Depending on who you talk to, the new approach to media ownership unveiled by the CRTC last month is either “eminently practical,” “troubling,” or somewhere in between.
On Jan. 15, less than a month after rubber-stamping Canwest’s purchase of the Alliance Atlantis broadcast assets, the federal regulator introduced a series of policies aimed at ensuring a “diversity of voices” in Canadian media:
• The CRTC will not approve any transaction that results in one party controlling 45% of the total television audience share among both over-the-air and specialty services (CTV has the highest national English-language share at 37.4%; Quebecor Media has the largest French-language share: 32%).
• It will “carefully examine” any transaction resulting in one party controlling 35% to 40% of the total audience share; and “expeditiously approve” transactions resulting in one party controlling less than 35% of the total audience share, assuming there are no other concerns.
• It will not approve any transaction between broadcast distribution services (e.g., Star Choice, Bell ExpressVu) resulting in a company controlling the delivery of programming in a market.
• No company will be permitted to own more than two of three mediums (TV, newspaper or radio) in any one market.
However, by deeming both the National Post and The Globe and Mail as national newspapers, the CRTC has essentially handed the publications’ respective owners, Canwest and CTVglobemedia, a “get out of jail free card” says Bruce Claassen, president of the Canadian Media Directors’ Council.
Bob Reaume, vice-president of policy and research with the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA), says the policy allows for expansion while keeping media concentration in check. “It’s important for our broadcasting companies to have size and heft. At the same time it’s important that no one gets too hefty,” he said. The two recent broadcast deals approved by the CRTC-Canwest’s acquisition of Alliance Atlantis and CTVglobemedia’s amended purchase of CHUM Limited-he says, are “aligned with that kind of thinking.”
Since the CRTC policies are not retroactive, some wonder about their impact on a media world already consolidated by the Canwest/Alliance and CTVglobemedia/CHUM deals. “It hurts Corus [Entertainment] and Astral [Media] more than it hurts anyone else, doesn’t it?” said one media analyst who asked not to be named. For instance, “Canwest has gotten in under the fence with Vancouver, which is quite extreme in terms of what they own.”
Canwest owns both dailies in the market (the Vancouver Sun and The Province), along with the Global station CHAN-TV. The CRTC lists a total of 18 broadcasters in the market: 11 private, two public and five community.
Vancouver was among 31 Canadian markets analyzed by the CRTC, which concluded that in all but the smallest markets “there is a variety of ownership in the local media.”
That has led groups like the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to wonder why new rules were needed in the first place. “The regulatory framework already in place remains relevant and has generated the high level of diversity we have today,” said CAB president Glenn O’Farrell.
