Both the CBC and the Directors Guild of Canada say the CRTC is encouraging a freefall of spending on Canadian drama because it didn’t firm up support for Canadian content in its new television policy, which, instead, will eliminate limits on ad time by 2009.

The new rules, the first revamping of federal TV policy since 1999, will ensure conventional broadcasters are able ‘to operate effectively in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive communications environment,’ according to documents released by the feds on Thursday.

But reaction, which continued to pour in on Friday, has been mostly negative.

The DGC says the CRTC is allowing broadcasters to make more money without assuming any new responsibilities.

‘It fails to provide for any kind of mechanism to support Canada drama,’ Monique Lafontaine, DGC general counsel and director of regulatory affairs, told Playback Daily. The DGC is one of several groups that lobbied against the 1999 TV policy, which many blame for a drop in Canadian drama production. Private English TV stations have reduced their spending on Canadian drama by 61% since 2001, according to the guild.

‘Broadcasters will only support the Canadian production sector if they have to. We know that,’ says Lafontaine.

At public hearings held last fall, the DGC asked the CRTC to force broadcasters to spend 7% of their advertising revenues on original Canadian drama. The directors also wanted conventional broadcasters to show a minimum number of original Canadian dramatic programs annually.

The CRTC says it will discuss Canadian content when the broadcasters’ licences come up for renewal in spring 2008, but Lafontaine believes that might be too little, too late. ‘That’s our light at the end of the tunnel. But that’s a long way off. It could be two or three years before we see a positive impact on the industry,’ she says.

CBC says that by eliminating restrictions on advertising minutes, the CRTC has removed the incentive for private broadcasters to create original Canadian TV. ‘CBC/Radio-Canada is disappointed in today’s decision,’ reads a statement. ‘Over the longer term, the net result will be fewer opportunities for Canadian stories to be told.’

The NDP’s heritage critic Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) believes the CRTC isn’t acting in the interest of Canadian viewers. ‘We’ve already got enough commercials on television. What’s in it for the Canadian viewer if they aren’t watching Canadian shows,’ he says. ‘Airwaves are public. These broadcasters make money because they are operating in a protected environment. Where’s the corresponding obligation to invest in Canadian television?’

A statement from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters also expressed ‘disappointment’ in the new direction, noting that the CRTC turned down calls by conventional broadcasters for the right to charge carriage fees to cable companies. ‘We are disappointed, because the CRTC’s own financial data paints a picture of an industry reality that has been largely ignored in this decision,’ said CAB president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell.

CanWest MediaWorks, however, lauded the new policy. ‘The decision to enable flexibility in advertising, our sole source of revenue, promotes the viability of conventional television in Canada,’ said Kathy Dore, president of television and radio, in a statement.