We have been advised by our producer clients that while the CBC continues to exhibit documentary programming, more and more of this is in-house production. It is difficult for us to confirm this because the CBC is not required to report on exhibition and expenditure allocations between in-house and independent production. The CIFVF contends that the CBC should be directed to commission more independently produced documentaries.
We are concerned that independent producers are being asked to give away rights on multiple CBC broadcast platforms without appropriate compensation. The bundling of exhibition rights for the main CBC television network and for CBC-owned specialty channels without separate or increased licence fees is of considerable concern to independent documentary producers. If the CBC does take control of the documentary channel, the public broadcaster should be required to negotiate separate licence agreements with independent documentary filmmakers.
The CBC has had a policy of not broadcasting documentaries if the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, is involved. Other broadcasters have not had the same problem, and the CIFVF continues to fund projects in which CIDA is a financial partner. The CBC's refusal to show CIDA-financed projects therefore limits the number of possible broadcasters to show projects on international development subjects.
The CBC is requiring independent producers to include their tax credits as part of financing structures. This practice distorts the original intention of the tax credit incentive, which was a guaranteed source of income to be reinvested back into production companies, much like the child tax credit. Because the tax credits are not paid out to the producer until after completion of a project, the producer must seek interim financing from a bank to cover the shortfall in order to finance the project in question.
The CIFVF would like to see a more specific commitment made to regional documentary production or inter-regional co-production for documentaries, so that television audiences can have access to a wide expression of Canadian perspectives, which allows for a diversity of views.
The emergence of content for new distribution platforms provides an opportunity for the CBC/Radio-Canada, as it does for all broadcasters and producers. However, it is our understanding that broadcasters, including the CBC, are either not paying for new platform rights or are paying just a nominal sum. While we acknowledge that, at the moment, there is little monetary value attached to the content that is created specifically for these new media, it is safe to assume that it is just a matter of time before these new exhibition platforms will be earning revenue. Given this, the CIFVF recommends that the CBC not request these rights from independent producers, or if they do, that there be a clause that allows for review of the situation within a reasonable time period so that the producer may be appropriately compensated according to market rates. To this end, the CBC should be required to incorporate this aspect of its dealings with independent producers into its independent production protocol that has been established for carrying on business with the independent production community.