If you’ve felt like there have been a lot of broadcasters making applications to the CRTC lately, you aren’t the only one.
In an application to the CRTC, The Forum for Research and Policy in Communications and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre asked the regulator to condense seven applications for relief from Rogers, Bell, Corus and Quebecor currently before the CRTC into a single notice of consultation.
The organizations said this would help simplify the consultation process for would-be commenters and intervenors who wish to voice opposition to the plan, as well as help the CRTC compile all evidence in a single record.
If the CRTC declines this proposal, the groups suggested a number of alternatives, such as issuing a notice of public hearing to discuss the issues, establishing an internal working group or consultation committee to make a recommendation to the CRTC, or order the broadcasters to continue their current license terms with the option to increase repeat programming.
The groups also voiced their overall opposition to the broadcasters’ applications, saying they “could irreparably harm the public interest by changing the level and quality of Canadian programming,” particularly local news.
What are the broadcasters asking for?
Canada’s four largest private broadcasters, as well as the CBC, all currently have some form of application before the CRTC to modify the terms of their licenses. The exact requests vary, but they all involve reducing, eliminating or modifying various programming requirements the broadcasters say would provide relief in a challenging media environment.
Last month, Bell made the most far-reaching of the applications, asking to eliminate quotas for local programming and news across its stations. That was on top of requests to reduce expenditures on Canadian programming and programs of national interest (PNI), as well as expanding the definition of PNI to include music programing, variety programming, game shows and reality TV.
In its application, Bell said it had no intention of eliminating local news from CTV and Noovo stations, but removing quotas would allow it to be more “flexible” in how it provides viewers with news content, which it claims lost $40 million in revenue last year.
In addition to eliminating local weekend newscasts at its TVA station in Quebec City, Quebecor has applied to eliminate local news quotas at all of its TVA stations, as well as eliminating local programming requirements at TVA Montreal and reducing the local programming requirements at TVA Quebec City.
Applications from Corus and Rogers do not consider local programming or news requirements, but do request changes to Canadian programming and PNI.
Corus is asking for slight reductions to Canadian programming (25%, from 30%) and PNI (5%, from 8.5%) quotas, as well as discontinuing its contributions to music development funds. It is also asking for access to the Independent Local News Fund, now that Rogers has ended the contributions Shaw made to Global news content after those two companies merged.
Rogers is not requesting any reduction to its quotas, but is asking that the definition of PNI be expanded to include analysis and interpretation, music, dance, variety, game shows, general entertainment, human interest and reality TV. In its application, Rogers said this would allow for Canada’s Got Talent to contribute to its PNI quotas, which the company states it should be allowed to do as it features entirely Canadian acts and performers.
Finally, CBC applied this week to have its coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics no longer count towards the expenditures used to calculate its Canadian programming and PNI quotas. As per its license terms, the CRTC calculates CBC’s PNI quota based on its spending on Canadian programming; as the Olympics are considered Canadian programming, it drives the CBC’s PNI quotas up in Olympic years to a level it says it would not be able to meet.
Outside of applications for relief, APTN recently applied to have its three regional channels and one HD channel condensed into two channels. One of the channels would air content nationally in English and French, while the second would be a new channel broadcasting almost entirely in Indigenous languages.
