With the CBC completing the paperwork cementing its takeover of The Documentary Channel, a debate rages. CBC says the move is a win-win-win for the pubcaster, doc audiences, and independent producers, but a doc producers’ group says its members are frustrated by the CRTC’s attitude toward them, fearful for the future of POV docs, and alarmed that licence fees will fall.

For his part, CBC EVP of English TV Richard Stursberg is frustrated by these concerns being expressed by the Documentary Organization of Canada.

‘I’m at a loss as to what the documentary producers’ problem is…If what they’re worried about is a reduction in the quantity’ of documentaries that will be purchased from the independent sector, ‘that will not be the case,’ he says emphatically.

On June 22, the CRTC approved CBC’s purchase of Corus Entertainment’s stake in the Category 1 digichannel, boosting the Ceeb’s share from 29% to 82%. (The minority owners include Barna-Alper Productions, CineNova Productions, the National Film Board, Omni Film Productions and a numbered company.)

According to a CRTC transcript, last March Stursberg told the panel considering the takeover application that CBC will run TDC just as it has been run since it was licensed in November 2000.

‘The channel will operate according to its existing conditions of licence,’ he said. ‘CBC remains committed to the documentary genre across all of its services and will maintain its level of support for independent documentary programming. CBC will respect and support the distinct nature of this service…[and] will license programming for The Documentary Channel from independent producers with separate licence fees.’

DOC is aware that CBC must respect TDC’s existing licence conditions, but as executive director Samantha Hodder explains, the change in control ‘spells challenging things ahead for us. We’re feeling quite disturbed about what’s going on [with documentaries] at CBC generally.’

Hodder says CBC has been moving auteur or point-of-view docs off its main channel and onto Newsworld for some time. On NW, meanwhile, she says The Passionate Eye strand has endured budget cuts and acquires much more programming than it commissions. She is not convinced CBC’s Doc Zone – a series of one-hour films currently airing on Thursday evenings – fills the POV void left by the departure of the Witness strand.

She says that while TDC was commissioning and heavily promoting feature-length docs intended for first run in cinemas, its licence does not require it to air feature-length material, only ‘long-form,’ which means more than 30 minutes.

Stursberg finds this worry baffling. ‘We at CBC are actually the inventors of the long-form documentary fund,’ he states, referring to the Theatrical Documentary Pilot Program run by Telefilm Canada. CBC invested in its 2005/06 trial year and is back as a financial partner for 2007/08.

In the pilot program news release, he’s quoted as saying theatrical exhibition helps broaden audiences, provides stability to filmmakers and contributes to excellent product on CBC, which he calls Canada’s ‘number one platform for documentaries.’

Hodder is further concerned that because TDC’s licence enables it to air productions created in-house – which it couldn’t afford to do under the original ownership structure – CBC can stream films onto the channel from its in-house production unit.

‘This is atrocious and abhorrent because we know they’re ramping up for that,’ she says.

Stursberg counters that CBC already has an output agreement with TDC, as does another TDC partner, the NFB, and had sold many films to the digichannel.

While senior TDC staff will likely meet the CBC brass once the takeover paperwork is completed, Stursberg says CBC hasn’t made any decisions on TDC’s personnel. At press time, Playback was unable to reach TDC programming chief Michael Burns, who was in France at the Sunny Side of the Doc festival.

What is undeniable is that CBC’s increased stake has brought with it some palpable anxiety, as noted by CRTC commissioner Richard French, who told producer-interveners at the March hearing that the CBC takeover should help secure TDC’s future.

‘I must say – and…I’m not speaking specifically of you here because it applies across the board – it is disappointing that the level of trust and confidence between producers in both language groups, and principal acquirers of the programming in both language groups, is so low,’ he said.

French added that he worries about the CRTC’s ability to control terms of trade between buyers and sellers as unregulated businesses – such as those in digital media – grow in power.

‘I’m not sure that the commission and the Department of Heritage are going to be able to sustain, in the world that we are now going to move into, a degree of detailed control over the nature of those relationships that I think you and other producer groups are seeking.’

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