What makes a hit show? CRTC report suggests viewership should determine which programs get the most cash
Grant Robertson GlobeandMail.com June 6, 2008
The federal government is being asked to come up with a specific definition for what constitutes a hit television show, and to reward Canada's private broadcasters with more funding if they make successful Canadian programs, while punishing the networks if nobody tunes in.
The recommendation is contained in a federal report made public yesterday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which was asked in February to suggest changes to how TV productions are funded in Canada.
The proposal has direct implications for how $287-million worth of consumer and tax dollars are doled out to the TV industry each year to fund Canadian shows, and stems from a dispute between the cable industry and the Canadian Television Fund, which oversees the money.
Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.'s cable unit, Vidéotron Ltée., sought to pull out of the fund last year, alleging that the money was being wasted on shows that were being ignored by Canadian viewers.
The cable and satellite industry transfers $150-million a year into the fund through fees it collects on monthly consumer bills.
Though the fund has produced well-known Canadian shows, such as Little Mosque on the Prairie, Shaw chief executive officer Jim Shaw alleged the money largely goes toward "shows nobody watches" and proposed refunding the money to consumers.
The CRTC report suggested dividing the fund into two streams, with roughly $120-million of the tax money paid into the organization allocated to making programs for non-profit and public broadcasters such as the CBC.
Another sum, made up of the money collected through cable and satellite carriers, would be allocated to making Canadian shows for Canada's private broadcasters, with "audience success" becoming the major factor in determining how the dollars are allocated.
Specifically, the regulator suggests that a "Hit Factor" should be inserted into the formula, which would reward Canadian broadcasters for drawing bigger audiences.
Canadian broadcasters that meet certain targets - which have yet to be determined, but would likely be based on TV ratings - would see their eligible funding increase each year. Those that fell short of the Hit Factor would see their dollar amount decrease.
The new system would have impact broadcasters such as CTV and CanWest Global Communications Corp., who partner with independent producers to make domestic TV shows supported by money from the fund.
The recommendation has upset the production industry, which argues that making TV shows is a risky endeavour in which writers, producers and actors never really know what will become a hit.
"We all strive for success; it's very difficult to attain," Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, said in an interview. "These recommendations are unnecessary. They're a form of appeasement to the [cable industry], in particular to Shaw and Quebecor."
The CRTC report also suggested the government refuse the bids by Shaw and Vidéotron to "opt out" of the fund.
In addition to the $150-million a year the fund gets from consumer cable and satellite bills, and the $120-million of tax dollars, the CTF makes about $17.4-million from interest and international sales of TV shows it supports.
The CRTC made close to a dozen recommendations to the government in the report. In addition to splitting the funding into two streams, the report also suggests dividing its governance into two groups. Cable and satellite companies would have representation on the board of directors for the private group, something Shaw and Vidéotron have been asking for.
Vidéotron argued it shouldn't be forced to give money to the fund, since its Quebec network TVA competes with the CBC, which gets much of the funding. One observer said yesterday the report appears to strike a balance between the two sides.
In a statement accompanying the report, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said he hoped the document would "assist in resolving the issues surrounding the CTF."
However, CRTC commissioner Michel Morin issued a dissenting opinion to the report, arguing that Quebecor Inc. should be allowed to opt out of the CTF to build its own proposed fund.
Mr. Morin said a "three-year trial period" would have allowed the CRTC to see whether a funding formula put forward by the Montreal-based company would benefit Quebec broadcasting, since the money would be targeted at French programming.
Quebecor's "experiment could have been largely monitored by the CRTC in order to ensure that it ran smoothly," Mr. Morin said. "This is not the first time I have observed that when a project is fresh and ambitious, the CRTC is guided more by prudence than a sense of innovation in its decisions."
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