The Canadian Association of Broadcasters is up in arms about a recent report suggesting that restrictions should be placed on a network’s right to simultaneously broadcast American TV shows during primetime.

‘We believe that the report’s far-reaching recommendations, if not properly applied, could fundamentally undermine the foundation of the Canadian broadcasting industry,’ said CAB president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell in a statement.

‘Simultaneous substitution is a mechanism of fundamental importance,’ he added. ‘To remove this mechanism would effectively expropriate rights holders. It is irresponsible to suggest such a recommendation without any rationale demonstrating an understanding of the economic underpinnings of the industry.’

Under current CRTC rules, private networks such as Global and CTV simulcast American shows and insert Canadian ads, a practice which generates millions annually, but hurts Canadian content, which tends to get shuffled into marginal timeslots, says the CRTC report, authored by communications lawyers Laurence Dunbar and Christian Leblanc and released on Thursday.

But Canada’s largest actors union, ACTRA, welcomes the report’s findings. ‘This is really the first glimmer of hope we’ve had in a long time. We are really quite pleased,’ Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director, tells Playback Daily. ‘The broadcasters have made billions in revenue piggybacking on U.S. product… It’s time for the broadcasters to wean themselves from this regulatory benefit. They can’t have their cake and eat it, too.’

If the CRTC eliminated the simultaneous rights policy, Canadians would be able to watch American shows on American networks. Right now, if a network such as Global buys the rights to broadcast an American show, its over-the-air signal replaces that of the network south of the border.

Waddell is also pleased the authors took a hard look at what passes for Canadian content on most networks, such as reality TV and entertainment news. ‘This report validates what we’ve been saying for five years. The CRTC’s 1999 Television Policy is a failure. And Canadian TV drama is important.’ In 1999, the CRTC allowed Canadian broadcasters to satisfy their Canadian-content requirements with reality TV and other cheaply produced programming.

In April, the head of the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein, asked the lawyers to review Canada’s broadcasting system with a view to increasing the role of market forces.

The report found that many regulations governing Canadian broadcasting are ineffective and need to be either eliminated or streamlined.

The report also suggests that the CRTC review its requirements for independent production to see if broadcasters can achieve economies of scale by making Canadian programs in-house.

The CRTC will consider the report as part of the review of its broadcasting policy to take place in January 2008.