In a submission for Industry Canada’s digital economy consultation, the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has said that the CRTC could be reduced from 12 commissioners to 5, and that Canada’s four biggest cable companies should contribute 10% of their revenues to cultural funds such as the Canada Media Fund (CMF).

“The Canada Media Fund, and other federally-sponsored funds can be augmented substantially by tapping into the huge profits of the four big cable monopolies, whose profit before interest and taxes in 2009 exceeded 25%,” the Friends wrote in its submission, adding that there should be a 10% levy on all revenues.

Friends is a non-profit that relies upon individuals for donations to finance its watchdog role and public policy initiatives. The organization does not accept contributions from organizations which hold a licence from the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Ottawa's broadcast regulatory agency, or from organizations affiliated with licensees.

With regard to the CBC, Friends has offered four recommendations to improve CBC/SRC’s capacity to serve Canadians in the 21st century:

1. Reform the appointment process for the CEO and Board of Directors to end Prime Ministerial patronage appointments so that the best qualified Canadians are appointed to govern CBC through an arms length selection process sanctioned by Order in Council appointments.
2. Delegate to the Corporation’s Board of Directors the power to select and dismiss the CEO.
3. Raise the Corporation’s Parliamentary allocation to at least $40 per capita over a multiyear period.
4. Direct the Corporation to reduce is dependence on advertising revenues in non-sports programming.

And with regard to the CRTC Friends has recommended that the federal government display care and caution in exercising its statutory powers to challenge or overturn the Commission’s expert recommendations, in order to preserve the Commission’s independence as an agent to protect Canadian listeners’ and viewers’ interests.

Friends further noted that the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) manages to operate effectively with only five Commissioners, whereas the CRTC has twelve.

As a result, Friends has recommended that the government consider reducing the number of CRTC Commissioners to five from the current 12 and also increase substantially their compensation to attract persons with the necessary qualifications.