Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, committee members, my name is Claire Samson and I am the President and CEO of the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec. With me today is Brigitte Doucet, the Association’s Executive Vice-President. We want to thank you for inviting us to appear before you today and voice our views on the situation of the Canadian television industry.
To begin, I would like to tell you a little about our Association. For over 40 years now, the APFTQ has been the umbrella organization for most of he independent film and television production companies in Quebec. There are over 130 of them, working in drama, documentaries, variety, youth programming, talk shows, games, animation and advertising. We estimate that close to 95% of the annual volume of independent film and television production in Quebec comes from our members.
The APFTQ's mission is to promote independent film and television production, to encourage close cooperation among all stakeholders in the field, and to ensure that its members respect the highest possible standards of professionalism and production quality.
The various aspects of the Broadcasting Policy have a direct effect on the ability of Canada’s independent producers to provide Canadian television, radio, Internet and cell phone broadcasters with a steady supply of new content, which the broadcasters need to carry out their role responsibly. That is why we want to explain how we see the future of Canadian television.
We will look at three of the topics that you identified and that directly affect Canadian content and its survival: financial pressures on programming; the effectiveness of cultural development funds; licence renewals for private conventional television stations.
With respect to financial pressures on local and Canadian programming, when CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein appeared before your Committee, he said that the multi-element broadcasting system model, with conventional television as the model's cornerstone, had worked very well for many years.
It had helped to sustain a healthy and typically Canadian television industry. But he added, "However, conventional television now finds itself under a great deal of financial pressure, which the industry claims is threatening the viability of local programming."
We realize that the committee wants to look at the problems of broadcasting from a local programming perspective. However, to judge by the remarks of the conventional broadcasters who have appeared before you, it is not simply local programming and the number of local shows that may be at risk, but Canadian programming as a whole. This is why they have for several years been calling for fee-for-carriage. The CRTC has denied them such fees because they have not been able to demonstrate a sufficiently strong commitment to using the fees to improve the Canadian broadcasting system, and local programming in particular.
Phil Lind, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Rogers Communication, said in a press release that the television sector activities of CTV and Global were profitable. He then declared, "[F]ee-for-carriage would set up the worst of all public policy solutions, a two-tier taxation solution."
The APFTQ is firmly convinced that the television industry is not in a state of crisis, as the conventional broadcasters claim. Our industry is currently undergoing structural changes that demand adjustments in the regulations so that Canada’s broadcasting system can be maintained, because it is a source of pride for all Canadians. Video on demand, the transition to digital, the new broadcast platforms of the Internet and the cell phone, should in our opinion be opportunities to rethink the broadcasting industry by refocusing on the quality and importance of Canadian content.
In Quebec, for example, Canadian programs have for many years enjoyed the biggest audiences. Pierre Dion, President and CEO of Groupe TVA, said when he appeared before you that Réseau TVA currently devotes almost 90% of its programming expenditure to original Canadian content. Canadian content must be profitable if a corporation like Groupe TVA allocates such a huge proportion of its programming expenditure to it.
However, our industry, like many other Canadian industries, is suffering a slowdown because of the global economic situation. We must all share some of the pain, unfortunately.
We urge the government not to give in to the pressures of certain industry players that are calling for quasi-total deregulation—this would save their own companies by leaving an entire sector of the industry, including independent production, to die. But in Quebec alone independent production generates almost 23,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The current system assumes that conventional television stations will produce, acquire and broadcast a significant quantity of Canadian content, including drama, documentaries and local programming. In exchange, these networks benefit from regulatory support in five areas: mandatory distribution on basic service packages provided by the BDUs; local advertising; no floor on spending for Canadian programming; access to the Canadian Television Fund, and soon enhanced access to the Canada Media Fund; simultaneous substitution.
What could justify relieving the big corporate broadcasters of any obligation for priority programming, as some people would like? We all know that priority programming is produced mainly by independent producers. Its uses Canadian creators and performers and it meets the objectives of the Broadcasting Act. It was on the basis of these principles that the Canadian Television Fund was created, to support drama, documentaries, youth programming, variety and the performing arts.