threat of deregulation

Montreal: The production industry in Quebec has an urgent message for government: do not deregulate the Canadian broadcasting system.

In a rare enough instance of solidarity, producers, technicians, screenwriters and performers in Quebec have issued a strongly worded joint declaration warning the Liberal government to back away from any reduction of Canadian content rules and from liberalizing foreign ownership rules in broadcasting.

In a statement issued June 9 and signed by nine professional and trade associations including the apftq, stcvq, actra, uda and sardec, the industry says: ‘A government which would like to modify the legislative and regulatory framework of the (broadcasting) system, by relaxing, for instance, content or ownership rules, will be met head on by fierce opposition on the part of those organizations operating in the Quebec audiovisual industry. This is a matter of elementary survival.’

And while the joint declaration refers only to ‘government’ and makes no mention of the growing evidence of contradictory positions within government departments, Louise Baillargeon, president of the apftq, representing Quebec producers, says the recent decision by a government-appointed review committee to overturn a crtc exemption order on dth satellite services has played to fears government will use mounting competition as a pretext to deregulate the Canadian system.

Jacquelin Bouchard, newly elected apftq chairman, says deregulation combined with the entry into the Canadian market of unauthorized u.s. broadcasting signals delivered by dth satellites represents ‘an extreme danger for the Canadian and Quebec production industry.’ Letting these services in, he says, would be ‘the beginning of a catastrophe, because the Canadian industry is not yet mature.’

According to Baillargeon, the review committee’s decision violates the crtc’s arm’s-length status from government.

The producers and their allies say they want all broadcast undertakings, including new dth and pay-per-view services, to be licensed only after a public crtc hearing process. And any new services should be obliged to meet minimum Canadian content requirements.

‘The existing broadcasting system and the role of the crtc has worked very well for Canadians. It is a model that inspires others including the European Council, and it should be maintained, not deregulated,’ says Baillargeon.

The joint declaration, also signed by the apvq, representing professionals in the video sector; aqrrct, representing French-language film and tv directors; the dgc, representing English-language directors and art directors; and spacq, representing writers and composers, calls on the federal government to ensure that all Canadian dth services are subject to the same obligations as cable companies.

It says priority must be given to Canadian services, that new distribution services should be obliged to contribute to the financing of Canadian programming, and only crtc authorized services should be admitted.

The group is also strongly opposed to the notion of a unified ‘North American’ broadcast market.

The June 9 declaration emerges from talks initiated at the apftq’s annual congress held in early June.

Baillargeon says French-language producers are particularly threatened by parliamentary funding cuts to Radio-Canada and Telefilm Canada.

‘It is not quite the same story on the English side (because) the world market is an English market,’ she says.

Baillargeon says apftq members have yet to find a solution to the problems facing more costly French-track production, including the growth of coproduction and coventure deals between large European media interests and the u.s. majors.

Baillargeon says more efforts will be made to widen the consensus between the various Quebec trade associations and new meetings are planned.