The CBC at the Crossroads

Commentary The CBC at the Crossroads HARRY J. BOYLE Until recently all broadcasting in the world has been dominated by a scarcity ·of spectrum space. This has allowed governments to decide who can broadcast. In most countries they have either assumed broadcasting for the state or allowed limited private participation . In the United States, the major exception, broadcasting has been dominated by powerful private interests. In Canada we have had a combination of public and private broadcasting, both strongly influenced by regulatory bodies demanding service in the public interest. Here broadcasting has always been perceived to have a cultural influence. In the United States, by contrast, it has been largely a branch of the advertising industry. Programs there have always been designed to maximize audiences for commercial messages. Since Canadians have had over-the-air access to radio and television from the United States and more recently fuller exposure still by means of cable, historically a tension has existed in Canada about the purposes of broadcasting. A strong, private broadcasting industry constantly lobbies for radio and television to be in effect a branch of the entertainment industry. Governments, however, have maintained a majority legislative position that a balance must be established between popularity and responsibility in safeguarding, enriching and strengthening the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada. The public response to the issue has been ambivalent . Enjoying the popular mass entertainment provided by the American system, it tends to forget that the Canadian system, public and private, has provided it with a unique blend of entertainment and information growing out of and concerned with the reality of Canada. Such achievement has been the result of regulatory control, based on the allocation of scarce spectrum as well as the provision of public funds in lieu of the original license fees paid by individuals. Today, improving technology provides ever increasing means of distribution by way of virtually unlimited cable channels and the promise of direct broadcast satellite delivery of signals to homes. Since satellites do not respect national boundaries, the consequence provides a dilemma for legislators anxious to bulwark broadcasting in the public interest. They can not opt for the jamming techniques of controlled societies and remain consistent with democratic ideals. The alternative is to depend on a strengtheni~g of 134 significant programming of Canadian interest by funding adequately and encouraging creative production. There is no common agreement on what has to be done. A Royal Commission, headed by musician Louis Applebaum and journalist Jacques· Hebert, favours stripping the CBC of production facilities and forcing it to buy from independent producers. A Broadcasting Strategy paper of the Minister of Communications , Francis Fox, calls for increased public funding of the CBC. The unknown factor in the future is what the Canadian public will opt for when it faces the choices as provided by new technology. The options include pay television, videotext and teletext and video recorders either for taping off air or home viewing of video cassettes, as well as direct reception by means of international satellites. The only constant in the matter is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Without it there is little doubt our broadcasting system would be but a shadow of the American system. The CBC has nurtured private interests in Canada and set the standards for information , news and entertainment programming reflecting Canadian interests. Before jeopardizing it in a panic and in the face of extreme change, consideration must be given to the oppor_tunity for the CBC to play a vital role in this new technological environment. To speculate on that role we must consider its history. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has become such an integral part of Canadian life that we tend to forget what an anomaly it is in the context of North American broadcasting. North America was and is swamped by commercial broadcasting. Sixty years ago powerful interests worked diligently to make certain that the Canadian system followed the lead of our American neighbours. The domestic lobby was powerful and it was joined by American advocates who didn't bother to conceal the feeling that Canada would be a lucrative extension to their markets. Somehow, despite such opposition, idealists like Alan Plaunt and Graham...