Source : Canadian Press

by Lisa Schmidt

The CRTC wants to report how much money private broadcasters spend on Canadian television programs. The federal agency is seeking input on whether it should include that kind of information in public files for upcoming reviews of television licence renewals. Both the CTV and Global television networks are scheduled to renew their licences in April.

"We thought it would be useful for the general public to have access to that information," CRTC spokesman Denis Carmel said Friday.

The proposal, announced in a public notice earlier this week, would cover spending between 1997 and 2000. The data would also include what type of programs the money was spent on and who is watching them.

Broadcasters already provide such details to the agency to show they are satisfying CRTC rules on Canadian content and quality, Carmel noted.

"The issue here is to give information to the public on one hand without impeding the competitiveness of these companies," he said.

"I'm sure Global would like to see, in detail, the CTV numbers, and we understand CTV's preoccupation not to give those away.

"But (the data) would be useful for the public to comment on the status of TV in Canada."

Ian Morrison, a spokesman for the watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said the move would be a significant step and is long overdue.

"The television business in this country, at least on the English side, is one where you buy programming in Hollywood ... You wrap ads around it and you make money off it," he said.

Broadcasters must air a minimum amount of Canadian content to balance foreign programming. However, that programming is often less profitable, Morrison said.

"It's kind of interesting to see what the broadcasters are putting back into Canada."

In 1998, the CRTC released a "snapshot" of Canadian program spending by broadcasters, Morrison said.

Quebec's TVA topped the list with 40 cents of every programming dollar spent on Canadian shows. Global was at the bottom with about 19 cents, he said. The figures reflected spending in the 1997 year.

"Since then, we've been curious to get some recent data," Morrison said.

Broadcasters had little to say Friday about the CRTC proposal.

"It's only appropriate we make our submission to the commission and then we'll talk about it, of course," said Tom Cruzon, vice-president of corporate communications for Bell Globe Media, which owns CTV, The Globe and Mail and the Sympatico Internet portal.

The deadline for submissions on the proposal to disclose spending is Jan. 29.

© Canadian Press