The call for another pair of reports on the state of the TV industry is hardly out of the ordinary, except when the CRTC indicates that their results may lead to amendments to its controversial 1999 Television Policy.

That was the gist of the message delivered by CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen at the opening breakfast address at the 2006 Banff World Television Festival, an event marked by strong attendance for its sessions on emerging digital platforms and its prominent international guests.

Dalfen, who has a half-year remaining on his five-year term, announced a review of aspects of the regulatory framework for over-the-air TV, including revisiting whether the CRTC should reinstall broadcaster expenditure requirements on Canadian programming. The requirements were removed in 1999, a move many blame for a lack of growth in domestic drama production.

‘We haven’t observed any significant movement in spending on Canadian drama,’ Dalfen told the crowd on June 12, citing a mere 3% broadcaster spending increase between 2001 and 2005.

It was the first time Dalfen had suggested that the regulator’s Television Policy has perhaps hurt domestic drama.

‘We’re very encouraged, actually,’ said CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson. ‘To us, Mr. Dalfen’s speech is really opening the door on a rethink on the effectiveness of the ’99 policy, and may be opening the door to new ways of producing more programming.’

The CAB, representing private broadcasters, which prefer a more free-market approach, issued a diplomatic response, saying, ‘Such reviews [are] essential in order to modernize the existing regulatory framework.’

The review will also examine how the 12 minutes per hour of advertising allowed conventional casters is tallied in an era with an increase in alternative ad methods, such as product placement, sponsorship and digital alteration. Also to be addressed is whether over-the-air casters should be required to completely switch over to digital transmission, although this is unlikely since less than 20% of Canadians currently receive TV signals via antenna, and the cost to casters would be high. Finally, the report will look at the economic status of small-market TV.

The CRTC is calling for written submissions from interested parties by Sept. 27 and public hearings exactly two months later, with the results to be announced in late spring 2007.

The regulator will also be preparing a separate but related report on the impact of digital technology on Canadian broadcasters, seeking stakeholder submissions by Sept. 1 towards a Dec. 14 delivery date.

The latter CRTC paper was ordered by Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda, who also addressed Banff attendees. Earlier reports foretold of Oda also calling for a review of the mandate of the CBC, but that didn’t come to pass.

‘This government does support CBC/Radio-Canada, which will remain Canada’s public broadcaster in both official languages,’ Oda reassured the crowd, which included top CBC executives.

The impact of emerging platforms, including video on demand, the Internet and handheld devices, took center stage at many of the sessions and panels over the course of the festival, held June 11-14 at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. Players on both the broadcast and production sides speculated on how revenue would be generated from these ancillary markets, and argued as to how to divvy up that pie once it was found.

To set the stage for the fest’s closing ‘Town Hall’ session, Nordicity Group released a paper entitled ‘The Future of Television in Canada,’ which concludes that the health of the domestic TV biz rests on its abilities to exploit digital advances and foreign markets, and to make the correct policy decisions at home. The paper, authored by Peter Lyman, notes the growing impact of new platforms, but assures that they do not signal the end of traditional TV.

Elsewhere, pitch competitions are a central feature of the Banff fest, and this year producer Leigh Badgley of Omni Film Productions won the $50,000 top prize at the CTV Canadian Documart for pitching the doc The Dolphin Dealer, while the tech-oriented Inventing the Future: Atanasoff, Mauchly and the First Computer (from Mila Aung-Thwin and EyeSteelFilm) and Web Warriors (from Edward Peill and Tell Tale Productions) finished second and third for $30,000 and $20,000, respectively.

Ian Johnson of Guru Inc. won the $10,000 drama and comedy pitch prize as well as the Kodak Audience Award ($5,000 in film stock) for most popular pitch overall for Chugga Chugga Choo Choo, while High School Reunion Stories by Antonio Hrynchuk of Fahrenheit Films took the $10,000 lifestyle and reality pitch, and The World According to Ella from Mark Montefiore of Polenta Productions was crowned best kids programming pitch.

Michael Ockenden of Sand Box Media Games won the $10,000 iPitch for his game-oriented project Raven Tales.

The digital future was addressed over three days prior to the festival at the nextMEDIA conference, produced by Achilles Media, which also operates the BWTF. With interest in this area growing quickly, the new media event was sold out, with 260 delegates in attendance, a 10% increase over last year, according to Achilles.

New at nextMEDIA was nextPitch, awarding cash prizes to the best interactive project pitches. The $5,000 top prize went to Evan Jones for Total Drama Island – Totally Interactive, with pitches from Jacqueline Nuwame and Rawl Banton taking home $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.

Attendance for the Banff fest was more than 1,450, an increase over last year, according to Achilles. While some registrants grumbled about the price tag ($2,100 regular rate), the consensus was that the 27th edition was well-run, and that the event had found its legs for the first time since Achilles took over in 2004.

A strong presence of international players in sessions, including Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning writer/director who has a new series, The Black Donnellys, on the way, and Gary Carter, chief creative officer for the U.K.’s FremantleMedia (the Idol format), succeeded in generating interest. According to festival CEO Robert Montgomery, this represents the fest’s future direction.

‘We would like to continue in the frame of getting the key people changing television and whose shows are influential, important and relevant to come and inspire – more of the same,’ Montgomery says.

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