Changes to Canadian Television

The CRTC announced today that changes to the broadcasting regulatory landscape are on the horizon. So what's in store?

1. More advertising: 3 minutes more per hour (for a total of 15) by September 2008. As Dana Carvey's church lady used to say, "Well now, isn't that special"?

2. A set deadline for a transition from analog to digital and HD signals for all broadcasters by 2011. The rationale? "A deadline is necessary to avoid a situation where viewers turn to foreign programming to take advantage of this new technology because there is not enough Canadian digital programming available." Ah, cultural nationalism, always there just when you need it.

3. What appears to be a rather aggressive direction to Canada's broadcasters to invest in more Canadian programming and to provide producers with terms of trade to provide "more stability and clarity". The CRTC information backgrounder indicates that broadcasters will have to show drafts of agreements as part of their license renewal. I don't know if they've ever had to do this before (I'll look into this), but it seems like with this effort, the CRTC is now in the business of monitoring deals between broadcasters and producers. Or is this a matter of intellectual property? If that's the case, then this is new ground for the CRTC too.

Consider this one of many changes coming to Canada's media landscape. Hold onto your toques!