Summary: Many Canadian broadcasters were scrambling to meet CRTC regulatory changes. Anticipating how critical these changes were to our client base, our product development team worked with our clients to identify key reporting modifications, then provided a seamless transition to the latest CRTC module in version 8 of BroadView’s programming and traffic software.
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“Hi all, Wanted to let you know I was able to get an ‘accepted’ September log for BBC Kids! Thank you all for creating such a good new export for us. I can’t imagine how much work it must have been.”
Debra Dahlgren, Coordinator, Traffic and Broadcast, Knowledge Network
At BroadView Software we’re always proud of how our individual departments rise to the occasion of developing timely solutions for clients when they need them. The recent revisions to the CRTC logging process is no exception and the many kind notes we received, like the one from Debra (above), reconfirm the importance of our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional, responsive, service to our clients.
Many Canadian broadcasters were scrambling to meet CRTC regulatory changes proposed this year. Recognizing how critical these changes are to our client base, our product development team worked with our clients to identify key reporting modifications, then provided aseamless transition to the latest CRTC module in version 8 of BroadView’s programming and traffic software.
Our overarching mission is to deliver responsive broadcast management solutions that are easy-to-use and support Canadian broadcasters’ regulatory reporting needs. Having great relationships with our clients is an important element in achieving this goal: “Client Services worked closely with our Canadian clients to ensure the timely roll out of the new version of BroadView with the needed CRTC changes so that they could hit their submission deadlines.” says Michael Atkin, CEO. “The strong relationship between Client Service and our customer base made this seamless.”
After alerting us to CRTC changes (in some cases we were the ones to alert them), our clients entrusted us to manage and implement the update in a timely manner. The result was a solution that broadcasters can use to easily manage logs that follow previous regulations while providing accurate reporting for the 2018/2019 broadcast year.
“We always want to be proactive and responsive when updates need to be made to our software to accommodate changes in reporting or accountability. We don’t wait for these types of changes to become an operational challenge for our clients.” concurs Sylvia Schroer, BroadView’sCore Product Manager, “The relationships we have built with our Canadian clients were critical in allowing us to be aware of the changes being proposed by the CRTC. Clients often consult with us first, treating us as a partner, rather than just a vendor. This allowed us to be advised early in the process so that our product management team could allocate the appropriate time and resources to get these changes completed on time.”
Interestingly, it’s our Canadian clients who have the direct relationship with the CRTC, not us. Yet when changes happen, our clients turn to us, sharing the new regulatory guidelines and working closely with us to correctly interpret CRTC changes as they affect their operations.
Luckily, the heavy lift of CRTC reporting is automated within BroadView. There is no requirement for clients to make manual changes to their reporting, rather BroadView calculates the varying credits and qualifications to meet their conditions of license. This time around, broadcasters needed a dual functionality to be able to run exports using the previous key figure guidelines for their historical logs.
Straddling both sets of regulations was not an easy task but our crack team of developers was not worried. Their role was not only to create a solution but to thoroughly understand the ‘problem’ and properly interpret how the CRTC changes would affect their reporting and operations.
“Clients rely on us to ‘do it right’ in the first place and we commit to that as part of our goal as developers.”, Kostya Oleynikov, Senior Software Engineer explained “Along with getting these updates out in a timely fashion, it gives us great satisfaction to get feedback from our clients that we are helping to make their work easier”.
It’s that client confidence and collaboration that helped us succeed in completing the update in time for their September log submissions and afforded us time to manage any hiccups.
Three of the major changes we updated as part of the new regulatory procedures were:
- Logging process for former conventional and specialty services changed to combine key figure values and changes to the values
- A new export format that affected Canadian broadcasters
- Changes for Pay TV broadcasters are now considered Discretionary Services under the new logging guidelines and required not only changes to their logging processes but also the need to support their former/previous regulatory guidelines which still are still required.
We are grateful to our Product Development team for solidifying our reputation and award-winning legacy of customer support. Our company was founded on the principal that client relationships are crucial. Every accolade and renewal speaks to the close relationships BroadView has fostered over the years, each one built on regular communications and responsive customer care, 24/7 service, and the investment in, and prioritizing of, the Canadian Broadcast marketplace.
