CHPC Committee Report

Current Situation

Many witnesses made various recommendations or proposals for changes to CBC/Radio-Canada's programming, in drama, the arts, feature films, documentaries and children's shows.

The Committee feels that CBC/Radio-Canada must remain attentive to the users of its services, constantly seeking ways to interest everyone, especially young audiences. The Corporation's services must not be designed for a small circle of initiates.

After serious consideration, the Committee feels that it would be inappropriate for it to act as a "programmer" and tell CBC/Radio-Canada how to arrange its programming schedule. Programming is tricky for a generalist public broadcaster that must consider all genres. There is a balance between trying to attract an audience (there must be a minimum viewership) and trying to achieve the distinctiveness required of a public broadcaster.

This section contains a synthesis of the proposals made to us that we want to bring to the public's attention. The public consultations to be held in 2008 for the renewal of CBC/Radio-Canada licences will be a good opportunity to debate these proposals.

Dramas

CBC/Radio-Canada has a long tradition in the field of dramatic adaptations of Canadian works of literature and plays. In the case of the English-language CBC, we could mention The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe and St. Urbain's Horseman, from the novel by Montreal writer Mordecai Richler.

ACTRA asked that the CBC English-language network devote more of its programming to dramatic productions, "particularly dramatic production for prime time viewing."[225]

There has been no major CBC drama project in the Atlantic region for the past 18 months. With the exception of the CBC's mainstay This Hour Has 22 Minutes, there is currently no major CBC series centred in or reflecting Atlantic Canada."

Film Producers Association of Newfoundland, May 24, 2007

In its 2006-2011 Business Plan, CBC/Radio-Canada states that there is a permanent crisis in the English drama sectors. In prime time, "90% of all the drama that Canadians watch on English-language television is foreign, mostly American."[226]

Table 10 lists the 20 most popular English-language Canadian dramas and comedies in 2005-2006. It shows that 14 of them were broadcast on the CBC. However, few of the most popular Canadian programmes (including those on the CBC) were drama series.

Note: Prime-time shows only, August 29, 2005 to April 2, 2006.

R: Repeat

Source: CBC/Radio-Canada Brief to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, March 22, 2007 (and Nielsen Media Research)

To remedy the situation, the  English-language network set itself as a strategic objective to "significantly increase the amount of Canadian drama."[227] However, CBC/Radio-Canada says it needs increased funding, in part to meet "the challenge of English-language Television drama."[228]

A number of interest groups echoed the CBC/Radio-Canada on this point. The Writers Guild of Canada feels that sufficient funding for the Corporation would allow it to "return to its pre-1999 levels of production of one-hour dramas - once the cornerstone of the schedule."[229] The Directors Guild of Canada sounded the same theme, saying that it is essential to give CBC television more funding so that it can be "the leader in providing high quality, distinctive and innovative Canadian programming to Canadians, particularly drama programming."[230] The Guild also urged CBC/Radio-Canada to forge "strategic alliances with other broadcasters to help support the creation and broadcast of Canadian programming, particularly drama."[231]

As for French-language drama, the CBC/Radio-Canada's French-language television was a precursor and a trendsetter throughout the 20th century. There is a consensus on the role that television drama played in forming the imagination of Quebec society.

With serial dramas such as Les belles histoires des pays d'en haut and Le Temps d'une paix, the Francophones of Quebec and the other provinces had the chance to see themselves and hear themselves. According to the Alliance de la Francophonie de Timmins, "[t]hese two telefilms were very important for Quebeckers and for people outside the province. They explained how we became who we are today."[232]

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Documentaries

CBC/Radio-Canada currently broadcasts documentaries on its English-language and French-language national networks, and on its specialty channels Newsworld and RDI. The channel Country Canada also broadcasts a significant number of documentaries.

