Government doesn’t “get” copyright, charges the head of the cable association

The acting head of the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) took several pot shots at Ottawa this week, stating that the federal government "doesn’t get" copyright, and that he is "pissed off" more steps aren’t being taken to combat the theft of TV signals. During a copyright symposium on June 3 in Ottawa, Michael Hennessy noted that Internet distribution is threatening the current geographically-based television rights model. At the symposium, Hennessy stated he was particularly unhappy with the reaction of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology examining Bill C-2, legislation aimed at tightening penalties for dealing in the black and grey satellite TV markets. In the face of pressure from ethnic groups fearing they will lose some ethnic channels if the grey and black markets are shut down, the committee recently recommended that a panel be established to suggest ways of ensuring more third-language channels win distribution in Canada (CCR, May 21/04). "Broadcast distribution is on a market by market basis. And some of these MPs (on the committee examining Bill C-2) said, ‘How can you broadcasters and distributors dare appear before us and suggest that we can somehow protect you in a policy with onerous Canadian content obligations we put on all of you?’ But obviously all the people that are going to vote in the next election, particularly the ethnic community, want to steal signals and why shouldn’t they as long as they are paying some rightsholder somewhere, even though those people don’t have the rights for Canada," he said. "I’m pissed off because this is a $6 billion investment. The Internet is fundamental to economic growth. It’s fundamental to global development. And not all these people in government get it." Hennessy noted that cablecos have been upgrading their Internet infrastructure so that connections were fast enough to deliver streamed movies as well as music. He noted that program delivery will eventually be over integrated platforms, and that technological developments would put more control in the hands of consumers. The businesses of the future, he noted, will be built around control of rights. A recently released Hollywood movie played on the screen as Richard Camilleri, COO for CanWest Global Communications Corp., noted that broadcasters understand that it is necessary to find new distribution outlets for their programming, such as streaming over the Internet. The night before, he had spent four hours downloading a recent Hollywood blockbuster and some not-yet-released content as well as the software to view it on his computer, and noted that broadcasters must begin using Internet distribution to capture younger audiences. But, he added that unlike many non-institutional players putting things up on the Internet without concern about ownership, it was virtually impossible for broadcasters to clear all the copyright hurdles to do the same. "Global tried to do this kind of distribution, but the number of rightsholders that we had to deal with and the number of rights that had to be cleared - it got so bogged down that we couldn’t get everything cleared," he said. Hennessy noted that three principles must prevail in any future copyright-related policies: first, consumer fair use must be recognized, there must be an efficient and rationale rights clearance, and new regulation must not hinder technical innovation. But producer Stephen Ellis, president of Ellis Entertainment Corp., warned that copyright clearance was only going to get more complicated. "We’re headed in the opposite direction from a ‘streamlined clearance’ situation," he said. If licensed Canadian broadcasters are unable to clear rights, then people are going to abandon legitimate retail models and get into illegal downloading, Hennessy warned. But Peter Miller, VP of planning and regulatory affairs for CHUM Ltd., said the Canadian broadcasting system could "remain strong and viable" even if there are ways to technologically bypass it. "You only bypass the system if you have four hours to spend (as Camilleri did). People won’t bypass it if they see it as illegal," he said. He pointed out that young people currently don’t see Internet content as property, but rather as something to be traded, shared or taken. The challenge as a society is to eventually make a cultural shift to make people realize that IP has value, just like physical property, he added.

Government doesn’t “get” copyright, charges the head of the cable association

News | 06/04/2004 4:00 am EDT

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