Current Priorities
Below you will find updates on key policy issues for the Writers Guild of Canada.
The Canadian Television Fund - the Canada Media Fund
The CTF, the largest fund for television production in Canada, was renewed for two years in the latest federal budget. However, the Department of Canadian Heritage has decided to integrate the fund with the Canada New Media Fund administered by Telefilm, reconfigure its organization, focus and structure, and rename it The Canada Media Fund. The new fund came into being in June of this year with the appointment of a new seven member board (five put forward by the BDUs and two put forward by Canadian Heritage). However, the CTF will operate under its current guidelines for this year. The CMF will be fully operational for the next fiscal year starting April 1, 2010.
Backgrounder
The CTF has been, and the CMF will continue to be, an essential support of Canadian television production. The fund is partially supported by a portion of a subscriber fee the cable and satellite companies direct to the Fund and partially by Canadian Heritage. Though the Fund has been scrutinized and refined over the years – including a positive review by the Auditor General in 2006 – it came under attack by certain cable providers (Shaw and Videotron withheld payments into the fund, and Jim Shaw initiated a very public media campaign against the Fund). Their charges led the CRTC to commission a Task Force Report on the Fund, a full CRTC hearing, and eventually, the creation of the CMF.
The WGC was involved in this process from the beginning, with written submissions to and presentations before the CRTC, through lobbying efforts and in special meetings in Banff.
On March 9, 2009, on the set of Flashpoint, the Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore announced the creation of the revised CTF – now called the Canada Media Fund (the CMF). The Canada Media Fund will now be comprised of the Heritage CTF contribution, the Broadcast Distribution Undertaking (BDU’s like Rogers and Shaw) contributions and the Telefilm New Media Fund of $14.5 million.
The WGC was able to raise and discuss its questions and concerns about the CMF in a number of conversations with the Department of Heritage staff. There will be formal and informal consultations with the industry in the development of the new guidelines for the CMF. Consultations will start later this summer with the goal of having new guidelines by January 2010. We have been assured by the Department of Heritage and CTF that we will be involved in the consultation surrounding the implementation of these changes.
Policy changes in the CMF include the requirement that digital media content accompany all television programs, a separate allocation for stand-alone digital media content, eligibility of in-house production as a portion of the broadcast envelopes, the clarification that life-style and reality programs do not qualify as documentaries or varieties, and the elimination of the CBC’s guaranteed envelope.
At The CRTC - Broadcaster Licence Renewal and Fall 2009 Policy Review
The WGC appeared at the CRTC hearings into licence renewal on May 7, 2009. Read the press release here. The WGC put forward solutions providing broadcasters with new revenue sources without compromising Canadian programming (the Canadian broadcasters' very reason for being). After issuing one-year licences to the broadcasters, the CRTC deferred larger licence considerations until a review by station groups to be held in 2010. Prior to that, however, the CRTC will hold a very critical TV Policy Review (scheduled to commence September 29, 2009). The Fall 2009 Policy Review will look at "establishing the appropriate minimum levels of spending on Canadian programming by English-language television broadcasters and the regulatory mechanism to ensure these levels," among other things.
Backgrounder
Canadian broadcasters complained that ad revenues were down, their audience was fragmented and the economic downturn was killing their industry. Their answer to the situation was been to reduce local programming, close stations, and sell-off assets. And they petitioned and lobbied the Federal Government, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and the CRTC for fee-for-carriage, tax breaks, and renewed licences with reduced Canadian content requirements.
The WGC came before the CRTC and the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage arguing that Canadian programming is the very lifeblood of Canadian broadcasting, and that providing that programming was not a dead-loss proposition or an excuse to buy big in Hollywood. The Guild made it clear that there is an audience for Canadian stories - a Harris/Decima poll conducted at the beginning of this year revealed that more than three-quarters of Canadians (78%) feel it is important to them to have a choice of television programs that reflects Canadian society, values, and perspectives. And a Nordicity analysis released to coincide with the hearings establishes that these programs can pay their own way and be profitable for Canadian broadcasters. To do so, the shows need to be well made, with adequate budgets, proper promotion, and fair time slots. The WGC knows that the only way Canadian drama has a chance to build an audience is to have these programs air during prime time at a time of the year when Canadians are watching television (not just summer and weekends).
But we knew from experience that broadcasters will do none of this without regulations. It was a 1999 TV policy hearing at the CRTC which removed expenditure requirements on conventional broadcasters. The effect was immediate and devastating for the industry (broadcaster spending on Canadian drama dropped from 5.1% of ad revenue in 1998 to a low of 2.1% of ad revenue in 2007). Last year, private broadcasters spent more than 9 times on foreign drama than they did on Canadian. And we called on the CRTC to create the regulations necessary to rectify this situation.
