe & Mail

One group argues local news is priority, others pull for ambitious drama.

by Doug Saunders

Hull – A curious debate is emerging over the future of Canadian television: Should it be local, or should it be "good" ?

At the moment, most of it is neither. Local news shows are broadcast in off-peak hours and have been cut back in some cities, and much Canadian-content fare is designed so it can sell at low cost to U.S. stations. This is why the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission – the federal broadcast regulator – is holding marathon hearings for the next two weeks into Canada's system of TV regulations.

But a schism has opened between those who argue that Canada's national networks ought to fill their prime-time hours with high-budget, distinctly Canadian dramas, and those who would rather see the networks' revenues channeled into local news and information programming in diverse regions.

The latter thrust is led by Ian Morrison, head of the viewer-rights lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. He argued before the commission that networks such as CTV and Global have diverted their energies away from local programs and focused instead on national advertising opportunities through network-wide shows.

"Canadians are demonstrating a major, and sustained, appetite for local programming," Morrison said, but pointed out that the public CBC and the private networks have reduced their expenditures. Using Winnipeg as an example of a typical TV market, his organization's research shows that the quantity of local news programs available there has dropped by 20 per cent over an 11-year period. He claimed that the same is true in other cities. Morrison argued that networks should be required to devote more airtime and money to local programming, though he did not say how much. Over the next two weeks, his argument will be echoed in submissions made by a number of organizations, including municipal and provincial governments and unions.

At the same time, many prominent groups are telling the commission that more network time and money should be devoted to nation- wide, prime-time drama programs with distinctly Canadian subjects. This position is led by Elizabeth McDonald, head of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, which represents independent producers. Like Morrison, she is a lobbyist who is said to have formidable personal influence over many of the CRTC commissioners.

A variety of groups representing screenwriters, directors and producers are preparing to echo McDonald's argument that networks devote too much airtime to rebroadcasting U.S. programs. Her organization argued that private networks should devote 10 per cent of their revenues to broadcasting at least 10 hours a week of prime-time, distinctly Canadian drama.

On the face of it, these arguments are not necessarily incompatible: Morrison also argued that networks should create more prime-time drama, and McDonald's group supports an increase in local programming. But they are both aware that each of their main arguments could undercut the potency of the other group's.

Broadcasters, on the other hand, have pointed out in their submissions that a gain in national, Canadian-content drama shows, which are expensive and do not earn profits for networks, can mean a loss in local programming. "One of the challenges for the system is to continue to deliver local programming in an environment in which resources are being concentrated instead on Canadian entertainment programming," the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which represents private networks, argued in its submission.

According to figures filed with the CRTC this summer, CTV and WIC earn profits from their local news programming while Global and CHUM still spend more than they earn on local shows. Because a substantial share of TV advertising is bought locally and regionally, local programs tend to be the subject of heated competition.

U.S. networks such as CBS have moved away from national network programming, choosing instead to devote their resources to more lucrative local markets.

© Globe Information Services