TELUS has endorsed a new and pragmatic plan to enable the sale of advertising spots on US cable channels that are embedded in the broadcast feed and currently not for sale in Canada. The long-term plan would allow hundreds of millions of dollars in untapped potential revenues to flow back into the Canadian broadcasting system in support of Canadian programming.
Under the proposal, developed by Canadian venture company MédiadeNovo Inc., advertising spots known as “local avails” would be converted into funding to support Canadian programming without causing market or regulatory distortions injurious to the broadcasting system.
The proposed solution would help local TV without increasing Canadian consumers’ cable bills, and would result in more and better Canadian programming becoming available.
“TELUS’ support for MédiadeNovo ‘s proposal is a clear demonstration of thought-leadership from a major industry player,” MédiadeNovo CEO Glenn O’Farrell said. “TELUS has identified MédiadeNovo’s proposal as one of the sensible measures required to move the industry forward by finding the middle-ground.”
Under current regulations, Canadian viewers watching US cable channels such as A&E, CNN and TLC, see US ads targeting US audiences, plus two minutes per hour of product and service promotions from Canadian broadcast distributors.
MédiadeNovo proposes to replace the two minutes of product and service promotions with advertising to be sold to Canadian advertisers and distribute 70% of the revenues to support Canadian programming. This will provide clear net benefits to Canadians in the form of increased investment in Canadian programming, without cost to consumers, without inconvenience to viewers, and without causing marketplace or regulatory disruptions.
“We fully appreciate there is no single answer to ensuring a strong and viable future for Canadian broadcasting.” Mr. O’Farrell said. “To be successful the system will require a combination of sensible new approaches, such as this one,” he added.
“We look forward to having our proposal heard by the CRTC in coming months, and to conform with protocol will release full details of the application as soon as it is scheduled for Public Hearing. But let there be no doubt. While previous local avail proposals were duly considered, the MédiadeNovo application is fundamentally different and was designed to offer the highest levels of funding solutions for Canadian programming,” Mr. O’Farrell said.