The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) filed comments today with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in response to the CRTC Canadian Television Fund (CTF) Task Force Report released June 29, 2007. In its submission, the DGC strongly urged the regulator to reconsider a number of the Task Force's recommendations that will have extremely damaging effects on the Canadian production sector, and by extension the Canadian broadcasting system.

In particular, the DGC took issue with the Task Force's recommendation that CTF monies be used to fund 8 point Canadian productions instead of 10 point. This flies in the face of good public policy and available evidence. "There is no evidence on the record to show that an 8 point production has more of a chance than a 10 point production of delivering Canadian audiences," says DGC president Alan Goluboff. "Given the record of CTF funded productions of the past few years - for instance Corner Gas, Degrassi: The Next Generation and Little Mosque on the Prairie - it is clear that 10 point productions can do very well in Canada and around the world," Goluboff adds. "If this recommendation is put in place it will bring only one very unfortunate certainty: a Canadian director, writer or significant actor will be eliminated from Canadian productions," says the president.

The DGC is also very concerned about the Task Force's recommendation that contributions to the CTF by cable and satellite companies (broadcasting distribution undertakings or BDUs) be separated fro m the CTF into a private funding stream. BDUs pay money to the CTF by virtue of their regulatory obligations under the Broadcasting Act.  In other words, it is money that is infused with a public trust that requires the CRTC to ensure that the money is put to their highest and best use in satisfying the public policy objectives of the Act. "The CTF is not a private fund to be directed by private interests. Public money should not be supporting non-Canadian actors, writers and directors. It's simply unacceptable," says Monique Lafontaine, DGC General Counsel and Director of Regulatory Affairs. "This will also put the entire onus on the CBC to support 10 point productions, which is unfair to the already under funded public broadcaster," she adds.           
 
The Task Force's recommendation that $25 million of CTF money be used to invest in new media is another area of grave concern for the Guild. The DGC has no objection to the notion of a new media fund generally, however, to pillage from the oversubscribed CTF makes no sense; $25 million dollars in CTF dollars translates into $75 million in financing for Canadian productions.  For the industry to lose that amount of money each year will have devastating repercussions on the number and types of productions made. This will also result in further fragmentation of what should be a consolidated fund of at least $250 million. Moreover, nowhere in the Task Force report is there mention of how the new media monies should be allocated or used. The DGC feels the CRTC should be much more explicit before redirecting 10% of the CTF's budget to a new media initiative. The Guild is also of the view that once the CRTC has clearly enunciated how the new media fund would work, it should seek a new source of revenue to finance this initiative. For instance, internet service providers could contribute a portion of their revenues to this new media fund.    

As for carving out "a special place within the broadcasting system for Canadian voices, points of view and ways of expressing ourselves," this objective is not going to be advanced by allowing scarce funds imbued with a public trust to be used for projects which eliminate Canadian directors, writers or actors. It is crucial the CRTC consider the far-reaching effects of devaluing the Canadian creative community.