Is There Anybody Alive Out There?

SORRY FOR THE light posting. The quotient of time I had for outside activity this week has been sucked up by WGC Council meetings. I've got one outline that I'm reworking, and another set to be writ when that ends -- and my little St. John's sojourn last weekend means I've been working something like sixteen days straight now, so I don't think it's likely we'll have much posting before Monday.

One addendum to yesterday's column in the name of fairness: one of my colleagues at the WGC pointed out that Grant Robertson from the Globe has frequently called the Guild to solicit angles, background, or info for stories. The Globe and Mail is also traditionally the best of Canada's newspapers when it comes to featuring and considering the arguments and positions of writers in the TV landscape.

I also received an email from somebody who tried to register to comment and had it not work for some reason. So I'll post it here:

I also want Canada’s private TV stations to do well. And it’s true their revenues are down 4% from last year. And it’s true that they will have to spend some money on converting to digital within the next few years. But TV revenues are directly tied to changes in GDP – and most Canadian banks (not just the Bank of Canada) are forecasting real economic growth within 12 months, so there is already light at the end of the tunnel, even if it is still somewhat dim. And a large chunk of every dollar spent on digital conversion will reduce the taxes broadcasters pay, saving them money and making their assets more valuable. And the writers’ strike has been settled. And once the three new TV stations that have launched in the last several years find their legs, their total revenues will start to offset their expenditures so we will see some recovery there too.

My problem is that as you point out, private TV broadcasters are setting the stage for the April TV renewals – the sky is falling! There are clouds and tornadoes and no silver linings! We are doomed, doomed, doomed, I say, unless you, CRTC Commissioners, cut us just a tiny bit of slack.

So this is now the argument: just drop those pesky requirements for local news and information and we will do great things for the broadcasting system. Lise Lareau posted a great clip from CHCH-TV which sets out the argument very clearly. We will put all the money we save by firing reporters, laying off technicians and closing down our local operations into … you guessed it, more and better drama. Trust us. Honest. The cheque’s in the mail.

Are Canadians really supposed to believe that after spending more than $5.2 billion (billions!!!) since 2000 to buy each other out, Canada’s media giants actually didn’t know what they were doing? Just why the heck did we all swan into the CRTC's hearing room in Gatineau so many times over the last three years to hear Ivan and Leonard and the Rogers' folk make their pitch to get bigger to be better?

But hey, I guess that once you’ve spent five BILLION on mergers and acquisitions, the prospect of putting one more dollar into the pathetic $86 million spent on Canadian TV drama in 2008 is so onerous you just have to cut … local news and information. It's obvious why: fecause if Canadians really want to know what’s happening at their local city council, or in their local hospitals, or in their local schools, or on their local streets, they will clearly tune into CSI: Toronto (every Wednesday night at 10 pm, subject to cancellation if a US election happens).

Too sad, really, because this pick-your-favourite-kid argument is likely to win. It won’t matter that because of incessant pleas of poverty from private TV broadcasters, the CRTC dropped all requirements for local content except local news in 1991, so cutting local news will pretty much end local programming altogether. Or that it has allowed media consolidation to the point where there are only 13 private TV broadcasters left in Canada (down from 60 or so in 1968). Or that the four largest of these broadcasters pull in 90% (!) of total private TV revenues. Or that beginning this fall ALL OTA TV advertising limits have been dropped. Or that internet income and dynamic ads are not even counted as part of private TV broadcasters’ income. Or that the writers’ strike ended. Or that the CRTC has been fighting access to information requests for annual revenue, expenditure and employment data for individual TV stations for more than two years, so that only it and broadcasters actually knows what’s really happening. Or that the economy will begin to recover in one or two years. Or that Parliament actually says it wants local news in the broadcasting system. Or anything else. (Did I mention the $5 billion in takeover costs? – Just watch me wave my hands and ignore that big elephant in the room, because it clearly has nothing to do with any problems private TV broadcasters are having now.)

No, private broadcasters are likely to win the day because they are putting time and energy where it counts. From July to December 2008, the CAB met with the CRTC’s Chairman, Vice-Chairmen or Secretary General 14 times and CTVgm and Canwest 6 times each. Not to mention another 10 meetings with Astral, Rogers and Corus. (Check out the Lobbyists’ Registry Search engine – easy to use: http://www.ocl-cal.gc.ca/eic/site/lobbyist-lobbyiste1.nsf/eng/h_nx00274.html) What were the meetings about? “Broadcasting”, usually.

I am sure the CRTC will listen to everyone who writes in about the renewals. It will listen to every party at the hearing. It will listen to its staff. And if enough people pull together at this coming hearing, just maybe the CRTC will decide that it does not have to see Canadian broadcasting as a zero-sum game – and that it doesn’t have to believe and should not believe those who say that it must choose between news and Corner Gas. Because that choice will pit everyone in Canada’s cultural sector against each other. Great, perhaps, if you’re a broadcaster. But if you’re not?

Thanks for the comment, M. You raise some excellent points. The link above that shows the extent of the broadcasters' lobbying efforts is worrisome to say the least, and almost raises the question as to whether we have even the appearane of a public consultation process anymore.

And the "choose between drama and news" dichotomy is a total false flag. Which is not to say that we're all not going to walk right into that fight. Sigh.

It is pretty shocking to think that ten years ago, the Nets got the CRTC to change the rules and we went from 12 drama series to 2 overnight, and spent a whole decade painfully rebuilding. Now, having been relieved of every local responsibility save news, they're looking to turf even that.

Depending on what happens over the next few days, and the rumblings that emerge from Hull, we might be having a discussion about why we have Canadian networks at all. Stay tuned.

I'll be back when I've shipped outline out the door.