There is a historical link between CBC/Radio-Canada and the emergence of the documentary sector in Canada. Obviously, documentaries offer a realistic reflection of Canada, and Canada has a long-established reputation for excellence in this field. Thanks to the National Film Board in particular, Canada has established a solid international reputation in this sector. As a public institution whose mission is to produce and distribute films, the NFB produces distinctive and diversified audiovisual works of great quality that offer Canadians and the world an authentically Canadian perspective.[233]

The Documentary Organisation of Canada said that it had noted a decline in the broadcasting of documentaries on English-language CBC television.[234]

Jacques Bensimon, who headed the NFB from 2001 to 2006, took a critical look at his years of collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada. He found it rather strange that the government invests some $80 million in the NFB's productions and that none of those products "find themselves on the prime-time television of the CBC."[235] Mr. Bensimon went so far as to say that CTV and Global broadcast more NFB documentaries during prime time than CBC/Radio-Canada does.

On June 22, 2007, the CRTC approved a request giving CBC/Radio-Canada an 82% majority share in The Canadian Documentary Channel. Before that, CBC/Radio-Canada had a 29% share. Now the Corporation is the majority owner and controls the channel. During the CRTC's review of the transaction, CBC/Radio-Canada undertook to "abide by all of The Canadian Documentary Channel's current commitments, including the commitment to spend at least 50% of its acquisition budget on Canadian independent productions."[236]

Committee's Position

Canada has developed considerable expertise in producing documentaries, which has been recognised and feted around the world. They include original, entertaining and sometimes provocative works that we still see too infrequently on television and in theatres. They present a vision of Canada, not only to Canadians, but to the whole world. They convey a uniquely Canadian perspective on topical social subjects such as politics, war and human rights. It is important to give the public more exposure to this film genre.

The Committee is concerned about the way in which CBC/Radio-Canada may generate programming for the Documentary Channel. It is necessary to re-examine the role of documentary programming both on the main CBC network and on CBC Newsworld. Moreover, CBC/Radio-Canada must adopt an operational philosophy for the Documentary Channel programming. It is a unique distribution window for the best Canadian documentaries.

CBC/Radio-Canada must continue to undertake projects with independent producers working in the documentary sector. As well, the NFB and CBC/Radio-Canada must increase their cooperation on a certain number of projects and activities through their different but complementary activities.

RECOMMENDATION 3.1

The Committee encourages CBC/Radio-Canada to explore the possibility of developing partnerships with the National Film Board of Canada.

Information Programmes

For many Canadians, CBC/Radio-Canada is synonymous with excellence in news and information. The radio and television networks, both French and English, are favourite forums in which Canadians can express themselves and debate ideas. Over the years, CBC/Radio-Canada has helped strengthen Canadian democracy.

For communications professor Catherine Murray, "[p]ublic opinion and quality ratings indicate a high degree of public trust in CBC news."[237] For Florian Sauvageau of the Université Laval, the fact that CBC/Radio-Canada has a network of foreign correspondents gives Canadians a better understanding of international issues and of Canadian foreign policy.[238] That opinion is shared by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP), which considers that it is essential to have a public broadcaster with a reliable and diversified news service.

The Communications Sector of the Canadian Union of Public Employees feels that the Broadcasting Act should be amended to give clear priority to news and information programming.[239] Such an amendment would enhance the importance of this type of programme.

The Réseau de l'information (RDI) and CBC Newsworld are television services that continually broadcast news, in French and English respectively. They are funded entirely by subscription and advertising revenues. The English-language news channel CBC Newsworld began broadcasting on July 31, 1989, while RDI began in January 1995. RDI had 9.5 million subscribers at the end of March 2005, while CBC Newsworld had 9.9 million subscribers at that time.

Newsworld and RDI have established a niche among viewers. The Canadian public appreciates their professionalism, particularly in times of crisis.

