Evidence of meeting #15 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was stations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
They will shut down stations because they will not be able to proceed with the conversion by 2011.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
That is interesting. I have another question that is just as interesting.
With regard to the evolution of the television industry, which is the topic of our committee's study, you said:
[...] technological change must be embraced, the costs structure must be alleviated, advertising must be more targeted and efficient, multiple platforms must be used and viewer involvement must be promoted.
I find those comments extremely interesting because those are your concrete solutions for the future development of television.
I would like for you to talk at greater length about technological change and the costs structure that must be alleviated. You have about a minute to do so, which is crazy, I realize, but I have to ask you that question.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Cable Inc.
I am neither an engineer nor a technician, but I will try to sum up our position.
There was much debate during the hearing on the transfer of ownership of the TQS Network. One of the fundamental issues of that debate was whether or not to support changes that were considered by some to be absolutely necessary and by others, to be needless or detrimental to the quality of information.
I do not want to get into the debate surrounding TQS, in which we had an ownership stake?? and which we sold off at the same time as did CTV, which was our business partner.
However, I can tell you that, as a shareholder, we determined that it was no longer possible to come up with a functional business model for the future, given the heavy, conventional studio production structures that are in place today.
In our view, news programs, and particularly local news programs, must be created using lighter production, broadcasting and news gathering structures. Some will see this as a step backward, but we consider these changes to be inevitable.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
What do you mean exactly when you say “lighter structures”?
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
I knew you would cut me off if I asked another question.
Conservative
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First of all, thanks to my colleague Mr. Angus for giving me this slot on the committee, because we have a presentation from Hamilton. I would also like to thank Donna Skelly for taking the time to come to Ottawa to make the case on behalf of Hamilton.
For the benefit of colleagues, Donna is a very, very well-known, respected personality and community leader in Hamilton. When she called a couple of snap meetings over a weekend, and at other times, people were there ready to respond, because CHCH means so much to our community.
I can't emphasize how important it is to the fabric of our community to have CHCH continue. Regardless of who owns it and runs it, we need CHCH. The beauty of this opportunity is that we're looking at the community being the one that would call the shots. It's very radical, but it may indeed be an opportunity for us to look at this differently than we have in the past.
I only have five minutes, and I have a lot of questions for Donna. We have the three entities here, but I want to take the opportunity to perhaps throw the question to Mr. Mayrand and Mr. Viner as to what they see off the top of their heads as any roadblocks to this idea of a community-owned TV station run by the local community. That could be used as a template virtually across the country.
I would like to give you an opportunity to give what you think are going to be the problems, and then hopefully I'll have a moment to give Donna an opportunity to respond to what you have to say. And please be brief.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Cogeco Cable Inc.
It has been tried before. I'm not saying this earlier attempt sets a precedent for how things would shape up in Hamilton. It was tried before in the national capital region, a long time ago, and in the end the experiment was not sustainable. We ought to find out what the parameters and the business plan of this proposal are. I frankly don't know what they are. I understand the deep attachment of the people of Hamilton to this station. It's an institution in Hamilton, and if there's a way it can survive, all the better. But you have to consider the business plan, and I don't know what it entails.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canwest Television, Canwest Media Inc.
I grew up watching CHCH. I'm so old I remember Tiny Talent Time, a little amateur show they had. I'm afraid CHCH, in our view, is symptomatic of the difficulties of the broadcast system in its current state. Commitment and a radical program format--this is all laudable. The reality is there's no revenue there. In fact, an all-news station will generate significantly fewer rating points than the current fare. As to the local people who are dying to get on the station, believe me, we've been welcoming them for a number of years at very low rates. They've never taken it up. I wish the group well. We'd be happy to facilitate selling the station at low or no cost. We just don't believe they'd be able to marshal a business plan that would pass muster at the CRTC. Still, we wish them well.
Co-host, CHCH-TV
My biggest concern with watching how these meetings in this committee have played out over the past few weeks is the emphasis on American programming and the amounts of money. We hear that the business model is broken. Maybe you could address this, Mr. Viner.
Let's look at CHCH and compare what's spent on foreign programming with what's spent on local programming. What I saw submitted to the CRTC was something like $46 million on American programming and $6 million on local news. To me, that's an awful lot of money to be spending on American programming. I think it's questionable whether the E! programming was the right route to go. If we had directed that same $46 million to local programming, I think you could probably have had a pretty successful station.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canwest Television, Canwest Media Inc.
I don't want to get into a debate on this. Actually, the cost of foreign programming has gone down. The reality is we should have sold this station a long time ago, but like all optimists we kept thinking it was going to turn the corner. We're happy to let it go in a new direction. We'll be happy to help, and we wish everyone well. That's all I have to say.
Co-host, CHCH-TV
We have two sources of revenue that have been addressed throughout these hearings, and all the key players have said they deserve a chunk of it. Do you want to spend that money on more American programming or do you want to spend it on local programming? If you want to spend it on local programming, then start looking at different models. The different model is a community initiative. Canadian taxpayers don't want to have to pay for the same American programming that is available on just about every channel.
If CHCH disappears from Hamilton, Halton, and Niagara, we're not going to be missing American programming. We can get it on 10 other stations that come into that market, but we're not going to get our local news. So if you're going to start dishing out local funding that taxpayers are paying for, put it towards local stations.
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
May I just leave this with you? I won't be back at this committee, I don't suspect. If the current models don't allow us to save CHCH, please do not leave my community without any local television station at all. We need some method, but we have to have the programming. The current system is just not going to work, and you're not hearing a lot of optimism from the current owners, so I would hope you'd open up your minds.
Thanks for your indulgence.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My first question is for the Canwest officials. Can Canwest survive in the current context if no changes are made? I am referring to the television channels.
Senior Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Canwest Media Inc.
Can I translate that? I think the interpretation system is not functioning.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
It was working before. We are not going to wait for her to translate each question.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canwest Television, Canwest Media Inc.
If I understand your question, it's can Canwest survive under--
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canwest Television, Canwest Media Inc.
Yes, absolutely it can. We have very strong, profitable companies. We just have simply too much debt. We need to recapitalize the company. We need new equity. We'll survive. Every one of our businesses, with one or two exceptions, makes a decent return. We just simply have too much debt for the current circumstance. I fully expect that we will survive and be healthy and be back before you many times.
