If there is a single message that federal regulators have been trying to get out to broadcasters in recent years it is that they need to better represent the multicultural reality of Canada.

This was a point driven home April 8 when the CRTC awarded new Southern Ontario over-the-air licences to Calgary-based Craig Broadcast Systems and Toronto-based Rogers Broadcasting. Both emphasized an ethnic component absent from the other competing bids.

While much has been made of the so-called surprise decision by the regulator – bypassing odds-on favorite Torstar Corp.’s Hometown Television – with the benefit of hindsight, the choice was clear.

‘It’s been consistent at recent hearings that the CRTC will cross-examine a renewal or any transaction with a series of questions that relates to diversity and representation,’ says Leslie Sole, CEO of Rogers Television.

‘It’s become a real objective of the regulator to make sure that people who hold licences are representative.’

According to CRTC spokesman Denis Carmel, the regulator has been increasingly focusing on the issue for several years. It even went so far during hearings to renew the licences of Global TV and CTV, last summer, as to ask the Canadian Association of Broadcasters for an action plan on how to better reflect the changing ethnic makeup of Canada on mainstream television.

‘We’re here to serve the people of Canada,’ he says. ‘The nature of the people is changing and the face of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal is changing. We recognize that and we are adapting to that new reality.’

Even Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps has been getting in on the act. In her address to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in November, the minister pointed out that a full one-third of Canada’s population is neither French nor English, but they are represented by only a handful of ethnic TV stations and specialty channels.

‘We need to do more to ensure that all communities, particularly visible minorities, feel that sense of inclusion,’ she told the committee.

To that end, of the 262 digital licences granted last year, 42 provide programming in other languages. The CRTC is also allowing for the launch of an additional 19 non-Canadian services for digital distribution.

Since Copps’ address, the regulator has awarded two Toronto licences plus one to Multivan Broadcasting for a multilingual station in the Vancouver area. Last year it also gave consent for CHUM Limited’s $130-million purchase of CKVU in Vancouver. CHUM plans to adapt the culturally diverse model of its Toronto-based Citytv and rebrand CKVU Citytv Vancouver.

While a cynic might construe the motivation of the feds as being purely political, the fact is that targeting ethnic groups is proving to be smart business for broadcasters.

‘From our perspective it makes great business sense,’ says Drew Craig, president of Craig Broadcasting, which will broadcast 12 hours a week of English-language multicultural content on its new Toronto One station. ‘It isn’t something that we just pay lip service to. It’s something that we think is very important and opens up huge opportunities for us.’

As an example, Craig points to the success of its aboriginal half-hour magazine program, Sharing Circle, aired on Craig stations in Alberta and Manitoba. ‘It attracts a huge number of aboriginal viewers. From an advertiser’s perspective trying to target that community, it’s a terrific vehicle.’

Of course none of this is news to Stephen Tapp, VP and GM of Citytv.

The Toronto-based operation was built, he says, on a foundation of multicultural inclusion. Toronto’s multicultural makeup is well reflected by the diversity of on-air personalities the station employs and by the 10 hours of multilingual programming it runs Saturday and Sunday mornings, produced by CHIN Radio Television International.

‘Whether you’re in packaged goods or in television, whatever business you’re in, you have an obligation to serve the tastes, needs, styles and attitudes that make up your market,’ says Tapp. ‘When you take care of your viewers and your community, you take care of your business.’

In the U.S., recent demographic studies have also spurred a new emphasis on ethnic diversity, particularly in regard to the Latino community. The latest example of this is ABC’s new family comedy George Lopez, which has been making modest gains in ratings.

Here at home, according to Statistics Canada, the top five non-English- or French-language groups in order are: Chinese (791,160), Italian (694,125), German (654,260), South Asian (643,695) and Spanish (505,775).

Nowhere do these numbers hold more significance than in Toronto, where close to 40% of Canada’s ethnic population resides. According to a study by Rogers-owned CFMT, by 2011, Canada’s largest city will be home to four million people with ethnic origins other than English, French or aboriginal.

But of 170 languages spoken in Southern Ontario today, CFMT, the city’s most comprehensive multicultural broadcaster, serves only 22.

‘The broadcast industry has not been keeping up with the demographics,’ says Madeline Ziniak, VP and station manager at CFMT and newly licenced CFMT ‘Too,’ which is committed to serving an additional 18 languages.

‘I think that is a key message that [the CRTC] has been hearing from community groups across Canada.’

Of course the changing face of the nation is slowly leading to the changing face of programming. Barna-Alper’s Da Vinci’s Inquest, for example, features a protagonist of Italian descent, while Force Four Entertainment’s CBC MOW series Jinnah on Crime features a South Asian crime reporter.

‘I think there is more diversity in the characters and maybe some of the creators involved,’ says John Galway, director of the TV business unit for Ontario and Nunavut at Telefilm Canada.

Galway expects that the spate of new multicultural stations and specialties will lead to even more thanks to funding commitments stipulated in licence agreements.

Under terms of its licence, Craig, for example, has earmarked $6.65 million for the New Voices Fund for independently produced ethnic English-language programs, plus $725,000 for script and concept development. Meanwhile, Rogers has committed $35 million over seven years to fund at least 225 third-language, half-hour dramas or documentaries. For its part, CHUM for its Vancouver licence, committed $7.8 million to prelicensing dramas and documentaries by aboriginal and ethnic filmmakers.

-www.a-channel.com

-www.cfmt.com

-www.citytv.com

-www.crtc.gc.ca

-www.mvbctv.com