Canada: Broadcasters shouldn't fund programs to meet gov"t policies: Rogers exec

[Harold Schiffman]

Broadcasters shouldn't fund programs to meet gov"t policies: Rogers exec
20 hours ago

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.
(TSX:RCI.B) told the federal broadcast regulator 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 divide programs they fund
into two separate categories - those slated for private broadcasters
like Rogers and those slated for public broadcasters. That approach
was soundly rejected Monday during the first day of hearings, with the
president of the fund and others saying the two-stream approach won't
work.

The Rogers proposal calls for the about $120 million of the $288
million fund paid for by the federal government to go for 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. That would allow private broadcasters to
concentrate on shows that appeal to "mass audiences," said Rogers
vice-chairman Phil Lind. "We don't think it's a radical proposal.
We're interested in Canadian eyeballs for Canadian programs," he said.

"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. (TSX:SJR.B) and
Quebecor's Videotron - caused a crisis by temporarily suspending their
funding.

Shaw and Quebecor Inc. (TSX:QBR.B) complained the CTF was squandering
their money on shows few watch.

On the second day of the weeklong hearings, the sides of the debate
appear to be dividing into their own separate streams with those
involved in creating Canadian content on the side of the CTF and
broadcasters asking for changes.

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.

On Tuesday, Quebec's French-language writers guild SARTEC joined the
creative side's chorus in support of the CTF, saying private
broadcasters would abandon most Canadian programming except news and
sports if left to their own devices.

"This is something that wasn't created to fund commercial programs.
This was created to fund programs that the private broadcasters
wouldn't fund," said SARTEC president Marc Gregoire.

"The money is there to fund Canadian culture, otherwise let's just run
international programming and stop talking about it."

Speaking earlier, Lind 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.

The problem with the current system, added 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 Engelhart. "We do think it's
working, but we think it is losing its way a bit and needs to be
refocused a bit."

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

"The perception is that cable is some unending money tree that can
constantly be picked," 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.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9GJLN0K4Oxy0PZVNvs1MrTFm4pQ

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