THE CLOCK CAN’T BE TURNED back on announced acquisitions (CTV/CHUM, CanWest Global-Goldman Sachs/Alliance Atlantis and Astral/Standard) but the CRTC has decided it must look into the overall affect of media consolidation on the tenets of the Broadcasting Act.
As predicted, this turned into a "locking the doors after the horses escaped" analogy in some quarters.
In an interview with Cartt.ca on Wednesday, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein (who must be a little shell-shocked with all that’s gone on within two months of taking the job) said yes, a thorough review of the diversity of voices in Canadian media maybe should have been done earlier than now.
"It would have been nice if we had launched it last year," he said.
Originally, the Commission planned to tie in an exploration on the effects of media consolidation on our "diversity of voices" to its analysis of the purchase of CHUM Ltd. by CTVglobemedia. But that was derided in industry regulatory circles as inappropriate and criticized by unions and politicians because it did not provide enough time to comment (the CTV/CHUM hearing is scheduled for April 30).
"You’re not supposed to make policy in a merger application," one broadcast regulatory executive told Cartt.ca
Von Finckenstein agrees. "Upon further reflection, that didn’t make sense," he said.
However, what the chair and the Commission believes it can’t do is apply any new rules that might come from this review to the three big pending mergers (whose total value is about $5.3 billion). They were done under an existing set of regulations and to change them mid-stream would not be fair and has the potential "to diminish asset values," he said.
(Ed note: CTV’s planned divestiture of CHUM’s A Channels will also fall under the old rules, even though it has not yet announced a buyer but was strongly rumored to be Rogers Communications. That chatter has cooled however.)
The new review will also not confine itself to just the broadcast platform, said the chair. For example, since CTVglobemedia also owns the Globe and Mail newspaper, CanWest owns the largest chain of newspapers in the country and all Canadian broadcasters offer various Internet platforms and services, everything will be discussed, said von Finckenstein in the context "of the objectives of the Broadcast Act… We have a big issue with Internet and we will take it into account."
This review, he added, is "not aimed at anyone in particular."
Despite their urging that a close look at media concentration is required by the CRTC, critics had their knives out just the same.
"The process is deliberately misguided to favour media corporate bottom lines over the public interest," said Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union vice-president Peter Murdoch. "The very reason we need a critical examination of the broader public policy is because of these mega mergers. If the CRTC proceeds this way, it risks being seen as nothing more than a rubber stamp for what the corporations want.
"As ownership pyramids into the hands of a few very powerful media companies, the agency responsible for keeping an eye out on behalf of the public simply opens the barn door to ensure the horses get out — and then in a gesture George Orwell would be proud of, announces that it will check the hinges at a later date.
(There’s that analogy again…)
“Whose interests is the CRTC serving?" asked NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus. "Mr. von Finckenstein has initiated a public process. Now he’s changed the rules. He talks about procedural fairness for the largest media mergers in Canadian history while torpedoing any serious public comment about the implications of creating these mega-monoliths. What about fairness for the Canadian public?
"The public is being deliberately sidelined by a slap-dash approval process that will make any further study of media concentration mute (sic).”
“Year after year, the CRTC has sat back and rubber-stamped the creation of media dynasties while providing no public comment and no public review. Mr. von Finckenstein has merely put this pattern into focus with his hollow promise to hold an after-the-fact public consultation on media concentration," added Angus.
Of course, none of the complainers offer much in the way of solutions on how the Commission can legally restrict the sale of a privately controlled company like Standard Broadcasting or CHUM or Alliance Atlantis when the owners decide it’s time to sell.
All we know is that for future mergers, the shape and strength of the barn will be different.
