By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Unions representing workers in media production and screenwriting are asking the CRTC to reject an application by Corus to reduce its Canadian content obligations.
The media company filed a Part 1 application in November asking the CRTC to reduce its Canadian programming expenditure (CPE) amount from 30 per cent to 25 per cent of previous year’s revenues and to reduce from 8.5 to 5 per cent its obligation to programs of national interest (PNI) in large part because it has had to compete against unregulated online streamers. In July 2022, the regulator renewed Corus’s licence for another two years, but did not amend those obligations as the company asked.
Corus is also asking for the CRTC to discontinue its temporary obligation to direct 0.17 per cent of previous revenues to the Factor and the Musicaction funds.
But the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists and the Writers Guild of Canada filed separate interventions in response to Corus’s application stating that this isn’t the time for such an application considering the upcoming licence renewal process next year and the simultaneous consultations on the Online Streaming Act, which will force online streamers to contribute to Canadian content.
“Given that the Corus licences, administratively renewed by the Commission in July 2022, will expire August 31, 2024, this application is neither the right time, nor the right process, to consider the Corus request to substantially reduce its Canadian content obligations,” ACTRA said. “As one of Canada’s largest private broadcasters, Corus must continue to contribute significantly to the production and presentation of Canadian programming.”
ACTRA also accused Corus of trying to “pre-empt” or “set the stage for tis preferred outcomes” ahead of the licence renewal process next year.
Addressing Corus’s concern about competing against foreign players, both unions noted that the CRTC is currently going through consultations on implementing the Online Streaming Act, which would force online streamers to contribute to CanCon. These issues can be addressed in the consultations, the unions said.
“We submit that this alone is reason enough for the Commission to dismiss Corus’s application in favour of addressing these issues at a structural level as it modernizes the Canadian broadcasting system,” the WGC said.
In its application, which was filed several months before the Act became law, Corus said it appreciates that there may be some overlap between the implementation of the law and its licence renewal. But it continued to insist that its last licence renewal “created a harmful and unfair outcome” for it.
“If the Commission were to grant Corus’s application, it would be inviting a raft of similar applications from other broadcasters, right in the middle of its review of the Canadian broadcasting system where these very issues are being considered from a structural point of view,” the WGC added. “We submit that this would not be an effective or efficient use of the Commission’s time and resources, nor would be an efficient use of the resources of organizations like the WGC, which would be compelled to respond to each of these applications as well as to the structural reviews initiated” by the consultations.
The unions also said the media company’s obligations are percentages of its revenue: when its revenues increase, its CanCon spending increases; when its revenues decline, its spending declines.
“It is unconscionable for Corus to argue that its expenditures on CanCon, which are already decreasing because of falling revenues, need to be further substantially reduced because expenditures on foreign programs are increasing,” ACTA said.
Corus also said that the cost to acquire foreign programming has also gone up, further squeezing it financially.
“ACTRA would remind Corus that the objective of Canada’s broadcasting system is not to bring foreign programs to Canadian viewers, but to bring Canadian stories, music, entertainment, news and current affairs to Canadian viewers. Using foreign programs is a means to that end,” the union said.
The CRTC had previously set the PNI spending to 5 per cent of revenues, but that decision was successfully appealed to Cabinet. The CRTC then established the 8.5 per cent requirement.
ACTRA represents over 28,000 professional performers in English-language recorded media production and the Writers Guild of Canada represents 2,500 professional screenwriters in English-language film, radio and digital media.
In a separate Part application filed last month, Corus requested confirmation from the CRTC if it could use funds from the Independent Local News Fund to subsidize its local news programming. The media company said if its 15 Global stations are denied access, they would be the only private, conventional local news broadcasters without access to that regulated funding.
“Denying or delaying this request would leave local Global Television stations across Canada in a precarious and unduly disadvantaged position, which could impact their news operations,” Corus said in that application.
In a separate application, Quebecor has asked the CRTC to reduce its local programming expenditures or else it would have to make “difficult choices.”
Photo of Corus CEO Doug Murphy
