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Industry News

In the news: Canadian Television Fund, CBC hearings

From Playback:

From Antonia Zerbisias of the Toronto Star:

  • TV fund money really belongs to us
    “A careful reading of the CRTC decision that went into establishing the CTF reveals that its $2.3 billion, which subsidizes the production sector directly and broadcasters indirectly, more properly belong to viewers and/or taxpayers. That amount doesn’t count another $1.5 billion that ended up in cable company coffers. In other words, you may have been overpaying on your cable bill for the past 14 years. But there’s no way to know because the books on those rates are not open to the public.”

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

  • Cut TV funding? Don’t be a ninny
    “It looks like Shaw and Vidéotron will get away with stopping their contributions. That means, I’m told by sources in the TV industry, that the money available for supporting Canadian TV will, ultimately, be reduced by 60 per cent The government has guaranteed to support the CTF over the next two years, but this is a cunning ruse. It isolates Canadian TV, putting it into a position where it appears to be supported only by government funds and regulation, and, therefore, must be an indulgence that should be wiped out in a free-market economy.The ninny reaction is to support this. The ninny reaction is to forget conveniently that, once upon a time, the Canadian music industry was a fragile thing, supported largely by Canadian-content requirements on radio stations.”

From the Globe and Mail:

  • CBC-TV head scolds Shaw, Videotron
    “It would be a very strange circumstance where people could say, ‘I’m going to pick and choose those regulations that I’m going to abide by,’” he said. “You wouldn’t have a regulatory system at all. People would say ‘I don’t like that one, so I won’t abide by that one.’ And then the entire broadcasting system would collapse.”
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Industry News, Little Mosque on the Prairie

In the news: Canadian Television Fund defended

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From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail, a critique of the cable companies reneging on their obligations to the CTF. Also includes information on the season finale of Intelligence and a documentary by Little Mosque on the Prairie creator Zarqa Nawaz called Me and the Mosque:

  • Cable barbarians at the gate
    “Cable companies in Canada exist in a privileged, protected position that allows them make vast amounts of money, and now some want to renege on their regulatory responsibility and thus crush Canadian-made TV. A vital part of our culture — the telling of Canadian stories to Canadians, including Canadian children — should not exist at the whim of greed-driven, price-gouging cable companies. Everybody loathes cable companies. And nobody with an ounce of common sense or a grasp of fairness supports them on this issue.”
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Industry News

In the news: Canadian Television Fund gov’t funding renewed

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From the Canadian Press:

  • Government renews cash to embattled TV fund amid industry standoff
    ” ‘Contributing relatively small amounts to the creation of independent programs is a sweet deal for the cable companies, [NDP Heritage Critic Charlie] Angus said. The television fund was set up ‘following massive deregulation that was allowed by the CRTC. They’re in protected markets – they’re not facing open competition from American cable giants across the border who would love to be able to get into our markets.’ “
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