Will be harder to close stations
GATINEAU – The CRTC has tweaked broadcasting policy in Canada by standardizing Canadian Programming Expenditure (CPE) requirement at 30% for the country’s major private broadcasters. It has also imposed new spending requirements for local reflection news and information programming, commitments to Aboriginal and Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) as well as established a new process for TV station closures.
On the latter point, Broadcasting Decision 2017-148 highlighted the various opinions from the broadcasters with respect to a formal Commission process for station closures. Bell Media opposed a condition of licence, while Corus Entertainment didn’t object to one. Rogers Media noted that it would consult with viewers if such a plan was to arise. Other interveners argued that the CRTC should impose a condition of licence on broadcasters for station closures.
The Commission noted in the decision that it has granted broadcast groups considerable flexibility to run their operations, such as the ability to allocate CPE and Programs of National Interest (PNI) spending across the entire group and not per channel or station. They can also now use money previously dedicated for community TV for their local stations (from a prior decision).
But the large broadcasters have have a duty to provide service for which it has a licence, said the CRTC’s license renewal decisions Monday. It added even though those which also own a BDU are required to operate all channels until the end of their licence term if they take advantage of the above noted regulatory flexibility, the broadcasters still have to be held accountable. As a result the Commission is establishing a public process that broadcast groups have to follow if they plan to close a station. A broadcaster will now have to file an application with the Commission 120 days prior to any closure.
With respect to CPE and PNI, Decision 2017-148 standardized the spending requirements for all of the major broadcast groups. The broadcasters had varying views on CPE, with Bell saying it should be 22%, while Corus saying that a standard rate would be difficult because of the different programming mixes of all the broadcasters. Rogers said that 30% should be the standard rate for broadcasters that wish to take advantage of group licensing.
The collectives and other groups supported the idea of a standard rate but said that the levels suggested by some parties were woefully low. The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) said Bell’s and Corus’s proposals would result in $40.2 million and $50.2 million less spending on CPE, respectively, than under a 30% rule.
In deciding to adopt a standard 30% CPE rate, the Commission said this would give broadcast groups the ability to compete on an equal footing and to adapt to a more competitive market. A standard rate would also help to alleviate the difference in CPE spending by each group as a result of revenue fluctuations and changes in the composition of the groups.
“In the Commission’s view, such a requirement will ensure that the group collectively contributes to the creation of Canadian programming at an appropriate level.”
“In the Commission’s view, such a requirement will ensure that the group collectively contributes to the creation of Canadian programming at an appropriate level. Moreover, such a requirement will not have an undue impact on the groups, while providing them with the flexibility to remain competitive,” reads the decision.
PNI spending has been set at 5% for all broadcast groups and 75% of that spending still must go to independent producers.
There are other changes to broadcasting policy aimed at ensuring that greater locally reflective news and information programming and more Aboriginal and OLMC productions hit the airwaves. In both cases, the CRTC is adopting incentives to encourage greater programming from these two groups.
On the latter element, broadcasters will get a 50% credit for Aboriginal programming and a 25% credit for OLMC programs towards their CPE requirements. There is a maximum of 10% of the overall CPE requirement when the two are combined.
Locally reflective news and information will now become part of local programming requirements. Overall they stay the same – 14 hours in metropolitan markets and seven hours in non-metro markets. However, broadcasters will now have additional new local program commitments within those hours. For a metro market, this will be six hours weekly, while non-metro markets have a floor of three hours (out of the 14 and seven hours respectively).
The CRTC is also imposing a new rule on broadcasters to ensure they are meeting these requirements.
“The Commission will begin in the 2017-2018 broadcast year to randomly select and require licensees to submit reports for certain broadcast weeks providing detailed information on locally reflective news segments. The Commission may request, if necessary, that audiovisual recordings of those programs be submitted to verify the information contained in the reports,” continues the decision.
There will also be a new spending requirement for locally reflective news expenditures (LNE). It will be 11% of previous year's revenue for local programming.
The CRTC is also giving the broadcasters additional flexibility in that they will be able to count local expression contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) as long as these contributions are allocated to locally reflective news programming and that the group maintains all of its TV stations for the licence term.
“This will provide the groups with a significant level of financial support without imposing additional expenditure requirements,” said the Commission.
The CRTC also ruled on Rogers Media’s application for OMNI Regional. For more on that, click here.
