CRTC begins short-term licence renewal hearings

A reduction of Canadian content requirements is expected to be one of the main points of discussion as Canada's broadcast regulator begins considering one-year licence renewals for private TV broadcasters on Monday.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is holding hearings in Hull to determine the parametersof granting short-term licence renewals to broadcasters such as Canwest Global and the Rogers-owned CityTV.

Citing dire circumstances due to the troubled economy and the decliningCanadian TV industry, representatives for the private networks have requested the CRTC grant them more flexibility in their prime-time scheduling.

One change Canwest Global would like to see, for instance, is for reality TV shows to be added to the category of "priority programming" joining comedy, drama and entertainment magazine shows.

"We believe we should be able to have the flexibility to do what our viewers want to see," Canwest spokeswoman Barbara Williams told CBC News.

However, members of the independent production community fear a relaxation of regulations could lead to Canadian drama and comedy eventually disappearing from the networks' prime time schedules.

Domestic producers fear job losses

TV producer Mark McKinney, a former member of comedy troupe Kids in the Hall, called it "incredibly short-sighted" to relax obligations after decades of using Canadian content regulations to build up the domestic industry.

"I think it's a simple case of the profit motive being extremely blind to the macro picture," he said.

Domestic productions are valuable contributors to the industry and to the country's economy, says producer Phyllis Lang, who has teamed up with McKinney on the Winnipeg-shot series Less Than Kind.

"When I first started in this industry, we had about $500,000 worth of production in Manitoba. We're close to $150 million now," she said.

"My company alone put $20 million last year into the labour force here in Manitoba. These are real jobs, real people."

As the CRTC considers how to administer the short-term licence renewals over the next few weeks, the House of Commons heritage committee is also continuing its hearings examining the state of local programming and the Canadian television industry in Ottawa.