GATINEAU – CBC told the CRTC on Friday that if it decides there should be a fund dedicated to supporting local news production in the Canada, then it should only open it to broadcasters which commit to produce additional news programming.
The Commission has been exploring the concept of a Local News Incentive Fund (LNIF) during local and community TV hearing and the idea has been endorsed in various forms by many intervenors.
“The purpose of the LNIF would be to provide incentive funding for incremental expenditure on and exhibition of local news programming beyond a specified threshold,” Bev Kirshenblatt (pictured), executive director of regulatory affairs at CBC, said in her opening remarks. She added only stations producing a minimum of 2.5 hours of original news programming per week would be eligible, under their plan.
LNIF funding would be funded from 1% of terrestrial BDUs revenue and 0.4% from DTH distributors’ revenue. Funds would be made available to stations that operate a professional newsroom and are staffed by professional journalists. The fund would also be open to all licensed over the air (OTA) stations serving small markets (fewer than 300,000 in population) as well as all private independent OTA stations in medium-sized markets (300,000 to 1 million in population).
According to the CBC, there are a total of 65 stations that could take advantage of funding from the LNIF. Under its proposal, 14 of its stations in small markets would be eligible to receive money from the fund. These are Regina, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Saint John and Yellowknife in English language markets; Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Trois Rivières and Rimouski in Quebec; and Moncton, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Vancouver for official language minority communities (OLMCs).
CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais wondered why CBC/Radio-Canada should be able to participate in a funding model when the federal government has committed to topping up the public broadcasters purse over the next few years. The Liberals have promised to provide CBC with an additional $75 million in funding in the first year of the commitment and then $150 million in each of the two subsequent years.
“There will be calls for even more subsidies if we were to go down this road.” – Jean-Pierre Blais, CRTC
Heather Conway, executive VP of English language services, argued that the public broadcaster is suffering from the same challenges as its private sector brethren. In essence, the CBC needs to invest in “all of the things that we have to had to scale back on as a result of financial challenges,” she said.
Later in CBC’s appearance, Blais noted, perhaps not so cynically either, that in four or five years, no matter what happens, “there will be calls for even more subsidies if we were to go down this road.”
Conway responded that CBC’s proposed approach isn’t a subsidy model that is designed to compensate companies for current financial difficulties.
“This isn’t just to kind of give you a little buffer in case you’re having a hard time, this is to say this content is important, the content will be funded but this content is incremental to what you’re required to do and it will be funded as an outcome-based fund not a compensation fund,” she explained.
CBC/Radio-Canada’s biggest critic, Quebecor Media was also before the Commission on Friday. It suggested a different approach to financially supporting local news programming. It argued that a portion of the broadcast distributors’ revenue allocated to community TV should be reallocated into a new fund to support local TV. Only private broadcasters in small and large markets would be eligible to secure money from this new fund. Others have suggested this idea, too.
Julie Tremblay, president and CEO of Groupe TVA and Québecor Groupe Média, noted that the CRTC should revisit its policy that allows for the funding of two community channels – one in each official language – in a single market. This, she added, would allow funds to be diverted to local TV and help it survive in these difficult times. As well, the Commission could direct DTH providers’ funds to local programming rather than to the small market local improvement fund (SMLIF).
Quebec Commissioner Yves Dupras wondered why TVA network should be allowed to pull from this new fund as it’s part of a vertically integrated company, has good viewership numbers, is well financed and has number of popular specialty channels.
Tremblay acknowledged that TVA has been doing well, has some successful specialty services and good viewership, but said viewership doesn’t translate into financial success. More than ever media companies are having a hard time making a profit, and every day, TVA has to make decisions to ensure that we can maintain the 
quality of our programming in a market that is changing dramatically, she added.
The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) rounded out the fifth day of the local and community TV hearing. In its opening remarks, the association representing over 100 independent cable companies argued to maintain the status quo on community channels. “The existing community channel policy is working well for community channels operated by independent BDUs. We urge the commission to refrain from taking any steps that might limit the good work they are already doing,” said Dave Baxter, chair of the CCSA and president and CEO of Westman Communications.
Westman began offering local news in its hometown of Brandon, Man. on its community channel after local broadcaster CKX was closed in 2009.
Under questioning, the CCSA noted that if the Commission were to make changes to the current policy, then it should ensure the policy treats vertically integrated (VI) and the non-VI companies differently.
“We think that’s a critical distinction,” said Alyson Townsend, president and CEO of the CCSA.
The hearing continues on Monday.
Screen-capped photos are from CPAC.ca, which is streaming the hearing.
