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Canadian content

DCHP-2 (Nov 2012)

n. — Entertainment

radio and television content produced in Canada, especially in the context of regulations requiring broadcasters to air a certain percentage of Canadian-made material.

Type: 1. Origin — The term was developed to refer to the percentage of programming in Canada that must have CRTC Canadian Program Certification. The Canadian content regulations were enacted in response to the perceived need to protect the Canadian broadcasting industry from foreign competition (see, e.g. the 1970 quotation). The regulation is credited with creating a viable Canadian film, music and entertainment industry (see, e.g. the 2012 quotation).

See: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission,CRTC,CanCon

Quotations

1965

The brief said a survey showed that 59 per cent of the CBC Toronto channel (CBLT) entertainment-type programs were imported from the U.S., compared with 66 per cent on privately owned CFTO. "I'm not anti-American," Comor told reporters after spending 30 minutes in Gordon's Ottawa office. "I just feel pro-Canadian. Our tax dollar pays for the CBC and what does our tax dollar do? It's supporting the American television industry," said the Toronto-based actor-writer. His three children watch so many U.S. TV programs "they think they live in the United States," said Comor. Comor wants an immediate boost to 45 per cent in Canadian content (now at 25-30 per cent in evening entertainment programming). Eventually, Actra wants 80 per cent Canadian content.

1970

Sharp new increases in Canadian content on television and radio were ordered today by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission. Pierre Juneau, the watchdog agency's chairman, said the new regulations were needed to save the Canadian broadcasting system from domination and eventual extinction by American broadcasting.

1984

The CRTC forced pay-TV, like 'free TV,' to submit to Canadian content rules, perpetuating its long-held dream that Canadian culture can be imposed on the public.

1990

CanCon could use a rewrite, but it has kept the Yanks at bay It has been 20 years since Canadian content quotas were forced upon cash-happy and culture-poor television broadcasters. In the interval, the film and television industry has grown and prospered mightily, generating more than $500-million worth of production annually. But culture, that elusive Canadian artistic identity these regulations were designed to protect and enrich, has not been so well served.

2012

He became the first chairman of the CRTC in 1968 and it was under his guidance that the CRTC brought in Canadian-content regulations for television and radio, a move that most see as a key catalyst for the development of viable TV and music industries in this country. The rules forced the TV networks to fill 60 per cent of their schedule with Canadian fare while the radio stations had to air 30 per cent Canadian music.