TV Guidance

Jaime Weinman writes about all kinds of television and other kinds of popular culture. He does not write Gossip Girl episode reviews. Follow Jaime on Twitter: @weinmanj

Categories: TV Guidance

The CRTC Punts Again

by Jaime Weinman on Thursday, June 4, 2009 6:15pm - 5 Comments

Update: Given the time stamp, nobody’s going to believe that I didn’t read this post first before coming up with the above subject heading. But I didn’t. Anyway, it’s the only subject heading that fits.

Every few years, the CRTC discusses what to do about “New Media,” and decides to do nothing for a few more years. (Also, at one point does it stop being referred to as “new” media?) Emphasis mine:

Canada’s broadcast regulator has decided to continue its hands-off approach to broadcasting content on the Internet and mobile devices such as iPhones and BlackBerries.

Rather than require that broadcasters adhere to similar rules online as they do on television and radio (such as producing and airing a certain amount of Canadian content) the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said it will leave the Internet and mobile platforms unregulated…

The CRTC said it will monitor evolving trends and will review the decision in five years.

The Writers’ Guild of Canada, which is the fastest press-releaser in the West when it comes to CRTC decisions, argued in response that “traditional Canadian broadcasting content is very difficult to find online” and that there needs to be regulation to make sure that Canadian content is accessible everywhere:

“New media content has become an integral part of the Canadian broadcasting system,” says Maureen Parker, Executive Director, Writers Guild of Canada, “and we looked to the CRTC to ensure that Canadians have the ability to choose Canadian content online. The CRTC doesn’t believe regulation is necessary to ensure that choice – the CRTC is wrong. In our long experience working with Canadian broadcasters, we know that without regulation Canadian content falls by the wayside.”

Without opining too much (one way or the other) on something I haven’t really thought through, I will say only that we really are, in Canada, in the worst of all possible worlds when it comes to online content: we can’t get much of the great U.S. content online, even as Hulu and other sites become more and more important (eventually Hulu is going to have huge TV libraries, and we might still not be able to get it), and most Canadian broadcasters can’t or won’t catch up with their U.S. counterparts in terms of online content. (The most famous and obvious comparison is Comedy Central’s online library of every Daily Show and Colbert Report clip, vs. The Comedy Network’s confusing and all-but-un-embeddable system of Daily Show clips.)

Tags: CRTC, New Media, regulation

More by Jaime Weinman

http://intensedebate.com/people/MaggiesFarmboy MaggiesFarmboy

My pet peeve? One of the results of the policy, or lack thereof, is that clips that are embedded in U.S. and U.K. opinion blogs, opinion pieces, critical reviews, and news aggregators are blocked because of Canadian licensing restrictions. As a result it is nearly impossible to understand and relate the written comment to the video clip it references, unless you are a shut-in and have nothing better to do than to track down the Canadian version, assuming it exists.

There ought to be a mandatory exception for embedded clips from non-Canadian sources that are less than five or ten minutes long.
Jamz

The blocking of clips embedded in U.S. and U.K. blogs and so forth have absolutely nothing to do with the policy. So there's no exception to create. Right now the rightsholders don't want those clips shown in Canada, and they enforce their copyright through technology that blocks the clips from Canada. Not a thing the CRTC can do about it.

http://www2.macleans.ca Jaime Weinman

Right. I didn't mean to imply that that was the CRTC's business, just to observe that online video content really stinks for Canadians.

http://intensedebate.com/people/MaggiesFarmboy MaggiesFarmboy

You are correct, of course, but in theory the CRTC could recommend it, the government could mandate it and the CRTC could then the new rule.
Ed R

Has the Writer's Guild of Canada never heard of Google? Of course, this isn't about ensuring that Canadians have the "ability to choose Canadian content online", it's about rent seeking. They want revenue from every Canadian internet user, regardless of whether any particular user accesses their content.

You can access Hulu, etc. using a US proxy. It's a little beyond the abilities of the average internet user, but it's an option for those who are determined enough.