Give CTF money without strings attached, CRTC told

Cable giant Rogers Communications called for the Canadian Television Fund to be split into two streams, one for private broadcasters, the other for the CBC.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is holding hearings in Gatineau, Que., this week into the future of the CTF, which funds Canadian-made TV programming.

Rogers vice-chairman Phil Lind called for $168 million of the $288-million fund to go to private broadcasters, who would create programming with appeal to "mass audiences."

Another $120 million would go to CBC and Radio-Canada.

"We don't think it's a radical proposal. We're interested in Canadian eyeballs for Canadian programs," he said.

"Our proposal would result in more audiences on prime time for Canadian programs because we would be dedicating ourselves to that objective rather than 15 or 20 other objectives."

He said the CTF now makes demands for "too many competing objectives," including whether a show reflects Canadian values.

The Rogers position was opposed by Quebec's French-language writers guild SARTEC, which argued private broadcasters can't be bothered to create any Canadian programming except news and sports.

"This is something that wasn't created to fund commercial programs. This was created to fund programs that the private broadcasters wouldn't fund," SARTEC president Marc Gregoire said.

"The money is there to fund Canadian culture, otherwise let's just run international programming and stop talking about it."

Two camps at CTF hearings

That position echoed arguments made by others from Canada's creative community on Monday, including ACTRA, Writers Guild of Canada, Directors Guild of Canada and the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association.

They argued Canada is already making successful programs such as Little Mosque on the Prairie and Da Vinci's Inquest with the help of CTF funding.

There are two camps at the hearings, with the creative community, supported by CBC, in favour of keeping the CTF much as it is and the opposing camp saying it has become irrelevant.

Private broadcasters have aligned with the cable companies, among them Shaw Communications and Quebecor, who set off the crisis by withdrawing support from the CTF last year.

Cable firms are required to pay a fee to the CTF, in part as compensation for being allowed higher fees and monopolies across the country.