Both Corus & Bell have recently applied to the CRTC to reduce their CanCon and news producing obligations, citing a drop in advertising, primarily because of the ongoing actors' strike, with no new high profile American shows being made.

It probably won't surprise you that this controversial idea has drawn a lot of interventions to the Commission, which has been forced to extend the deadline for comments until Nov. 3rd. What's interesting is the reaction, depending on whose ox is being gored. 

Rogers filed an intervention saying, in essence, 'yeah, we support the Corus and Bell requests.' Of course they do, because everyone knows they'll be next in line to do the same thing. Writes Susan Wheeler, one of their VPs, streaming is a problem that's eating away at their profits and until the CRTC comes up with the new rules, they need help.

"While Rogers understands the process to modernize the regulatory framework will take time to develop and implement, we also believe it is important that Canadian broadcasting undertakings be given the opportunity to respond to market changes now by making certain adjustments to their licence conditions."

Needless to say, Bell also gives their competitor's reduction request a thumb's up, saying, "me, too!"

"Should the Commission approve Corus' application, we respectfully submit that all licensees subject to [these] requirements should be afforded similar flexibility.  Revenue volatility, which is at the root of the Corus application, is something that has affected all broadcast companies."

But not everyone feels that way. ACTRA, which represents actors in this country, fundamentally opposes the CanCon reduction. 

"As one of Canada’s largest private broadcasters, Corus must continue to contribute significantly to the production and presentation of Canadian programming."

The Canadian Media Producers' Assocation expresses similar feelings, adding this shot across the Corus bow:

"Corus’ concerns about the loss of its local expression funding are entirely of its own doing: the $26 billion sale of Shaw to Rogers meant that local expression funding would no longer be available to Corus, and the controlling shareholders chose to close the deal anyway."

Ouch! And by the way, Quebecor is the latest media company to jump on the "poor us" bandwagon, requesting a reduction in what it has to produce, including news. 

The CRTC has previously indicated it's sympathetic to the broadcasters. But if they reduce the Canadian content and news obligations of these giants and the actors go back to work (as they inevitably will) will they ever be forced to return to their previous news and production levels, which are already pretty small? The answer to that question should prove eye-opening. 

If you're interested, you can read all the Interventions submitted to the CRTC here.