New century, new media, new policies

The CRTC's efforts to get to grips with the transformational effects of new media got a new hand last month with the announcement of a New Media Project Initiative (NMPI) led by the regulator.The NMPI was announced by CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein during a speech at the 2007 Broadcasting Invitational Summit on June 26. Von Finckenstein and nine others drawn from a variety of Crown agencies and federal departments will make up the NMPI's advisory committee (see table)."Our priority is to look at new services, and how impacting the current broadcasting and telecommunications systems," says Namir Anani, associate executive director in the CRTC's Policy Development and Research Sector and an advisory committe member. "We're looking at what would be the enabling role of the CRTC in all of that to position Canada better going forward."To come up with that bigger-picture plan, the group aims to build on the momentum created by Heritage minister Bev Oda's section 15 direction to the CRTC of June 2006, which tasked the regulator with studying the impact of new technologies on the regulated broadcasting system. Using the Section 15 report as a springboard, the NMPI team will prepare its own analysis of how new technologies are transforming media, releasing a report on the regulatory impacts of new media in March 2008.Meetings with approximately 50 media industry constituents are already underway, and Anani says the NMPI will also travel "from Vancouver to Quebec" to conduct more meetings over the months to come. Members of the NMPI will also attend and speak at various industry events, including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' annual conference in Ottawa this November and the Canadian Film and Television Production Association's Prime Time event in February next year."We're in the process of doing industry consultations, we're discussing internationally to try to find more information, we're also doing pure research...basically the cumulative result of this we're taking to another phase which we're calling a validation phase," Anani says.He points to the as-yet unmeasured potential of online video portal Joost as an over-the-top TV delivery mechanism - and rival to regulated broadcasting distribution undertakings - as an example of the issues they'll be grappling with in that report. In preparing the document, he says the NMPI will not only look at the impact on media companies' business models, but also "consumer behaviours and how related to demographics, and some of the legal aspects associated with that."In the long run, the initiative aims to ensure Canada is at the vanguard of new media development by helping craft regulations that don't hinder innovation in emerging content forms, but don't upset the proverbial apple cart in the Canadian media landscape. To that end, a second report will be crafted for publication in March 2009 that will weight the NMPI's findings and input and announce the CRTC's new policy decisions and direction.The initiative is also paying attention to lessons learned by regulators in other jurisdictions, most notably the US' Federal Communications Commission, the UK's OFCOM, and the European Commission, in their attempts to craft cohesive new media policy that's as future-proof as possible."We're closely monitoring and sharing information with them, with the aim to leverage on the best experiences that have taken place elsewhere, but with a Canadian focus obviously," Anani says. "New media requires different measures than conventional broadcasting."The initiative is the first sweeping look at new media the regulator has taken since releasing its Report on New Media in 1999. That process, which looked at new media from the perspective of both the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, of course resulted in the 1999 New Media Exemption Order.Similarly, Anani expects this process to issue recommendations pertinent to both acts. While the 1999 exemption order pertained primarily to broadcasting undertakings, he says a whole host of other issues have arisen since then that play more heavily into telecom regulation - the growing debate over network neutrality, for instance."It's part of the issues that we're examining," admits Anani. "It's a very complex issue that has a content side of it and the pipes aspect to it. We would have to reflect on what the economic balance would be and what the cultural or social balance would be in the solution, and what it means Canadian content."Of course, some aspects of the NMPI's work rely on outside developments: the group also plans to weight in on copyright issues on new media platforms in its evaluation. But with amendments to the current Copyright Act long overdue, the initiative will have to forge ahead as best it can and put forward a number of recommendations to suit a variety of possible future scenarios. "It's a large issue, clearly, the rights management and the copyright issue," says Anani.That begs the question: can the regulator, with its desire to solicit input and seek consensus to the greatest extent possible, craft a policy document that will withstand the torrid pace of change in digital media? "I think it's too early at this stage to say," replies Anani, saying that the team will instead concentrate on ensuring it gathers as much data as possible from as many stakeholders as possible, and then validate that information before drafting its final report.LEADING MEMBERS OF THE NEW MEDIA PROJECT INITIATIVEKonrad von Finckenstein, chair, CRTCRita Cugini, commissioner, CRTCNamir Anani, associate executive director, Policy Development and Research Sector, CRTCMichael Binder, assistant deputy minister, Industry CanadaRon Parker, visiting senior assistant deputy minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Industry CanadaJean-Pierre Blais, assistant deputy minister, Department of Canadian HeritageWayne Clarkson, executive director, Telefilm CanadaTom Perlmutter, government film commissioner and head, National Film BoardVeena Rawat, president, Communications Research Centre CanadaSheridan Scott, commissioner of competition, Competition Bureau of Canada

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