Can-con vital in digital world: CAB by Graham Fraser
Source : Toronto Star
October 25, 2001
by Graham Fraser
OTTAWA - Canadian private broadcasters will need Canadian content to survive in the digital world, and will no longer be able to make money by showing popular U.S shows, Michael McCabe, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters said yesterday.
Within five or 10 years, McCabe said, viewers wanting to see any TV show that interests them will be able to download it off the Internet.
McCabe also responded to the criticisms by Ian Morrison of Friends of Canadian broadcasting, who issued a study on Tuesday that showed private broadcasters are spending more on U.S. programs and less on Canadian programs.
"There are those who refuse to abandon the old stereotype, the one that says private broadcasters would rather walk over broken glass than invest in Canadian content," McCabe said.
To rebut this, he said English-language Canadian private television and specialty and pay channels have increased their overall market share to 61 per cent in 2000 and that private broadcasters also dominate the Canadian programming market, with 74 per cent in 1999. However, in order to survive in the years ahead, McCabe said the law should be changed to allow broadcasters to be eligible for money from the Canadian Television Fund as distributors and producers, and that broadcasters should no longer pay more in CRTC fees than is required to regulate the industry.
