OTTAWA — The CRTC is taking a beating from the industry over its controversial recommendations to revamp the $265-million Canadian Television Fund. But what one company or group doesn’t like, another does.

Organizations across the country last week filed comments on recommendations made by the CRTC’s task force on the CTF. The recommendations, released in June, were based on private consultation and called for changes that included splitting the fund in two and lowering its standards for Cancon.

Sources say the commission will likely have to hold a public hearing to try to iron out a consensus.

‘One of the problems with the whole process… is that it was done too much in private,’ says CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson, speaking to Playback Daily. ‘We should get everyone back to the table and really hash this out, including the Department of Heritage which, I think, has stayed very silent on the whole thing.’

The task force wants to split the fund roughly in half, with the $145 million contributed by the industry going to ratings-driven productions and the $120 million from the federal government to more culturally driven projects.

Mayson calls this a ‘recipe for disaster’ because there is no potential for crossover between the two streams, and the overall CTF objectives will likely get lost. The CBC and provincial educasters such as SCN agree.

The CTF itself also noted, in its response to the CRTC, that its legal structure prohibits a split, and that it currently measures audience success through its broadcaster performance envelopes.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters, however, ‘supports a market-oriented private sector funding stream that focuses on audience success,’ as does Rogers and Corus Entertainment.

Corus is controlled by Shaw Communications, which sparked the CTF crisis when it stopped making its monthly contributions early this year. Quebecor followed suit. Both resumed their payments after the CRTC formed the task force, but neither are satisfied with its recommendations.

Quebecor criticizes the task force for failing to recognize that the French-Canadian market is different from that of English Canada.

‘Quebecor maintains its position that the CTF doesn’t correspond to modern reality,’ writes VP of regulatory affairs Edouard Trepanier. ‘If the CTF is to be governed by the rules proposed by the task force, then [Quebecor-owned] TVA will have no choice but to find other production funding models and to abandon the type of productions supported by the CTF.’

The industry is equally divided over the recommendation that a new funding stream of up to $25 million from current CTF revenues should go toward new media projects.

The CAB gives qualified support but Corus dissents, stating, ‘The name of the fund includes the word ‘television’ for a reason. The funding of new media — whatever the term means — should be left to another policy process.’

The CTF believes this recommendation would ‘dilute’ the current finite resources supporting content development for television. Rogers concurs: ‘This would direct funds away from the creation and exhibition of high-quality Canadian programming for traditional television broadcast.’

The main complaint of unions such as ACTRA, the WGC, the DGC and Union des artistes is the proposed rule change requiring fewer production positions be filled by Canadians to qualify for CTF funding.

A final report from is due from the CRTC on Sept. 15.