A regulatory shift, following the Canadian Television Policy Review hearing, could see the number of hours of Canadian drama, children’s and variety programming in primetime more than doubling in the next two years.

In its submission to the crtc, the cftpa has suggested the long-term target should be 10 hours of night-time Canadiana per week and Canadian broadcasters allocating 10% of their revenue for the underserved program categories. The association filed this month along with 281 others in anticipation of the September hearing.

The motion – which would see private broadcasters going to seven hours a week as early as this year and 10 hours by 2001/2002 – is supported by Alliance Communications and Atlantis Communications. Currently the broadcasters average about three hours of first-run original Canadian drama in primetime, with the exception of Baton Broadcasting, which assumed the combined ctv/Baton commitment this year and is obligated to 5.5 hours per week.

Although the entire Canadian tv system is up for debate this fall, the Alliance submission says that one of the most important matters in the hearing is reinforcing the support for the underrepresented categories.

‘This kind of programming, despite its cost, can and does attract literally millions of Canadian viewers week after week, and can begin to reverse the dominance of our Canadian broadcasting system by u.s. drama.’

Mixed bag of submits

With broadcasters, producers, advocacy groups and viewers filing opinions on some or all of the 52 questions posed by the crtc, it’s an entertaining lay of the land.

A scan of the interventions speaks to everything from ctcpf envelopes, to a great hue and cry to support the cbc, to the likes of Mrs. Monuek from Saskatoon who says ctv executive vp and coo Bruce Cowie was a stand-up guy before he moved east and that the crtc should ‘get it through your thick skulls that Canadian programs are canceled due to the fact that they are too stupid to be funny or the movies make no sense at all.’

Similarly, Mr. Ingram, an American living in Canada, says the commission should ‘Keep it American and stop telling us what to do. We have to stand up for the flag, the red, white and blue, for the people and by the people.’

The Bloc Quebecois is on the record reminding the crtc of the unique characteristics of Quebec. The Epilepsy Association of Metro Toronto points out that some epileptic seizures are triggered by flashing or strobing light patterns and would like the industry to address the problem of uncontrolled seizure-provoking.

The Canadian Association of the Non-Employed is on the record, saying that ‘Canada is slipping away from lack of seeing and hearing our own people and our own stories,’ and using the elimination of cbc programs like Breakaway as an example. They would like to appear at the hearing, but add that since they are unemployed, they can’t afford to come unless the commission finances the trip.

Docs to ‘underserved’

A scan of the film and television industry filings provides an equally interesting mix of dialogue.

Adding documentaries to the crtc’s official ‘underserved’ program category is something all seem to agree on. The regions are united in diversity with all complaining there isn’t enough regional programming generally, news programming, specifically. (The Saskatchewan Communications Network calls its submission ‘Voices in the Wilderness’; the West Coast Media Society titles theirs ‘This Hour has 21 Minutes’ because according to their count, this is the usual amount of local original production coming from chek-tv in a day.) The idea of ‘more’ Canadian programming is supported across the board.

But consensus breaks down in the details, including how much more, what counts on the commission’s Cancon log books, access to funding and the responsibilities of broadcasters and producers.

For their part, the producers are pursing for more money from the broadcasters.

According to Alliance’s interpretation of statistics in the Canadian Television Selected Performance Indicators (provided by the commission), in the period from 1993 to 1997, ad revenue for private tv broadcasters increased by 18%, profit (before tax) by 50%, and foreign program expenditures by 28%. In comparison, spending for Canadian programs increased 11% in the same period, while spending on 7, 8, and 9 (drama, music and variety) increased only 1%, from $80 million in 1993 to $81 million in 1997.

Alliance also points to what it calls the ‘precipitous decline in financial expenditures on underrepresented Canadian programs by English broadcasters,’ saying expenditures on 7, 8, and 9 programming have steadily declined from 4.6% in 1995 to 4% in 1996 to 3.5% in 1997. French broadcasters remain steady at 10.8% of ad revenues in 1997.

To redress the issue, the cftpa is recommending that all private English-language tv stations with revenue greater than the $10 million be required to spend a minimum of 10% of the previous year’s revenues on the underrepresented categories. In tandem, they should be required to air an average of 10 hours per week of first-run Canadian programming from the underrepresented categories between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., and be required by regulation to attain an average of three hours per week of first-run children’s programs.

The cftpa suggests implementing the plan at licence renewals over the next four years. The target would be seven hours of primetime per week of the underserved program categories as early as the 1998/99 season, plus 1.5 hours of first-run kids’ programming, eight hours by 1999/2000 and two hours of kids’, nine hours by 2000/2001 and 2.5 hours of kids’ and 10 hours by 2001/2002.

CTCPF allocations in debate

Also gathering ink is the ongoing battle for designated pieces of the ctcpf.

For example, the Association des realisateurs et realisatrices du Quebec wants 20% of the ctcpf reserved for documentaries. Global Television wants 40% reserved for private conventional broadcasters. tvontario wants an envelope reserved for educational broadcasting and programming for lifelong learning to be considered an eligible genre for ctcpf funds. Atlantis wants financial commitments to promotion to be a condition for access to the ctcpf.

Meanwhile, Keith Bailey of Victoria suggests surveying Canadian viewing interests in order to provide guidelines for Telefilm funding of Canadian production, and Mr. Ginter in b.c. would like public funding for Canadian television stopped immediately.

Controversy throughout the hearing is expected to touch on the topic of what program genres should count as underserved (e.g. tvo is advocating programming for lifelong learning and skills training be added. ctv is proposing that the underrepresented categories be redefined as Priority Programming and include docs, children’s programming and local news in addition to categories 7,8 and 9), the issue of the 150% drama credit for broadcasters, extracting funds from u.s. services, the definition of primetime, and broadcaster access to public production funds. Stay tuned.

The hearings begin Sept. 23 in Hull, Que.