Another round-up of posts and articles on the CRTC’s recent decision:
Another round-up of posts and articles on the CRTC’s recent decision:
– Our own Andrew Coyne says that the CRTC got it mostly right.
– John Doyle argues that the CRTC exists to “find a solution that assuages the interests of corporations and does the best for the consumer, both in the sense of cable’s bill-paying customers and consumers of local news and other Canadian programming.”
– Denis McGrath has his own opinion on the matter, as does
– Howard Bernstein, who says that it’s a “watery half decision that will satisfy no one and resolve little.”
– Bill Brioux is back with thoughts on how this decision will affect the CBC.
– Finally, the Globe’s James Bradshaw writes about the decision’s impact on the creative side of TV, and the loopholes that exist in a new-media age — namely, that with so many different places to show programs, companies can put their Canadian content where they think it will do them the least damage:
The decision will also require the broadcasters to spend 5 per cent of their gross revenues on “programs of national interest,” meaning dramas, comedies, documentaries and Canadian-focused awards shows. But they won’t be told where or when to air them, and in a nod to a public that increasingly gets its television through new media, the broadcasters will be allowed to produce this content on any platform. Some shows could end up as Web-only series, for example.
“It’s great that broadcasters are being told to spend money on Canadian drama, but they’re not being told they have to air it,” said actor Nicholas Campbell, formerly of the hit series Da Vinci’s Inquest. “Instead they’ve been given free rein to dump all of their drama on their specialty channels while feeding Canadians a steady diet of made-in-the U.S. programs in prime time,” Campbell said.