COVID has created a CanCon crisis, and Corus won’t waste it: CEO

The production slowdown stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns has created a crisis for Corus Entertainment Inc. in terms of meeting its CRTC-mandated Canadian programming expenditures (CPE), and according to CEO Doug Murphy, it is a crisis the company "is not going to waste." Corus will use the crisis, Murphy said, to make the case to policy makers that the CPE requirements on broadcasters like Corus should be loosened. Speaking to this year's online installment of the BMO Media & Telecom Conference Tuesday, Murphy said that the current requirement to spend 30 per cent of a broadcaster's revenues year-over-year on Canadian programming "is not one that is sustainable in the future." "There's just no way it's going to be able to be trued up in this year, for sure, and for sure in the coming couple of years," Murphy said of the CPE requirement, and said he's been making the case to policy makers in Ottawa to lessen the requirement. "It's just not going to happen," Murphy said. "So that's one crisis I am not going to waste and I've had many discussions with the folks in Ottawa about: This is the time to make change. The COVID crisis has modernized the Broadcasting Act for us." Indeed, Corus has reported plummeting advertising revenue since the crisis hit, though Murphy said the company has seen some of the advertising demand rebound in recent months. In July, the CRTC allowed Corus to spend less on Canadian content, provided that the company made it up the following year. Corus had initially asked the regulator if it could defer its obligations in September 2019, before the COVID pandemic hit, citing volatility in the advertising market. Murphy also told the conference that he expects the upcoming updates to the Broadcasting Act to require foreign internet giants to contribute to the production of Canadian content. The new legislation, Murphy speculated, "in and of itself is going to be widely supported by all the parties, because the modernization is going to require foreign companies to contribute, so who's to object?" Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said in June that the upcoming legislation would force web giants like Netflix Inc. to support the creation of Canadian content. In January, the broadcasting and telecommunications legislative review panel (BTLR) chaired by Janet Yale called for the likes of Netflix and Facebook Inc. to be brought under the regulation of a Broadcasting Act. The question, Murphy said, is what kind of policy directive the Heritage Ministry will give to the CRTC after the act is passed. "I'm going to be advocating for immediate change," he said.

COVID has created a CanCon crisis, and Corus won’t waste it: CEO

Brief | September 15, 2020

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COVID has created a CanCon crisis, and Corus won’t waste it: CEO

Brief | September 15, 2020

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