The CRTC’s recommendations on the Canadian Television Fund have left the industry divided. Quel surprise. With several sides at cross-purposes, no solution will ever completely appease everyone, but the regulator seems to think it has arrived at a plan that will keep all stakeholders somewhat satisfied.

First comes the notion of creating two CTF streams: one funded by Heritage and available to the CBC and educational and not-for-profit broadcasters; the other backed by the BDUs and open to the privates and programs aimed at wider audience appeal. Rogers Media suggested this at hearings earlier this year, and perhaps the commission saw Rogers as representing the median in points of view among the BDU fraternity, and so supported its proposal.

A couple of potential problems spring to mind. This course of action affects the CBC first and foremost, although it doesn’t fully make sense to separate the Ceeb from the privates given the caster’s current direction. If the net were a public broadcaster in the more widespread sense of the term – like a PBS – then it would be another story.

While the Ceeb is certainly unique in terms of the volume of Canadian content it supports, it also pulls in revenue from professional sports and Hollywood movies, it recently picked up a couple of popular U.S. game shows, and it issues press releases to trumpet the fact that, for a stretch, it beat Global in the ratings. It has even taken to canceling dramas after a few episodes if they fail to bring in the hoped-for numbers. CBC in many ways behaves like a private network.

From the CBC’s standpoint, it can’t feel too confident about its funding future. Even the CRTC’s notes indicate a potential imbalance over time. As the revenues of the BDUs continue to grow going forward, the pot for the private nets will continue to grow as well, whereas the Ceeb would remain at the mercy of the federal government. (APTN, according to the plan, would be able to dip into both streams, while VisionTV and TV5 would be able to choose between them.)

Do you foresee the Conservatives giving a budget boost to the CBC for its Canadian television programming any time soon?

CBC English head Richard Stursberg is not mincing words on this one. ‘The recommendations should be rejected by the Heritage minister,’ he tells Playback. Certainly his shop would rather get 37% of a growing pot than to be wholly reliant on governmental largesse. By his guess, public broadcasting stands to lose $150 million over five years should this system be implemented, while the privates would keep getting more. Remember all those years of the private nets bellyaching about the Ceeb getting the breaks? Well, now the shoe would be placed firmly on the other foot.

The likes of ACTRA, the WGC, and the CFTPA have come out swinging against the two-stream split, arguing, quite rightly, that those who dissented against the CTF in the first place never put forward a convincing argument that the system needed an overhaul. But the CRTC really sees this as The Big Fix, and CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein even took to chastising dissenters while at the Banff World Television Festival.

The regulator has made a big concession to these groups, however. It recommends against the loosening of Cancon regulations, so that only projects that score 10/10 CAVCO points would continue to qualify for CTF cash. This is a show of faith in the talent of the Canadian creative community, and will safeguard jobs in this sector that are becoming increasingly hard to come by.

But the issue is complex, and, of course, not everybody is pleased with the CRTC’s advice. One veteran producer who straddles both sides of the 49th – and increasingly, producers must learn to do so – points to the advantage of being able to use American showrunners, even to the benefit of writers here at home.

There is no question that Canada has in recent years produced a number of excellent showrunners, which in episodic TV are the key folks. But it is more of a recent phenomenon here. There is a far bigger pool of topnotch showrunning vets in Hollywood who would no doubt welcome the opportunity to work on a Canuck series. These people could use their invaluable experience not only to turn out a quality show with commercial appeal, but to also educate our rising screenwriting stars, who could later evolve into showrunner material.

Then, of course, there is the matter of whether or not Heritage Minister Josée Verner will accept all of the CRTC’s recommendations. Some of the top industry groups think it’s a no-brainer that she will; some think she won’t.

And if she does – and there is no indication when this might happen – there are some close to the situation that worry there might not be enough time to implement the changes before the public portion of the fund expires on March 31, which would leave the CBC et al in a precarious position.

The only thing that is certain is that apprehension and controversy surrounding the CTF ain’t going away anytime soon.