ROGERS MEDIA SPENT MUCH of Tuesday playing defence during its licence renewal hearings before the CRTC, deflecting criticism over the company’s desire to have its hockey broadcasts considered programming of national interest (PNI), or be part of the company’s Canadian programming expenditures (CPE).
CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting Tom Pentefountas took the first shot by questioning whether hockey programming should be included in Canadian content or PNI commitments. After a series of questions on whether this type of sports programming needs regulatory help from the commission, he wondered why hockey should account for CPE or fall under PNI programming.
Keith Pelley, president of Rogers Media, took exception to Pentefountas’ characterization.
“The spirit of the CPE is to in fact produce Canadian content that wouldn’t be available, and the content we are providing for the NHL is not available. We are doubling the amount of hockey that is on conventional television,” he said. As an example, Pelley added Toronto Maple Leafs games are currently broadcast to 70% of the market, but under Rogers they will be available to 100% of the market.
“I don’t think there is anything more Canadian than NHL hockey and I think giving Canadians more choice, more flexibility and more coverage on conventional broadcasting is more than in spirit than of what the CPE is all about,” Pelley argued.
Raj Shoan, regional commissioner for Ontario, appeared to still be skeptical of Rogers’ use of hockey for its Cancon commitments. Pelley countered though that hockey is just like children’s programming at Corus. “This is just the area that we focus on. It is an area that has now become a key area for City and that changed obviously dramatically with our purchase of the NHL rights,” he said.
The company explained during its appearance that the purchase of the NHL broadcast rights has given Rogers Media much more flexibility in programming. “Last year, it became pretty clear that we needed to do things differently or we would continue to see steady decline in City’s profitability,” said Pelley in his opening remarks, referencing the $38 million the stations lost in 2012 and the $42 million in 2013. “Our purchase of the NHL rights provides a plethora of benefits for City including promotion, revenue and perhaps more importantly a chance to reduce our reliance on U.S. programming.”
Under questioning, he reiterated the benefits that NHL brings to Citytv and Rogers Media. One of the main benefits, said Pelley, is Citytv will now be able to remove about 20% of the U.S. programming it currently broadcasts on its network.
“We’ve changed our philosophy and the NHL was a catalyst to do that. It would allow us to significantly reduce our U.S. programming," – Keith Pelley, Rogers
“We’ve changed our philosophy and the NHL was a catalyst to do that. It would allow us to significantly reduce our U.S. programming,” he said, noting it opens up room for Canadian programming such as Hometown Hockey on Sunday night. “The reduction in U.S. programming and Hollywood programming is a result of our NHL contract and it’s a change in strategy for us.”
Rogers Media's other proposed new conditions of licence (COLs) for its multicultural brand OMNI were also under the microscope on Tuesday. The company explained it requires flexibility in its ethnic language and ethnic group programming efforts to deal with changing viewing patterns as well as be able to reduce the amount of repeat programming. Pelley noted that sometimes OMNI is running the same Canadian programs over and over again just to meet Canadian programming exhibition requirements, and the company is questioning whether that’s the right thing to do.
“I think what we’re looking for is flexibility in being able to bring a robust genre,” added Madeline Ziniak, national vice-president for OMNI Television, highlighting programs around specific community group events. “So we’re trying to figure out how we can be most relevant to the changing demographic and have impact in the viewing pattern.”
In its licence renewal application, Rogers Media has requested to alter the 20-20 rule (ethnic groups and distinct languages) and lower it to 10 and 10. Commissioner Shoan asked how this COL change would give the company more flexibility.
Ziniak noted that there aren’t any “definitive” and “immediate” plans to reduce the ethnic and language programming from 20. She pointed to the difficulties of dealing with shifting demographics as one of the reasons why the flexibility is required.
As was argued in its application, Rogers Media said it needs more flexibility because of the significant losses in advertising revenue the company has experienced over the last two years. On OMNI itself, the situation is much more dire. Revenue has declined from $80 million in 2011 to less than $35 million. Revenue from U.S. programming has seen a similar type of decline, dropping $40 million or 62% since 2011.
"This concerns us that there is a weakening commitment to Canadian ethnic content and a breach of public trust.” – Anna Chiappa, CEC
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, along with several other organizations, argued the Commission should deny Rogers Media’s proposed changes to OMNI. Anna Chiappa, executive director of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council (CEC), said her group’s members are concerned that Rogers is more interested in promoting and supporting Citytv and sports services than connecting with communities via OMNI. The evidence, she added, lies in the company’s recent cuts to ethnic programming and proposed licence amendments.
“From eliminating the Advisory Boards, where ethnic community representatives used to have a direct interface with management, to relying on international content rather than Canadian local content reflecting on the Canada’s diversity of cultures, to the reduction of prime time ethnic content – this concerns us that there is a weakening commitment to Canadian ethnic content and a breach of public trust,” said Chiappa.
More interveners appear later this afternoon (Bell, for example) and tomorrow (Telus, CCSA, CMPA). Watch for our follow-up piece.
