God bless private enterprise!

Rule number 1 – remember who you’re talking to.

Reports from the Canadian Television Policy Review hearings came screaming in at press time indicating that executives from CanWest Global had gone on a bit of a free-market tirade during their presentation to the crtc.

In what some are already referring to as ‘the seven minutes,’ Global ceo Jim Sward, as well as company chairman and founder Izzy Asper (who reportedly rose from his seat in the gallery to join his cohorts at the table), took the bait set by rivals at ctv and various commissioners and proceeded to rattle off a series of platitudes that would make Ayn Rand blush.

‘Frankly, I don’t think it’s the commission’s business in the private sector. We all got to where we are on our own,’ said Sward in response to queries from acting crtc chair Andree Wylie. ‘There is this preoccupation with things being equal – God bless private enterprise – that’s the juice, and if we decide to stomp on it, then it will lose all its liveliness.’

Indeed. Let’s turn the whole thing over to the market. Let’s abandon regulations. Global and the other private broadcasters don’t need the benefit of government protection – they’re primed to play with the big boys down south.

But would Global be able to fend off the free market march of Disney, General Electric, Fox and Ted Turner? What would stop said multinationals from setting up shop here tomorrow? They would eat Global for breakfast.

Global is a stable, well-run company. Its executives are shrewd business people who have turned deft station and u.s. program buys into a very profitable business. Good on them. Well done. But they have benefited from regulation.

‘Let me get you back on track,’ said commissioner Wylie. ‘The train you’re on is regulated and it has worked very well for you.’

By some estimates, private broadcasters receive roughly $150 million per year in revenues from crtc-regulated simultaneous substitution. They also receive protection from the red, white and blue menace to the south that would stomp all over our airwaves and broadcast business given the chance.

The commission has always been willing to listen to business interests, and it appears it still is, but we can’t forget that when it gets right down to it, television is a cultural matter. The airwaves belong to the public. Broadcasters simply hold licences that allow them to use those airwaves.

Television is an awesome thing. We must handle it with care.

Thankfully, the commission seems to know this. Said Wylie: ‘The question before us at this hearing is `Is the regulatory process working?’ The question is not `Do we need to regulate?’ ‘

ctv seems to know this too. It asked for many of the same things that Global did. ctv pointed out the gigantic shortfall in the funding system – so did Global. ctv said the goal for Canadian drama is to have more episodes per season to attract more viewers – so did Global. ctv said its current licence fees are sufficient – so did Global.

But ctv scored a victory over Global at the hearings that day because it gave the commission a plan. The ‘Station Group Matrix,’ a cynic might suggest, calls for little more than what ctv is already doing with merely added flexibility. Regardless, it gave the commission and ctv execs something to talk about other than their different political philosophies.

Broadcasters have been hit hard by a downturn in the market as of late (see ‘B’cast stocks off 40%,’ p. 1) and even with generous promotions it’s never easy to attract Canadian audiences to Canadian shows (see ‘cbc coy about preem ratings,’ p. 1).

Broadcasters will most likely take a hit from the rulings that come out of these landmark hearings. How big a hit remains to be seen. The commission was looking for suggestions.

It’s all about how you ask.