Von Finckenstein can cover all bases, says former CNM editor

Jeff Leiper, past editor of Canadian NEW MEDIA and former director of consumer research for Canadian markets at Yankee Group Research Inc., has a wealth of experience analyzing the interplay between copyright, broadcasting, Internet consumption and regulation. Here, he offers his take on the recent appointment of Konrad von Finckenstein as CRTC chairperson. Staff at the CRTC must feel at times that they’re facing an avalanche of competing demands from stakeholders in the broadcast environment. Even as traditional players seek arbitration in their disputes over content funding and carriage, a host of challenges are emerging that threaten to disrupt the entire system. With Konrad von Finckenstein’s appointment as the new CRTC chair, the government has made a shrewd move to deal with those issues.Von Finckenstein was featured in Canadian NEW MEDIA in 2004 with his landmark decision as a Federal Court of Canada judge to deny record labels the identities of 29 individuals whom they wanted to serve with a subpoena for copyright violation. The motion brought by the labels against the largest ISPs was fraught with privacy issues, the judge ruled, and von Finckenstein’s ruling questioned whether there was any wrongdoing at all. His decision drew 0n the pro-users’ rights stance in CCH vs. Law Society of Upper Canada, and von Finckenstein was immediately hailed by the "fair use" movement that is now shaping – and delaying – the next iteration of copyright legislation.This is not an arcane discussion: the use Canadians make of content they’ve acquired lies at the heart of the short-term business strategies taking shape at the largest distributors. Quad-play companies such as Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and Vidéotron ltée face the very real threat of disintermediation in the long term, as audiences increasingly turn to Internet content. Current technology and the existing rights regime protect Canadian broadcasters and distributors for now, but new ADSL2+ and Docsis 3.0 high-speed pipes will accelerate plans by Apple Computer Inc., Google Inc. and others to become the video providers of choice for consumers. And as low-cost access technologies such as WiMESH and WiMAX proliferate, incumbents are rightfully concerned about shrinking margins in the access sphere. Even wireless voice faces challenges as 3G networks migrate eventually to technologies such as 802.16e.Telus chief Darren Entwistle pointed to copyright legislation as critical to his company’s plans to build value beyond simple access, and Rogers and Bell likely share his views. Quad-play access providers are eying content management as their chief weapon in fending off over-the-top providers. For instance, Bell’s Personal Vault service provides a glimpse of the potential for network providers to seamlessly manage content provisioning to multiple devices with context-awareness and leveraging intelligence built in. The better managed the experience, the more likely consumers will rely on traditional providers.But Entwistle rightly points out that a copyright regime that puts too onerous a burden on providers and consumers when using material across platforms will mitigate that potential, and in turn have public policy implications for Canadian content creation and the competitiveness of Canadian access providers. The interplay of copyright law and content regulation will be a critical issue for the new CRTC chair, but both service providers and users can rest assured that the commission is under the leadership of a person with real-world experience in this regard.At the same time, integrated content management is not without challenges. The kinds of difficulties faced by Apple in the European Union over its closed iTunes system will only grow as regulators worldwide create more consumer protection rules. And as the current telecommunications deregulation trend lays the groundwork for moving consumers into bundled offerings where they’re increasingly tied to one of a handful of providers, more protections will be sought.Here again, the appointment of von Finckenstein is forward-looking. In his past work with the Competition Bureau, he decided the fate of broadcast-related mergers and acquisitions, experience that will prove invaluable in months to come. The proposed Globemedia/CHUM and CanWest/Alliance Atlantis mergers are just two cases of the consolidation strategies broadcasters and distributors are employing to deal with audience fragmentation and multi-platform consumption.It remains to be seen how von Finckenstein will reshape the commission, and how he will accommodate expanding lists of stakeholders. Old broadcaster and distributor disputes will prevail in the short- and mid-terms, since the reality is that too little is known about consumer behaviour in a multi-platform environment to set too many early stakes in the ground today. But, in appointing an individual with real-world experience with the nuances of competition and copyright issues, Cabinet has at least signaled that it understands the challenges that lie ahead.

Von Finckenstein can cover all bases, says former CNM editor

Broadcast | February 7, 2007

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