The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has issued a call to action to the CRTC, asking for practical changes to be made to the regulator’s internal processes to reduce red tape.

The CAB, representing the interests of private commercial broadcasters, says its proposed changes “build on the baby-steps” announced in the commission’s Radio modernization policy, released in October.

“We read with a great deal of interest the CRTC’s Red Tape Reduction Progress Report, in  which the commission stated that it was focused on ‘cutting red tape including complicated or outdated process, unnecessary, duplicative or overly burdensome rules, or inefficient or unpredictable regulatory administration or service delivery.’ We are particularly interested in the commission’s commitment to take ‘a strategic and  streamlined approach to the amount and type of information that stakeholders must  provide,’” the commission stated in an open letter to CRTC Chair Vicky Eatrides. 

“We understand that the commission believes its Radio modernization policy is an  important piece in its red tape reduction efforts. However, we believe a great deal more is  required as licence renewal proceedings were the least of our concerns. Indeed, we urge  the commission to ramp up the internal review of processes and systems alluded to in that  policy.” 

The CAB’s suggested administrative measures to set Canadian broadcasters up for success include:

• Reducing the reporting burden by removing duplication and redundancy, ensuring reports are actually necessary and actually used by the commission, rather than shelved.
• Eliminating the filing of monthly logs with unnecessary detail on every minute broadcast by television broadcasters, particularly since advertising and program genres are no longer regulated.
• Streamlining radio performance evaluations which have become increasingly granular, but serve little real purpose.
• Simplifying the process for reporting on radio spending rather than requiring a forensic level of detail.
• Updating the commission’s data collection system, which the CAB says “has been patched but not modernized for over 20 years.”
• Speeding up ownership applications subject to processes that unnecessarily add months to their consideration with direct negative financial impact on buyers and sellers.

“The measures will alleviate dated requirements that no longer meaningfully contribute to  broadcasting policy objectives and demand a disproportionate number of resources from  both regulated operators and the commission alike,” the letter stated. “The latter should be of particular interest to the commission at this stage, given broader Government of Canada efforts to streamline operations across federal government departments and agencies.”