IN NOVEMBER, THEN-MACLEAN’S magazine national columnist Andrew Coyne added his voice to the cacophony of critics carping about the CBC, saying the TV portion should become a pay channel, a-la HBO.
Oy, where to begin with that one? How about starting with the Broadcasting Act, a law which mandates the CBC’s existence, carriage and programming goals. According to the Part 1 of the Act, section 3(1)(l & m), the overall programming provided by the Corp. should be that which “informs, enlightens and entertains” and should:
(i) be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,
(ii) reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions,
(iii) actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,
(iv) be in English and in French, reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community, including the particular needs and circumstances of English and French linguistic minorities
(v) strive to be of equivalent quality in English and in French,
(vi) contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,
(vii) be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose, and
(viii) reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada;
These aren’t simple suggestions or something the pubcaster can set aside in favour of only pursuing ratings. It’s our Broadcasting Act. It’s actually the law of the land. Not only does the CBC have to reflect everybody in every region, inform, enlighten and entertain all of 33 million of us and be made available to everyone in at least two languages, it has to do it for only a billion dollars a year. Simply put, it’s not allowed to be pay, not allowed to be niche. It certainly airs some niche programming that appeals to viewers in the hundreds and not the thousands or millions, but it also has shows which millions watch or listen to. Over the course of its broadcasting year, CBC TV and radio has to do its level best to represent everyone.
That’s the paradox of the CBC. It must broadly appeal to all Canadians but it also must reflect smaller groups, be they regional, linguistic or otherwise grouped, back to themselves – and at the same time. This has always thought to be all but practicably impossible and has been best served thus far by making CBC radio local and CBC TV more regional and national (and we’re talking about CBC in French and English here, just to be clear). Now though, the prevailing opinion is that with our multi-fragmented, hyper-niche global media landscape where we can get information and entertainment from anywhere at any time and on any device, the CBC’s job is all but impossible, and that it’s redundant.
We’ll argue it’s the exact opposite; that the digital technology explosion and myriad personal devices will let the CBC finally deliver on its mandate – and because of our fragmented world, the CBC has never been more necessary. That, and more, is what we will be exploring over the next four weeks.
But let’s take a look at Coyne’s argument and say we could make CBC a pay channel. What would the retail price be? What would its market be? What would its carriage look like? What would its wholesale fee be?
Since Coyne suggested HBO, let’s look at that channel. The most popular pay brand in the world that has “the best television” as Coyne said, retails generally in the $12-$14 per month range in the States (and that’s only after customers purchase a $50-$70 basic digital cable package) and has just under 40 million subscribers. It may have the best TV, but less than 40% of American homes have chosen to subscribe, because it’s darn expensive and those who choose not to take it might disagree that it has “the best” TV.
The Canadian versions of HBO are even pricier and less penetrated. Before Christmas, my cableco, Cogeco, was offering a promotion of The Movie Network (including the HBO Canada multiplex) for $17.95 a month (as long as you first have a $50/mo. Digital Value package). Movie Central out west has similar pricing and restrictions, as does Super Écran in Quebec. Together, the three major Canadian movie services earned about $308 million in revenue in the 2010 broadcast year from about 2.8 million subscribers, according to the most recent CRTC figures (2010).
That’s about a 26% penetration rate among Canadian subscription TV households. Now, I’m not disparaging the movie channels here. They do a good job and offer excellent programming (I’m a subscriber) – and contributed close to $61 million to Canadian programming in 2010.
The CBC-TV, on the other hand, is 100% penetrated, spends over $940 million on Canadian content (English and French TV and radio) and costs each Canadian about $33/year, without having to buy any digital package first (and most can get it for free). For that money, Canadians get news, entertainment, sports, two national radio networks, TV and radio in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, and ubiquitous new media.
Also – Coyne envisions a future of icons on the TV screen representing the shows people subscribe to while also saying the CBC should be split up into a constellation of channels, each charging a separate fee – and that “some” services could be subsidized. Which ones? Why? Who would pick? How much would they be? How does that satisfy the Broadcasting Act?
His idea is all well and good – and maybe a big iPad look will come to our TV screens someday – but to return to our first point. The CBC exists as a matter of law, making wholesale changes in its mandate a matter for government, not the CRTC, not pundits – and the Act hasn’t been touched in about 21 years. Does our current federal government have any plans for it? Who knows, but it’s not something I’ve ever heard mentioned, beyond basic funding cuts, which are rumoured to be in the works come the March 29 federal budget.
Does the government have the guts to open up the Broadcasting Act to make alterations – including the mandate of the CBC? It’s doubtful as our federal government has never outlined any concrete policy thoughts on broadcasting policy modernization that we have seen.
So what we’re left with is putting a billion dollars into the biggest, best Canadian-representing news, entertainment and information portal, which is what the future CBC can be. That may just be the best deal in Canadian media.
Do you agree, disagree, love it or think we're off our rockers? Let us know at editorial@cartt.ca. We'll keep you confidential, if you wish. Next week we will look at the CBC's soon-to-be-launched all-digital Hamilton outlet.
