Digital player calls for CanCon thresholds

While the cable industry and others are urging a wait-and-see approach by the CRTC on ITV regulation, at least one digital content production player is arguing the commission has a role to play in encouraging new players to enter the fray. In its submission, written by director of interactive entertainment Dan Fill, Decode Entertainment Inc. lists a seven-point plan for ensuring new media companies are given a voice on the digital dial. It argues in favour of a point system such as that used in television and film to rate whether interactive content qualifies as Canadian, that the CRTC needs to react in a "timely manner to this issue and ensure the growth and security of the Canadian new media community", and that the CRTC be steadfast in its decision not to regulate the Internet at the same time as it regulates ITV "in a manner that ensures Canadians receive the same level of protection and confidence in interactive programming as they receive in traditional broadcast mediums." Asked by CNM why Decode believes a dual-framework approach is justified for the Internet and television, Fill says the two types of distribution are very different. "The main perspective we take here is the notion that anything that’s broadcast over television should fall under the same regulations as any other kind of broadcast that takes place over that medium," he says. "The Canadian public really comes to expect that. I think that the cable providers as well as any sort of satellite providers have a responsibility to be careful what they are sending out to sort of a mass market. "I guess we look at the Internet as being a kind of general society. It’s a free-for-all to a large extent. It’s kind of like the tele-phone lines themselves. I think that it would be disadvantageous if the government were to try to limit what kind of development took place in that kind of medium. It’s a different space, to my mind." Fill also strongly urges the commission to take a hard line on offensive content, regulating it as strictly as it does traditional TV broadcasts. A full list of submissions to the fact-finding inquiry can be found here.

Digital player calls for CanCon thresholds

Broadcast | March 7, 2002

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Digital player calls for CanCon thresholds

Broadcast | March 7, 2002

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Trump’s trade rep targets Online Streaming Act, Online News Act, raising questions about future of Canada’s cultural exemption

Producers challenge 20 per cent copyright threshold in new CanCon policy

Streamers challenge CRTC decision to publicly disclose financial information

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us