Split TV fund to reflect public, private broadcasters, urges CRTC

The Canadian Television Fund, a key source of funding for shows from The Trailer Park Boys to Little Mosque on the Prairie, should be split in two to reflect the different issues faced by public and private broadcasters, according to the CRTC.

The fund, which was created in 1996, should be split into private- and public-sector streams, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says in a report, submitted Thursday to Canadian Heritage Minister Josée Verner.

The report, which targets the fund's mandate and governance structure, contains 11 recommendations.

The core proposal is the funding split, under which broadcast distributors (namely the cable and satellite companies) would direct their CTF contributions to a private-sector stream available to private, commercial broadcasters in order to create market-oriented and broadly popular programming.

Access to this funding stream would have an increased emphasis on audience success.

The Department of Canadian Heritage would contribute to the public-sector stream, which would be accessible by the CBC, educational and non-profit broadcasters to make culturally significant TV programs.

If this recommendation is enacted, each stream should be managed by its own board of directors, the CRTC said.

In Thursday's report, which echoes suggestions put forth by a CRTC task force nearly a year ago, the commission also:

• Rejects a request from two distributors to opt out of making financial contributions to the CTF (Shaw and Vidéotron set off the debate in December 2006 and January 2007 when they withheld payments to the CTF amid growing dissatisfaction with the fund).
• Vows to amend its own rules to require that distributors make their CTF contributions on a monthly basis (pending the Heritage department's addressing of the major issues contained in the report).
• Vows to conduct regular reviews of the proposed new private-sector stream.
• Recommends the creation of a new funding envelope to support new media productions.
• Recommends that the CTF maintain its current practice of funding productions that score 10 out of 10 points on the CAVCO scale, which measures the number of Canadians enlisted as director, writer, lead actor and other high-ranking creative jobs on the project.

Timeline given for fund operators

The report comes after a spate of hearings in early February that allowed representatives from all sectors of the TV industry — from distributors, to broadcasters to the creative community — to voice their concerns about the CTF and the general state of Canadian television to CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and a group of commissioners.

In a statement Thursday, von Finckenstein said the commission hopes "that the recommendations … put forward will assist in resolving the issues surrounding the CTF," the effective operation of which "is vital to the creation of high-quality, Canadian-made programs."

The report also lays out a timeline for operators of the TV fund, saying they should issue, by November, a plan on how they will implement the recommendations.

Richard Stursberg, CBC executive vice-president of English services, says the plan to split the CTF into public- and private-sector streams could result in a reduction in funding to the CBC.

He points out that the money contributed by the Heritage department — about $120 million this year — is already less than public broadcasters, such as CBC and TVO, get now from the television fund and would likely be frozen in future because it comes from the public purse.

Money contributed to the CTF from private-sector broadcasters has been rising annually. In fact, commercial networks have not used all the funding available to them in recent years, Stursberg said.

"Why would you give more money to the people who can't even use the money they're already getting?" he said.

Commercial broadcasters have been reluctant to put Canadian programming in prime time, he said, while CBC has a primetime schedule that is heavily Canadian.

"If the purpose of the change is to ensure maximum success for Canadian programming, why would you give less to the only network that promotes Canadian programs and the bulk of the money to broadcasters who have no interest in creating Canadian shows," he said.

The Canadian actor's union, ACTRA, issued a statement Thursday afternoon opposing the recommendation to split the fund into two streams, and accused the CRTC of catering to the cable and satellite industry.

"The CTF is already a market-driven, results-based fund that supports successful Canadian shows," said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director.

"Splitting the CTF into two streams and giving the cable and satellite companies control over one stream is putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."

The Writers Guild of Canada applauded the CRTC's recommendation that monthly contributions from the cable and satellite industries be made mandatory.

But it questioned the wisdom of having two streams, each with its own administration.

"This introduces new layers of complication, duplication and bureaucracy in to the Canadian TV production financing process," says WGC executive director Maureen Parker. "And all because cable companies like Shaw didn't want to contribute to a system that has made them wealthy."

In February, Parker and CTF president Valerie Creighton were among those who had opposed a split fund, arguing that many of the currently funded hits are successful both in a commercial sense as well as culturally.

The CRTC requires the cable and satellite companies to contribute a percentage of their broadcasting revenue to finance the creation of Canadian programming. 

This has meant that they contribute about $150 million a year to the CTF. The federal Heritage Department also earmarks approximately $120 million for the fund.