Pay/Specialty services already have expenditure requirements in place – and this has resulted in much good programming. Yet the budgets of individual pay/specialties services are considerably lower than the conventional broadcasters because of their lower audience numbers. The WGC seeks to maintain the revenue to programming expenditure (CPE) equation, and will urge the CRTC to evaluate the extension of this requirement to include conventional broadcasters.
These hearings were the highest priority for the Guild because they set the tone and level of production for years to come. We have been living with the negative effects of decisions made over the last ten years, and we need to set out a new direction.
The CRTC's decision came down in May - they decided, as anticipated, to issue one-year licences to Canwest, CTV, Sun-TV and CityTV, with the provision that certain issues would be revisited at station group hearings in 2010.
However, prior to that hearing in 2010, they will hold a very critical TV Policy Review (scheduled for Fall 2009). The Fall 2009 Policy Review will look at "establishing the appropriate minimum levels of spending on Canadian programming by English-language television broadcasters and the regulatory mechanism to ensure these levels."
The WGC has been asking for a full policy review and for regulations ensuring minimum levels of Canadian programming for some time - and so we applaud the announcement of a Fall review and the inclusion of spending levels as a point of consideration. We have requested that, prior to the hearing, the commission make available the clear and relevant data from the broadcasters necessary to an informed discussion.
We will be conducting research in partnership with industry colleagues and preparing a submission for this policy hearing. We will be proposing workable models for expenditure and exhibition requirements that will ensure a strong presence for Canadian programming, particularly drama, on Canadian conventional and specialty services.
Digital Media
In June, the CRTC issued their decision on New Media broadcasting in Canada, and will extend the exemption on New Media broadcasting services for what will likely be at least five more years. We are disappointed and believe that the commission missed an opportunity to strengthen Canadian content online, and that a five year wait will put us even farther behind in what may be the real future of broadcasting. The WGC issued a press release in response to the decision - you can find it here
Backgrounder
The CRTC held public hearings to look at New Media broadcasting in Canada. The hearings began in February 2009 and continued through March. Through these hearings, the CRTC was to decide the ways and extent to which new media broadcasting will support the Canadian broadcasting system with original Canadian new media content and through new media exploitation of traditional broadcast.
In a speech to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (November 3, 2008), CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein noted that New Media platforms “unquestionably deliver broadcasting content.” And the CRTC’s October 2008 decision on the pay/specialty BDU hearings seemed to serve notice that the objectives of the Broadcasting Act will have to be served through Canada’s approach to New Media going forward.
Leading into the hearings in February 2009, the CRTC published two studies: Alan Sawyers’ “Changing Channels: Alternative Distribution of Television Content,” and Eli M. Noam’s “TV or Not TV: Three Screens, One Regulation?” These reports will give you a sense of the way the commission’s thinking on the issue is being shaped and some of the directions they may take.
The WGC appeared before the CRTC in February and presented statistics about the inadequate funding for original New Media content. The WGC recommended the creation of a fund for original Canadian content derived from a very modest levy on ISPs and WSPs. The WGC also demonstrated to the commission the difficulty of finding traditional Canadian programming on the Canadian broadcasters' websites. We recommended a number of solutions to create greater visibility for Canadian programming online.
The WGC told the commission that without original Canadian new media content to engage the viewing audience, those viewers are likely to turn to non-Canadian sources for their new media entertainment. The WGC advocated for incremental funding to nurture Canada’s growth in content development for new media platforms. Only the allocation of new resources, both public and private, will help secure Canada’s place in the digital age to the benefit of the nation’s culture and economy.
The WGC also advocated for promotional requirements so that Canadians are made aware that this content is available to them. To read the WGC full presentation please click here. The WGC also filed its reply to the CRTC hearing - in this stage, the WGC had the opportunity to address issues raised over the course of the hearings. Read the reply here.
In the end, the CRTC was unconvinced of the need to regulate. It said that the case had not been made that there was insufficient funding or that regulation was needed to ensure that there was sufficient Canadian content on new media platforms. In the coming months, there will be public hearings on a proposed reporting requirement for the broadcasting services, so that when the commission revisits this issue (perhaps within five years) it will have the data and information necessary for a clearer picture of Canadian new media broadcasting. The CRTC has also decided to send to Federal Court the issue of whether or not the CRTC has jurisdiction over the ISPs - it is our position, supported by a legal opinion, that they do.
Copyright
The Government of Canada sought extensive public and stakeholder input on forthcoming copyright legislation. As copyright holders and consumers, Guild members made their voices heard. Thank you for that involvement. Individual creators had been under-represented in the online exchange, and they needed to hear your perspectives.
The WGC's approach to copyright is grounded in one simple principle: copyright law should encourage widespread use and distribution of copyright works while ensuring creators are appropriately compensated for those uses. A more complete discussion of the WGC's thinking on copyright can be found here.