During our work, witnesses asked that all cable and satellite distributors be required to provide carriage in their first tier of all of CBC/Radio-Canada specialty channels, including RDI and CBC Newsworld. For the organisation Our Public Airwaves, "[t]his is in keeping with one of the basic tenets of public broadcasting: universal accessibility."[240]

In the course of our proceedings, minority Francophones expressed their regret that RDI was not covered by mandatory carriage rules everywhere in the country. We should note that this is the responsibility of the cable companies, not CBC/Radio-Canada. According to the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, "access to this channel ought not to be a costly option for viewers, offered by cable distributors who don't see the point in it."[241]

On July 24, 2007, the CRTC reflected this attitude by approving a CBC/Radio-Canada application to make it mandatory for DBS distribution services and Class 1 and Class 2 BDUs to include CBC Newsworld and RDI in their basic digital service. The Committee congratulates the CRTC on its decision, which does Francophone minority communities a service by requiring cable and satellite distribution companies to include the Réseau de l'information (RDI) and its English-language equivalent, Newsworld, in the basic digital package in their respective minority-language markets as of January 2008. This decision ensures that the change from analogue to digital television, and the inclusion of RDI in basic service, will satisfy a number of policy objectives, including linguistic duality and the cultural vitality of Francophone minorities.

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Children's Programmes

Historically, CBC/Radio-Canada has always been on the cutting edge of the creation and production of children's programming, which has earned it prizes at the national and international levels. For many years, the children's programmes broadcast by CBC/Radio-Canada helped form the imagination of several generations.

During the most recent licence renewal in 2000, the CRTC clearly stated that it expected the CBC/Radio-Canada's English-language television to "broadcast a minimum of 15 hours per week of Canadian programs directed to children 2 through 11 years of age, and 5 hours per week of programs directed to youth (ages 12-17)," and that it report on this in its annual report to the CRTC.[242]

In the case of the CBC/Radio-Canada's French-language television, the CRTC "expects the licensee to fulfill its commitment to broadcast 20 hours per week of such programs and to exceed this commitment where possible."[243] The Commission also imposed a condition of licence requiring the licensee to air an average of at least four hours per broadcast week of original Canadian children's programming on its French-language television service.

On the French-language side, programmes like Bobino, Boîte à surprise and Sol et gobelet are landmarks in Quebec's television history. However, during the most recent licence renewal in 2000, the CRTC clearly stipulated that the French-language television network had to "increase its efforts with respect to children's programmes."[244]

According to the CRTC report The Future Environment Facing the Canadian Broadcasting System, published in 2006, average viewing time per capita increased for all age groups. The largest increase in TV viewing time between 2002 and 2005 was in the 2-11 age group, by 2.9 hours a week (1.8%). The second biggest increase, 2.2 hours (1.3%), was in the 12-17 age group.[245] Adolescents are the most frequent Internet users, at least once a week on average, and this trend is growing.

The Alliance for Children and Television believes that CBC/Radio-Canada "should be doing more and spending more on children two to eleven years, and on youth eleven to seventeen years, on original programming that recognises the important role television can play in forming the attitudes of young Canadians."[246]

Sports Programmes

The place of sports on the television schedules of the English-language CBC and the French-language SRC was the object of many discussions during our consultations. Some people are passionate fans of the professional hockey game broadcasts on the CBC's  English-language television, while others are much less enthusiastic.

Some feel that sports can and must be an element of an integrated schedule. As well as attracting impressive ratings and serving as a source of advertising revenues, hockey is "our national obsession" according to the Writers Guild of Canada during its April appearance.[247]

The Canadian Media Directors Council strongly believes that the CBC's English-language television should remain active in presenting top-rated sports programming in Canada. The Corporation should maintain its position as a strong carrier of sports because "[c]learly that is of interest to Canadians, and it certainly reflects those sports in which Canada has a strong presence and standing."[248]

Others worry about the resources that professional sports use up at CBC/Radio-Canada. A number of witnesses argued that the English-language network devotes a disproportionate number of prime-time hours to professional sport. For many of them, this situation shows that the Corporation is too dependent on advertising revenues. According to Anthony Manera, this distorts the Corporation's mandate and leaves it vulnerable: "A couple of years ago when you had the lock-out of the NHL, look what happened. All of a sudden the CBC was left with several hours of programming it had to fill, plus it wasn't getting a lot of revenue. So it put in a lot of American shows."[249]

This same argument is used by those who advocate CBC/Radio-Canada's complete withdrawal from professional sport. This is the case with the Manitoba Arts Council, which also feels that hockey takes up too much of the schedule.[250]

However, it is unlikely, in the short or medium term, that CBC/Radio-Canada will stop broadcasting professional hockey games. In March 2007, the English-language CBC signed an agreement with the NHL for the live rebroadcast of Canadian teams' hockey games on different platforms. The agreement, which runs for six years, gives the CBC exclusive rights to Hockey Night in Canada on Saturdays until 2013-2014.

