Industry unions and guilds are planning to present a united front at the spring CRTC licence renewal hearings for private over-the-air broadcasters, where they will collectively call for the reinstatement of Canadian drama expenditure requirements, which were removed by the commission in 1999.

The unions and guilds are still exploring all options as to the best expenditure formula to increase OTA drama investment during the lead-up to the hearings – tentatively scheduled for April. However, the current consensus is that they will call for 7% of annual OTA broadcaster revenues to be spent on Canadian drama programming. The percentage recommendation will be combined with a preferred hourly quota – likely two hours of indigenous drama content per week in primetime.

‘We are all on the same page in terms of the percentage of revenue formula because it is the most transparent solution’ says Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada.

‘We realize that it is all fair and good to make a regulation, but who enforces it? There is no system in place of fines and penalties, so we are choosing to look for a solution that is easy to enforce. And hourly quotas on their own won’t work unless it is tied to an expenditure requirement, or we will end up with more Train 48s, which was made for $45,000 per episode.’

She notes that spending on Canadian drama went from 5.1% of advertising revenues in 1998 to just 2.3% in 2007, and this includes benefits money.

While each of the unions and guilds will file separate submissions – and likely circulate individual announcements – the messaging will be consistent, adds ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell.

‘We have been working with other unions and the CFTPA to come up with some creative alternatives, and feel it is important to come out with a united voice so we have an industry-wide proposal for the CRTC,’ he says.

The unions are also discussing other formulas to increase indigenous drama on OTA broadcasters, such as tying Canadian spending to a proportion of their annual spend on foreign programming.

The reality is that the industry has consistently called for a reinstatement of expenditure requirements since 1999, but the CRTC has up until now refused to take this route in its decision-making.

‘Percentage of revenues is our preferred option, but we aren’t quite sure how welcoming the CRTC will be to that, so if that turns out to be a non-starter, we will have other options to put in front of them,’ says Brian Anthony, national executive director and CEO of the Directors Guild of Canada.

‘We will continue to take the temperature of CRTC waters and fine-tune our presentation as the hearings approach. Whatever formula will work in the current climate to achieve a significant increase in Canadian programming expenditures by the OTA group – and I would like to see it rise above the pre-1999 levels – we can live with.’

Last year, private broadcasters spent 12.6 times more on foreign drama than they did on Canadian drama, according to Anthony.

A number of new commissioners have been appointed to the CRTC this year, which is making it more difficult to assess whether the commission will be willing to consider an expenditure regulation.

‘It is hard to read at the moment whether they will be amenable to these kinds of initiatives, or take a laissez-faire approach,’ says Anthony. ‘There is a sense that the commission is always looking for ways to reduce regulation, but they also talk a lot about smart regulation, which in our view this is.’

The Coalition of Canadian Audio-visual Unions, which includes ACTRA, DGC, WGC, IATSE and NABET 700, is working with the CFTPA on various studies and research so they are well-armed for the OTA hearings.

Together they have commissioned a sweeping survey of Canadian programming on OTA broadcasters. The study will be released leading up to the hearings, according to Parker, and it will analyze where Canadian programs appear on the schedule, not only on a weekly basis, but at what times of the year (i.e. summer or fall/winter); the genres of Canadian programming in primetime; the ratio of indigenous drama versus entertainment and magazine shows; how often programs are repeated; and the amount being spent on these shows.

The survey also looks at whether broadcasters are meeting their eight hours of weekly priority programming.

The WGC has commissioned its own study, looking at content regulations and quotas in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Britain, and comparing them to Canada.

‘It supports our premise that high-quality content requires private and public funding and regulation,’ says Parker.

As part of their argument and messaging, Anthony says they will point to the fact that expenditure requirements have worked well in the pay and specialty channel arenas, where broadcasters now contribute about $100 million annually to Canadian programming.

‘And we know regulation works when broadcasters are required to spend a portion of benefits on Canadian programming because we get shows like Corner Gas,’ he adds. ‘When they are obliged to spend money on Canadian dramatic programming, they do it well.’

The union and guild reps are also preparing to counter what they expect will be the key broadcaster arguments against an expenditure rule: the current economic crisis and that conventional television is in a state of decline.

‘I hope the commission doesn’t buy into the broadcasters’ argument that this is a dying business and they are struggling and should be left to do whatever they want,’ says CTFPA president and CEO Guy Mayson.

Parker calls this ‘sky is falling’ scenario a red herring and says studies have shown that conventional TV viewing has faced only a slight decline. She also notes that Canadian media companies are strong as a result of consolidation that has allowed them to diversify and shore up different revenue streams.

‘Obviously the economic turmoil isn’t playing in our favor, and we hope that won’t distract the CRTC from upholding the Broadcasting Act,’ says Parker. ‘We know broadcasters will talk about that, but we have eight years of figures to show this is a long systemic decline.’

Waddell also anticipates that broadcasters will point to the increased number of new one-hour drama series produced over the last year.

‘We suspect this new level of production is in anticipation of the hearings, and unless regulation is re-established, they will go back to their old ways after renewals,’ he says.