In Scope of licence renewal hearings for private conventional television stations, Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009–70, 13 February 2009, the Commission stated that it was predisposed to issue short–term licences only, and to reduce the scope of the hearing scheduled for the spring of 2009 to four key issues. In their responses to this notice, however, the major networks have referenced the severe financial constraints that threaten their ability to provide distinctive service to Canadian audiences and the imperative to address the fee–for–carriage issue during this hearing.

The Foundation believes that, linked to this same issue, it would also be appropriate to address Canada's long–term failure to preserve its broadcasting heritage and recordings of history–as–it–happens during these Licence Renewal hearings.

Canada's television system launched in 1952, some 57 years ago. Its private television sector has developed over five decades into a vibrant and complex system offering information and entertainment in many genres of programming that serve a diverse population. As part of that process, it has reflected — and documented — the evolution of Canadian society itself, building for the nation an irreplaceable electronic record. It is this issue that the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation/ Fondation du musée canadien de la radiodiffusion (CBMF/FMCR) wishes to raise with the Commission in the context of this public hearing.

Over the past several years it has become clear that the technical, economic and service assumptions on which Canada's broadcasting model were originally based no longer apply. As the Commission's Chairman noted himself little more than a month ago,  “the model is broken and a systemic solution must be found.” ¹ It would be foolhardy to attempt to cling to the status quo. What is required is a radical re–thinking of what contemporary Canada needs from its conventional domestic broadcasters and a design for efficient delivery of their services on platforms that take into account this country's demographic, geographic and financial realities.

¹ CRTC Chairman's Speech to the  “Prime Time in Ottawa”  Conference of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, Ottawa, Ontario, February 19, 2009 posted at http://www.thestar.com/article/606564.