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Headline, Industry News
Canada regulator seeks rule change
Tuesday February 17th 2009MONTREAL — Canada’s broadcast regulator may impose a limit on the amount of money the country’s networks can spend on Hollywood fare.
In a surprise announcement, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it is looking into the notion of forcing broadcasters to spend the same amount on Canadian fare as they spend on the Hollywood hits.
“The commission at first blush finds a lot of merit in the idea of imposing a condition of license on English-language broadcasters requiring a 1:1 ratio between Canadian and non-Canadian programming expenditures,” the regulator said.
The proposal comes just days after a report that showed the Canadian networks spent a record C$775 million ($624 million) on U.S. fare last year, up 7.4% from $580 million in 2007. Spending on Canadian programming remained essentially unchanged at $498 million.
Producers, writers and actors have been seeking for years to force the networks to limit their spending on Hollywood shows and shell out more cash for local fare.
Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, said her union would really like the ratio to apply to dramatic programming. She noted that in 2008, the Canuck networks’ ratio of spending on U.S. drama vs. Canadian drama was 9.5 to 1. Parker said the Canadian nets have a mission to promote Canadian fare, according to the Broadcast Act.
“If we are going to be just watching American programming, maybe I would like to get it directly from NBC,” Parker said.
But the proposal comes at a particularly difficult time for the networks, whose bottom lines have been hit bigtime: Profit for the Canadian networks dropped to $6.4 million last year, down from $91 million a year earlier.
The Canadian nets deliver their biggest audiences — and generate their biggest advertising revenue — with the American shows.
The CRTC has also decided to renew the networks’ licenses for only one year due to the difficult economic conditions. Then it would consider the usual seven-year license renewals beginning in 2010.
The CRTC would also like to renew the licenses for the parent companies, like CTVglobemedia, rather than just CTV, so it could evaluate the health of both the conventional network, like CTV, and CTVglobemedia’s many pay TV channels.
Source: Variety
Headline, Industry News
Canada regulator seeks rule change
Tuesday February 17th 2009MONTREAL — Canada’s broadcast regulator may impose a limit on the amount of money the country’s networks can spend on Hollywood fare.
In a surprise announcement, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it is looking into the notion of forcing broadcasters to spend the same amount on Canadian fare as they spend on the Hollywood hits.
“The commission at first blush finds a lot of merit in the idea of imposing a condition of license on English-language broadcasters requiring a 1:1 ratio between Canadian and non-Canadian programming expenditures,” the regulator said.
The proposal comes just days after a report that showed the Canadian networks spent a record C$775 million ($624 million) on U.S. fare last year, up 7.4% from $580 million in 2007. Spending on Canadian programming remained essentially unchanged at $498 million.
Producers, writers and actors have been seeking for years to force the networks to limit their spending on Hollywood shows and shell out more cash for local fare.
Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, said her union would really like the ratio to apply to dramatic programming. She noted that in 2008, the Canuck networks’ ratio of spending on U.S. drama vs. Canadian drama was 9.5 to 1. Parker said the Canadian nets have a mission to promote Canadian fare, according to the Broadcast Act.
“If we are going to be just watching American programming, maybe I would like to get it directly from NBC,” Parker said.
But the proposal comes at a particularly difficult time for the networks, whose bottom lines have been hit bigtime: Profit for the Canadian networks dropped to $6.4 million last year, down from $91 million a year earlier.
The Canadian nets deliver their biggest audiences — and generate their biggest advertising revenue — with the American shows.
The CRTC has also decided to renew the networks’ licenses for only one year due to the difficult economic conditions. Then it would consider the usual seven-year license renewals beginning in 2010.
The CRTC would also like to renew the licenses for the parent companies, like CTVglobemedia, rather than just CTV, so it could evaluate the health of both the conventional network, like CTV, and CTVglobemedia’s many pay TV channels.
Source: Variety
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Headline, Industry News
Canada regulator seeks rule change
Tuesday February 17th 2009MONTREAL — Canada’s broadcast regulator may impose a limit on the amount of money the country’s networks can spend on Hollywood fare.
In a surprise announcement, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it is looking into the notion of forcing broadcasters to spend the same amount on Canadian fare as they spend on the Hollywood hits.
“The commission at first blush finds a lot of merit in the idea of imposing a condition of license on English-language broadcasters requiring a 1:1 ratio between Canadian and non-Canadian programming expenditures,” the regulator said.
The proposal comes just days after a report that showed the Canadian networks spent a record C$775 million ($624 million) on U.S. fare last year, up 7.4% from $580 million in 2007. Spending on Canadian programming remained essentially unchanged at $498 million.
Producers, writers and actors have been seeking for years to force the networks to limit their spending on Hollywood shows and shell out more cash for local fare.
Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, said her union would really like the ratio to apply to dramatic programming. She noted that in 2008, the Canuck networks’ ratio of spending on U.S. drama vs. Canadian drama was 9.5 to 1. Parker said the Canadian nets have a mission to promote Canadian fare, according to the Broadcast Act.
“If we are going to be just watching American programming, maybe I would like to get it directly from NBC,” Parker said.
But the proposal comes at a particularly difficult time for the networks, whose bottom lines have been hit bigtime: Profit for the Canadian networks dropped to $6.4 million last year, down from $91 million a year earlier.
The Canadian nets deliver their biggest audiences — and generate their biggest advertising revenue — with the American shows.
The CRTC has also decided to renew the networks’ licenses for only one year due to the difficult economic conditions. Then it would consider the usual seven-year license renewals beginning in 2010.
The CRTC would also like to renew the licenses for the parent companies, like CTVglobemedia, rather than just CTV, so it could evaluate the health of both the conventional network, like CTV, and CTVglobemedia’s many pay TV channels.
Source: Variety
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