The Writers Guild of Canada, in its latest regulatory submission to the CRTC regarding license renewal hearings, called on Canadian broadcasters to stop fiddling while the industry turns up spending on homegrown TV shows.

“The WGC came into the license renewal hearing respecting the terms of the new 2010 TV Policy, but the broadcasters did not,” WGC executive director Maureen Parker (pictured) said in the submission.

“Instead they fiddled with their data in the midst of the hearing ­ adding some new, changing some old, with one of them going so far as to reclassify reality shows they had previously called docs ­ all to reduce their historical expenditure on PNI in order to reduce their future obligations,” she added.

The 2010 TV Policy balances programming flexibility for broadcasters with a guarantee to make quality Canadian shows, especially dramas, documentaries and awards shows.

The WGC accused broadcasters of cherry-picking from the TV Policy, minimizing their obligation to make Canadian dramas and docs in favor of programming that feeds into their bottom line.

“Yet that programming is the only thing that differentiates our broadcasters from the Americans,” Parker said.