We’re not talking a zero sum game

The crtc is looking to balance cultural, social and economic objectives, says chair Francoise Bertrand. Whew.

Two months of barking at the cable guys because they blessed some American services, and guess what. The broadcasters en masse are up in front of the commission at the network hearings saying ‘Canadian’ almost as often as ‘partnership’ and ‘vision,’ yet when it comes down to it, the weasel factor is on par with the cablecos. The broadcasters want to do more. They just don’t want to pay more or give up a single hour of American programming in primetime for Canadian drama.

This is not an argument for turning the entire primetime schedule for the private broadcasters into a Canadian drama haven, sending viewers in droves to cbs and nbc, and chopping the knees out from under the Canadian broadcasters. As per chum coo Fred Sherratt, there’s no point turning what is an economic advantage into a disadvantage. Weakening the Canadian broadcasters is unhealthy for the system. Granted.

But, let’s discuss weak. There were brief mentions at the hearing of this year’s ‘magic moment’ in revenues, something which shouldn’t ‘lull us into a false sense of security.’ Translation: expansion is translating into cash but we’d rather it wasn’t representative of anything.

In terms of vertical integration, last time we looked Global, Baton and chum had ownership in specialty channels, the latter two in several. Presumably there’re not long-term drains on the balance sheet or why would one want to put themselves through the licensing process. And yes, margins may be slimming on American programming, but surely the sky isn’t falling. Casting a skeptical eye at future revenue streams is valid considering the evolving Canadian tv market: Private broadcasters pleading frail and fragile is a stretch.

So let’s talk about what’s fair and reasonable. The Directors Guild of Canada, for example, is brave enough to suggest a 7% baseline commitment to the underserved programming categories, maybe even expand the category to include long-form documentary. This means an increase of two hours of Canadian drama in the primetime landscape which is flat out dominated by American product.

But the private nets want to hold the line on drama commitments, be given increased ‘flexibility’ to schedule Canadian where it doesn’t go shoulder-to-shoulder with American (read: where there’s limited audience), and threaten the end of local news should the Cancon commitments be rejigged to channel more money into drama. This isn’t a zero-sum game. We’re not talking robbing Peter to pay Paul. The point is Paul gets a 2% raise.

Call it rewriting history, if you like. Call it a necessary mechanism to evolve and sustain Canadian drama production against globalized telecommunications. Call it what they do in Europe and Australia. And if we’re lucky, the next time the Amerikans want to go to an international tribunal and whack us for cloaking industrial motives behind cultural protection policy, they won’t think to request hearings transcripts.