The
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s
(CRTC) new
regulatory policy to ensure “plurality of editorial
voices” and “diversity of programming” in
private media is long overdue. Canadians have been waiting for
some 38 years. Studies, commissions and reports have all called
for regulations to restrict the concentration of ownership in
television, radio and newspapers. Until now, those cries were
largely ignored.
But advocates of stronger regulation say this new policy is
too little too late. The damage is already done, much of it
in the past year since Konrad von Finckenstein, former head
of the Competition Bureau took over as chair of the CRTC.
Under Finckenstein’s leadership the CRTC approved five
big mergers worth almost $6 billion dollars, including CanWest
Global’s partnership with U.S. financier Goldman Sachs
to buy Alliance Atlantis for $2.3 billion and CTVglobemedia’s
purchase of CHUM Ltd. for $1.4 billion.
This merger madness sparked an outcry and the CRTC responded
by calling public hearings into the issue in September 2007.
The agency received 162 written complaints, 1,800 comments from
the campaign by Canadians for Democratic Media and 52 parties
testified. In discussing the effects of media consolidation,
many people noted that while there may be more choices out there,
viewers, listeners and readers are getting less news and information
than ever before especially at the local level. In response
the CRTC has adopted a new policy (Broadcasting
Notice CRTC 2008-4) to address cross-media ownership, diversity
of programming and broadcast distribution.
Cross-media ownership – Television, radio and
newspapers
1. This CRTC policy aims to provide a “plurality
of editorial voices” in a local market by limiting ownership
to two of three mainstream media in a local market – television,
radio and local daily newspapers. So the CRTC set the limit
at two, but retained its longstanding policy that allows a media
company to own one conventional TV station, and no more than
two AM and FM stations in a large market (three in smaller markets).
Since newspapers fall outside the jurisdiction of the CRTC and
are nominally regulated by the Competition
Bureau, it’s unclear how this new rule will do anything
to ensure diversity and plurality. In Vancouver for example,
CanWest Global can continue legally to publish the Vancouver
Sun, the Province, National Post, its
community weeklies and broadcast Global TV.
The CRTC also classified The
Globe and Mail and Toronto-based National
Post as national newspapers, not local dailies. The
ideal that the National Post is a national newspaper defies
many Canadians. In Atlantic Canada it’s been years since
we’ve had home delivery or could buy a copy at the corner
store. The national designation, however, is good news for the
CTVglobemedia, owner of The Globe and Mail, with its extensive
television and radio holdings.
The CRTC did not wade into the complexities of online or wireless
journalism. It also excluded weekly newspapers from its calculations.
In failing to recognize this vast and fast growing sector, the
CRTC has overlooked the fact that there is little plurality
of editorial voices in many parts of rural Canada. Small communities
are dependent on mostly corporate-owned weekly papers and broadcast
media that pipe-in news from urban centres.
But in the current media landscape, no companies violate this
new CRTC cross-media ownership rule. Challenges will arise should
a media company with newspaper and television holdings, for
example, want to expand and buy another media outlet with radio
holdings.
Ownership Policies and Diversity of Programming
2. This CRTC policy is all about trying to create a
balance in market power and preventing any one company from
controlling content in the television sector. The rule limits
a television broadcaster to 45 per cent of a national audience
for its conventional, pay and specialty channels. Currently
that’s not an issue, but this regulation has serious implications
for future mergers. The 45 per cent cap means the two big private
English-language broadcasters CTVglobemedia (37.4%) and CanWest
Global (26.3%) and the two French-language broadcasters Quebecor
(32%) and Astral Media (23.2 %) have limited wiggle room. Future
acquisitions will not be simple and may require splitting up
companies to stay under the 45 per cent.
That said, the CRTC allowed that television broadcasters can
expand their national audience above the 45 per cent cap the
old fashioned way – through normal competition or by introducing
new services – but not through acquiring other media companies.
An editorial in The
Globe and Mail on January 16, 2008 complained about
‘the arbitrariness” of the 45 per cent cap. . But
the CRTC notes in its 25-page document that it’s just
following the figure used by the Competition Bureau to determine
market dominance in other industries and private media by all
accounts are businesses with shareholders and profit margins.
Canadian television broadcasters operate in a protected market
and have yet to make a convincing case for relaxed regulations
or special treatment. Indeed, a case could be made for a much
lower national audience cap for television given that the airwaves
are public property and according to the Broadcasting Act these
media companies are supposed to be providing diverse programming
that is in the public interest. But most media companies don’t
want to have this discussion.
Diversity of broadcast distribution services (BDU)
3. This new CRTC regulation aims to uphold the current
competitive environment of broadcast distribution and ensure
diversity of voices. It will not allow one company in any community
to control all means of broadcasting distribution such as direct-to-home,
cable, and satellite television. For example, this policy would
prevent a merger between satellite television distributors Star
Choice and Bell Express Vu. The CRTC did not consider phone
television a competitor at this point.
Reaction predictable
Even though the new rules do not affect current media
ownership in Canada and are not retroactive, big media as evidenced
in The Globe and Mail editorial are attacking the CRTC
and the new rules. This is the same sort of rhetoric we have
heard over the last 38 years at any suggestion that public policy
rein in media expansion. The CRTC and government have caved
in time and time again to the huge pressure from publishers,
private broadcasters and their powerful lobby, the Canadian
Association of Broadcasters. It’s about time that the
CRTC took a stand and reminded broadcasters that they are caretakers
of the public airwaves and have a responsibility not just to
their shareholders but the Canadian public.
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and ACTRA applaud the CRTC
for doing its job, but are these changes enough to achieve plurality
of editorial voices and diversity of programming in Canadian
media?
The Communication, Energy and Paper Workers Union and Canadian
Media Guild say no – this regulatory policy does little
to limit more media concentration. The recent round of mergers
and earlier ones in 2000-01 have caused irreparable loss of
diversity. That’s true, but one must give a nod to CRTC
chair Konrad von Finckenstein who has taken tentative steps
to contain media’s business interests and inject public
interest back into the mandate of the CRTC and broadcasting.
It is important to keep a close watch on future media developments
to see if the CRTC upholds this new regulatory policy when faced
with new mergers and when broadcasters renew their licences.
If the CRTC does not enforce its regulatory policy then maybe
it’s time to join the president of the Media Guild (The
Toronto Star, Jan. 16, 2007) and call for a review
the CRTC and its operational guidelines.
KIM KIERANS is the Director of the School
of Journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax,
where she also acts as professor of broadcast writing, reporting
and documentary. Her research areas include community newspapers
and media concentration.
Kieran spent 22 years reporting, editing, and producing for
CBC Radio (Maritimes) and continues to work as a freelance writer
and editor for CBC One and a columnist on community news.
She holds a BA (Hons) in Classics from King's/Dalhousie and
a MA in Atlantic Canada Studies from Saint Mary's University.
