New unregulated technologies could undermine broadcasters: CAB

Canadian Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell says that there are many challengesfacing broadcasters in the on-demand world. In a speech before the Canadian Club of Winnipeg on November 2, he said there is no turning back from the new developments – Internet, cell phones, digital music files, and a multi-channel universe. An excerpt from his speech appears below. My point here is this: new technology over the past few years has vastly expanded what we consider possible. All these changes can be linked back to the access we have as consumers to broadband technology – through wires and by wireless. And new data continue to reinforce the changing realities. A very recent survey conducted for Motorola Canada was conducted in order to better understand the attitudes of the youth market. Referring to young Canadians as Third Screen Trailblazers, the survey found that the mobile phone screen may be on its way to becoming more popular than the TV or computer screen – 56% of youth said they want to access news, entertainment and socializing content on their mobile handsets. Ninety-two percent claim to carry it most of the time. In addition to their increasing ubiquity, these new platforms are seeing vast improvements in audio and video quality. The first video and audio streams available over broadband were of very poor quality. Today, video and audio streams more closely resemble the standard television and radio experience. There are all exciting advances, and broadcasters have always embraced and led technological change. However, the line between broadcasting and broadband is becoming increasingly blurred. The broadband world knows no borders, and does not respect national boundaries or cultural policies. Now consider the opposite of that scenario: if the borders are becoming increasingly porous, what will it mean for Canada’s broadcasting system? And perhaps more importantly, what does it mean for the Broadcasting Act, upon which the Canadian broadcasting system has been built? Given the Canadian broadcasting system’s important role, it is essential that we give consideration to the impact new broadband technologies have on our system and its members. The changes I was mentioning earlier are not simply incremental – they are fundamental. Broadband technology is creating a new unregulated system for delivering audio and video content that runs parallel to the existing regulated broadcasting system. So the fundamental question raised by these fundamental changes is relatively simple: Can the radio and TV services in a regulated broadcasting system survive when an unregulated broadband system of similar and competing content is seducing consumers? Essentially the regulated system can be likened to a contract between two parties. Licences to operate radio or TV services have been granted by government on specific terms and conditions prescribed by the Broadcasting Act – the likes of developing and supporting Canadian talent, Canadian productions, adhering to Canadian broadcasting standards and not the least, serving communities across the country...If we allow broadband technology to irreversibly undermine broadcasters’ ability to continue in that tradition, we risk losing, little by little and bit by bit, the most powerful vehicles of cultural expression in Canada. That is what’s at stake.

New unregulated technologies could undermine broadcasters: CAB

News | 11/07/2005 5:00 am EST

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