The CRTC is holding a TV policy hearing and they've asked for submissions from the public, from the broadcasters, and today is the deadline for those submissions. They highlighted certain particular points, one of which was HD and the move to HD. Another was how to ensure that there is more drama in the system. They want to talk as well about the health of the broadcasting system. There are many people who are very concerned, especially about conventional broadcasting, because conventional broadcasting has essentially been financed through advertising and advertising for conventional broadcasting has plateaued or gone down in the last couple of years, with the growth of the Internet, with the growth of other alternatives.
So the very model on which conventional broadcasting is built may turn out to be a foundation of sand. So a lot of us are very concerned about that and are looking at different ways and means to finance conventional broadcasting. It is conventional broadcasting that produces the most, about 80% or 85%, new programming. Therefore we have to make sure that it is healthy and that it can move forward. The government does a lot in terms of CTF, in terms of tax credits, etc., so we all get money from government in one form or another to do programming.
What we are suggesting here is not something new, and it's something that all of the conventional broadcasters, I believe, will be putting forward; that is, now that the Canadian public, 85% to 90% of the Canadian public, receive television not over the air but from a satellite operator or from a cable operator, there should be a fee paid for those programs that we deliver. That's what we mean by a subscriber fee.
As I say, the hearing will be in November, the end of November. The deadline for filing of briefs is today. I'm sure there will be stories in the press, because almost all of the broadcasters, public and private, are going to say they don't want to give their programming for nothing, that they should get a fee because they need another source of revenue if they're going to be able to do Canadian programming.
From the point of view of the CBC, we feel exactly the same way. Our finances from government are basically static, if not decreasing in real terms. Our advertising revenue is relatively flat and we don't anticipate it going up dramatically, perhaps going up with inflation but not much more than that. Yet the cost of programming continues to rise. The amount of programming we want to produce is going up very significantly. Richard's up to I think 175 hours this year from about 125 hours two years ago of Canadian drama, and it's the same on Sylvain's side.
So we see the subscriber fee as a legitimate payment for service rendered. And I might say that this debate is going on in other countries as well.