Please, we (almost) beg: no extraneous crtc hearings on network licence criteria in the midst of what could be the most demanding regulatory year on record.

At this point, there seems to be general consensus on what’s necessary to nail down a solid 21st century-ready Canadian broadcasting system: strong national players to license the high-end productions, co-existing with a mix of strong regional groups which would nurture the smaller producers and benefit the entire community.

How this all transpires is a de facto public process, with all the attending transparencies and public access requirements for the crtc a given. But the actual business side of the equation needs be taken into account.

If a level playing field is theoretically on the horizon – John Cassaday, as rumored, takes over where Doug Holtby left off at wic, Baton (finally) assumes control of the CTV Television Network, and wic gets the nod for regional Ontario distribution, which quells the panic over the CanWest Alberta invasion – then why is anyone advocating another laborious, albeit fascinating, public process that would only slow development down and stimulate tie sales in the Greater Toronto Area?

The whole network criteria equilibrium conundrum could and should be ably left in the hands of the commission, specifically vice-chair, broadcasting, Fern Belisle and vice-chair communications David Colville.

Belisle, vice-chair on the broadcasting side since 1990, has been with the crtc since 1977, wearing hats including chief of financial operations, director of programming operations, and secretary general, all following a stint as controller and vp finance at Telemedia and with a degree in accounting in hand (likely coming in handy with the CanWest Alberta application).

Colville, with the crtc since 1990 and interim chair during Keith Spicer’s cross-Canada venture, is a former senior policy advisor on broadcasting and telecommunications at the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Communications, and was instrumental in the establishment of the nsfdc and the Atlantic Educational Television Service.

If, as CanWest chairman Izzy Asper says, CanWest is willing to commit its ‘pro rata’ share of revenue to the underserved programming categories of drama, music and variety, then let the commission figure out what the benchmarks are. Chair Belisle made a point of saying the crtc must deal only with what is in the application, but let’s face it: this hearing is about more than what’s on paper. The commission has the intellectual resources to decipher what the criteria for national network entry should be and then apply it across the board as the rest of the year plays out.

No one’s advocating playing willy-nilly with licence commitments, and granted, with the licensing structure of the incumbents, it’s a far more complex situation than the bottom line reflects. But surely a simple equation, like x% of revenue will be spent on entertainment programming, doesn’t require the industry to trumpet en masse to Ottawa again. There’s ample synapses firing on the commission side of the equation to render a hearing on national network criteria unnecessary.

Let’s expedite the process where possible so the inevitable short-term pain of restructuring is in process, and over faster.