As cable and satellite providers battle broadcasters for supremacy before the CRTC, poll results released Monday indicate most Canadians believe the BDUs’ call for deregulation will unduly harm how TV is programmed and packaged in this country.

Citing a Pollara survey of 1,200 Canadians, a consortium representing domestic TV viewers, unions and guilds and indie specialty channels said 67% of respondents trusted the CRTC and the federal government to protect Canadian culture and identity on domestic TV screens. The poll results were unveiled by actor RH Thomson at a press conference at Toronto Film Studios.

Only 8% of those polled placed their trust in cablecasters.

‘They [Canadians] support Canadian programming in all its genres, including dramas and comedy, and they believe the system as it’s presently structured is not broken,’ Stephen Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, told Playback Daily.

The Pollara poll, meant to give ordinary Canadians a voice as little-publicized CRTC hearings on BDUs get underway Tuesday, uncovered widespread fears that domestic cable and satellite companies will bump domestic TV services off the dial in favor of more lucrative U.S. channels if they get their way in Gatineau.

‘Consumers are paying cable companies billions of dollars. It is not unreasonable to expect a basic commitment to Canadian programming along with their monthly bills,’ argued Peter Murdoch of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

Other poll findings include 55% of Canadians believing the domestic TV production sector will not survive in an unregulated cable and satellite TV environment.

A clear majority (87%) agreed that cable or satellite TV providers will favor channels they own over independent specialty channels.

‘The CRTC could make or break the sector depending on their decision,’ warned Martha Fusca, president and CEO of Stornoway Communications, an independent specialty television channel operator.

Three weeks of CRTC hearings into the future of arrangements between BDUs, domestic specialty channels and the major U.S. TV services gets underway Tuesday.