to beef up

kids’ fare

the crtc says cbc must shape up children’s programming, beef up contributions from independents and physically build up its presence in Victoria, b.c. But the broadcast regulator has thrown the gauntlet to the federal government to direct any fundamental mandate changes at the cbc.

The crtc made these and a multitude of other recommendations – including handing out a five-year licence term to match the length of government funding guarantees – in its 40-page licence renewal decision issued late last month.

In the decision, the commission says hearings planned by the House of Commons standing committee on Canadian Heritage – expected to begin on or about Sept. 19 when the House reconvenes – along with forums run by advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting may ‘result in a new policy direction with respect to the cbc’s mandate and funding.’

The announcement of the committee hearings, made last May by Heritage Minister Michel Dupuy, occurred around the time the minister sparked a tempestuous controversy by telling the committee he would consider suggestions on privatizing parts of the cbc. But by press time, Dupuy’s legislative assistant, Alan Patt, said the scope of the hearings’ mandate and the intended list of witnesses had not been finalized. Patt says it is not the committee’s intention, going in to the hearings, that its report should recommend changes to the Broadcasting Act, but he agrees it’s possible.

Meantime, with the hearings waiting in the wings, the crtc is requiring immediate action from the Corp in several areas.

The decision says the only cbc priority that has increased in importance since the crtc wrote its 1987 renewal decision is that of children’s programming. While the crtc says Radio-Canada essentially has met (and must continue to meet) its target of an average of 20 hours per week for children and youth, the commission says English-language cbc averaged only 15 hours per week in the 1992/93 season. With the cancellation of Video Hits, cbc offered just over 12 hours a week in the ’93/94 season.

The commission is not amused. Young people, it argues, ‘constitute the very audience the cbc should be nurturing as its principal audience in the years to come; instead it is providing this audience with the same type of fare’ offered by private and non-Canadian services. ‘The commission believes that the cbc should develop alternative offerings, which, even if they attract fewer youth, would at least give those it did attract a reflection and a sense of Canada.’

The crtc says there’s an urgent need for cbc to rectify this situation and, accordingly, has ‘raised programming for children and youth to a priority immediately following that of Canadian content.’

For the new five-year licence term, the crtc insists that the cbc immediately add 2.5 hours per week of programming aimed at teens and preteens (the after-school time slot of 4-6 p.m. is intended here), rising to five hours per week by the end of the licence term.

‘I’m delighted,’ says Kaely Wilkinson, a board member of the Alliance for Children and Television. act is a national lobby group which has been pressing for more Canadian-produced, English-language children’s fare on the cbc. act renewed its lobbying when it saw how little cbc had to offer for fall ’94.

Although she says the 2.5 hours a week is a ‘modest beginning,’ Wilkinson is pleased with the crtc’s directive since she says at the moment, young viewers ‘are not seeing the best of the creativity of our young producers because the slots aren’t thereÉ.It’s a pity because the best and brightest of tv producers have often been trained’ in the kids’ tv production area.

She says Radio-Canada has served its youth audience much better than its anglophone counterpart for the last several years.

The crtc also argues with the cbc over how the broadcaster measures contributions from independent producers (outside the areas of news, public affairs and sports).

The crtc wants cbc and Radio-Canada to hit minimum levels of 50% indie production over ‘the long term’ and keep at 40% over the short term. cbc’s renewal application claimed it had exceeded the 40% mark on both networks, but the crtc disagrees and is once again asking the corporation to up contributions from indies.

The decision also directs Radio-Canada to increase licence fees for some French-language programs or series to bring them into line with fees paid to producers of English-language programs.

In the ‘urgent’ department, the crtc says it’s an anomaly that while smaller b.c. centers such as Prince George and Kelowna have ‘storefront’ production capability, Victoria has none and must rely on cbut-tv Vancouver. So by Sept. 30, the commission wants the cbc to produce a plan to build a production center in Victoria ‘by the earliest possible date within the new licence term.’ Then the matter will be up for discussion in November, at cbut’s licence renewal hearing.

At press time, cbc spokesman Tom Curzon said since cbc executives were still reading the decision, none was prepared to comment.