Cabinet Appeal – CBC Licence Renewal

August 10, 2022

FilmOntario has provided a letter of support to the CMPA’s Cabinet appeal regarding the CBC’s licence renewal by the CRTC. The CMPA has asked that the decision be set aside and returned to the Commission for reconsideration.

Our concerns with this decision centre around the replacement of exhibition requirements with expenditure requirements that are spread across both licensed and unlicensed services, and that it removes the requirements around independent production. The decision also removes the requirement for the CBC to air Canadian feature films, and does not address any of the issues related to a lack of programming in the children’s and youth categories.

Ontario is home to most of the country’s English-language independent producers, and the CBC, as the public broadcaster, plays a crucial role in licensing original Canadian content. We are concerned that if the CBC moves from working with independent producers to in-house production, this will have a ripple effect throughout the industry and lead to less work for all of those who are employed by independent producers.

You can read FilmOntario’s letter of support here.