Yesterday, the DGC filed a submission with the CRTC in response to the Commission’s Notice of Consultation 2016-255 and 2016-255-1 relating to the Renewal of television licences held by large English and French language ownership groups. 

The License Renewals are an important process that will, among other things, determine the minimum contributions required for Canadian content programming (CPE), and in particular, the minimum requirements to support Programs of National Interest (PNI) – which includes dramatic series, feature films and feature length documentaries.   In short, they will determine whether the largest English-language vertically integrated station groups will be permitted by the Commission to reduce their support for Canadian programming by approximately $400 to $450 million over the course of the next license term.  Moreover, as this is the first license renewal hearing for large broadcaster groups subsequent to the Let’s Talk TV process, it is essential that the voice of content creators be heard.   

The DGC has requested to appear before the Commission at the hearings beginning November 28^th in Gatineau to elaborate on the subjects raised in our submission.

The full submission (as are all of our regulatory submissions) is available on the DGC web site.  

For your convenience an executive summary can be found HERE.