Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC-TV, can continue to show popular...

non-Canadian films was “not inconsistent with the CBC’s mandate” under the Bcstg. Act, even though the govt.-owned broadcaster was required to focus on Canadian content and programming. Private broadcasters opposed CBC’s application and are upset with the ruling, contending that public money is being used to compete with private broadcasters and is driving up fees for programs in demand. The decision “doesn’t have any rationale or justification,” Canadian Assn. of Bcstrs. (CAB) Pres. Glenn O'Farrell said: “It raises questions once again as to the commission’s ability to render decisions that will be seen by the Canadian public as being reasonable and fair.” He said the decision “takes [CBC] further down the road to being more of a U.S. superstation than a publicly funded public service.” A CBC spokesman said the decision shouldn’t result in any major changes because the broadcaster was guided by a public service mandate that required programming to be predominantly Canadian: “That’s why our schedule is [almost] 90% Canadian. The priority for us has and will be Canadian programs and films.” The CRTC had explained in its decision that the Bcstg. Act took into account “that a certain amount of such non-Canadian programming could be included in the CBC’s schedules… The commission would be concerned if, in the future, the number of non-Canadian blockbuster films were permitted to erode the high levels of Canadian content that viewers have traditionally expected of their national public broadcaster.” The commission said CBC’s past record and continuing commitments suggested that CBC would remain mainly Canadian, but the commission would annually review the network’s broadcast of non-Canadian feature films in prime time. The decision amended the network’s 7-year license, granted in 2000, which had prevented CBC from broadcasting in prime time any movie that had been released commercially within 2 years of its planned TV air date and was listed by Variety magazine as having been one of the top 100 highest grossing films in N. America in the last 10 years. The regulator had previously waived that condition until Sept. 1, 2003, when the broadcaster accused the regulator of “micromanaging” and “making unacceptable intrusions into CBC’s managerial and programming independence” and said it already had bought the rights to many such films. In March, CBC asked for an extension of the waiver for the last 4 years of its license, which the CRTC now has granted.