The broadcasting of sports on the SRC did not arouse the same type of concerns among Francophone viewers. Few witnesses during our hearings in Montreal argued that sports programming was a source of imbalance in Radio-Canada's television schedule.

It should be pointed out that the SRC officially stopped broadcasting Soirée du hockey in 2004. Two years earlier, RDS had obtained exclusive rights to broadcast the Montreal Canadiens' games. Radio-Canada thus ended a 50-year relationship with that city's professional hockey team.

During the hearings in Montreal, the discussions focused more on the place of Francophone amateur sport on SRC television. Concerns were also expressed about the SRC's responsibility to promote healthy lifestyles.

Sports Québec asked for programming dedicated to federated sports (amateur sports governed by recognized federations) on the SRC's conventional and speciality channels. The organisation also recommended that the Corporation's statutory mandate be amended to include "the responsibility to contribute to the promotion of healthy living habits and federated sport."[251]

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Feature Films

When its licence was renewed in 2000, CBC/Radio-Canada committed to investing $30 million over five years in the production, acquisition and promotion of Canadian feature films. This was not, however, a condition of the licence. It is necessary to distinguish between the English-language and French-language film markets in Canada. French-language films garner excellent television ratings in Quebec. English-language films get more modest ratings in the rest of Canada.

Some witnesses expressed a certain degree of frustration that CBC/Radio-Canada was not more involved in the feature film sector.

Carl Bessai is a filmmaker and chairperson of the Citizens' Coalition for the Protection of Canadian Films. During his appearance on March 12, 2007, he stressed that CBC/Radio-Canada needs to play a greater role in promoting films and feature films. As a cultural vehicle that gives Canada an international profile, our film industry must be able to count on the support of our national public broadcaster. While insisting on the importance of CBC/Radio-Canada, Mr. Bessai said that it shocked him, as a filmmaker, "how little a role the CBC, in English Canada particularly, plays in feature film."[252] Mr. Bessai criticised CBC/Radio-Canada for having a middle-of-the-night block where they play ancient Canadian films that no longer connect to what's out there. He also criticised it for not working closely with film distributors to promote Canadian feature films.

This is a point of view shared by the former Government Film Commissioner and former Chairperson of the National Film Board of Canada, Jacques Bensimon. He pointed out that across the world, be it in France, England or Germany, every major public broadcaster has a branch that invests in cinema.[253]

The Directors Guild of Canada feels that CBC/Radio-Canada should be required to broadcast more new Canadian feature films in order to provide Canadians across the country with the opportunity to see the feature-length films that are made here.[254]

The Canadian Association of Film Distributors & Exporters recommended that support for feature film from now on be mandated as a condition of licence for both the CBC and the SRC.[255]

The Association des réalisateurs et des réalisatrices du Québec asked that the SRC do more to assist the growth of Quebec and Canadian cinema by investing substantially in film development, production and distribution, and that this perhaps be made mandatory.[256]

Others expressed the opposite opinion. The Newfoundland Independent Filmmakers Cooperative said that it had had quite a positive relationship with the English network of the CBC as regards feature films since it was founded in 1975.[257]

The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) felt that CBC/Radio-Canada could play a more active role in film projects.[258] There could be much greater synergy between the theatrical release of a Canadian film and its broadcast date.[259]

The Committee is of the opinion that the English and French networks of CBC/Radio-Canada must promote the Canadian film industry. This industry offers unique cultural products, providing a showcase for the talents of people in various sectors. Our national public broadcaster must continue its efforts in this regard.

RECOMMENDATION 3.2

The Committee recommends that CBC/Radio-Canada play an increased role in the development, promotion and distribution of Canadian feature films.