The CRTC has granted the CBC permission to once again broadcast programs available only on a sponsored basis on both its Espace Musique and Radio 2 networks.
That exemption did not carry over when the federal regulator amended the public broadcaster’s license conditions earlier this year, giving it permission to carry a limited amount of paid advertising on its radio services for the first time since 1975.
Interveners had expressed concern that amending the license would allow the CBC to expand its advertising limits beyond the four minutes per hour granted by the CRTC earlier this year.
There were also fears that the CBC could use the exception to acquire sponsored programs created by private-sector producers at its request in order to maximize advertising revenues.
The concern was that embedded advertising in these programs would escape the restrictions imposed on the CBC with respect to national advertising, with one group suggesting that the sponsorship exception apply solely to the program The Metropolitan Opera.
However, the CRTC saw merit in the CBC’s claim that embedded sponsorship advertising generates no revenue and doesn’t qualify as paid national advertising, while noting that it produces most of the programs aired on the two networks in-house.
“The Commission is of the view that the CBC will not significantly expand the use of programs with embedded sponsorship, given that its long-standing practice is to produce virtually all of the programs broadcast on Espace Musique and Radio 2 in-house,” said the ruling.
The CRTC also noted that the conditions of license for all four CBC radio networks have permitted the broadcast of programs available only on a sponsored basis for more than 35 years. “In all of those years the CBC rarely, if ever, expanded its use of this exception,” said the CRTC.
“In light of the above, the Commission considers it appropriate to reinstate the exception allowing the broadcast of programs that are available only a sponsored basis for Espace Musique and Radio 2,” said the ruling.
