Canada needs national digital media policy: Dunbar/Leblanc report

While most of the initial attention given to the CRTC-commissioned Review of the Regulatory Framework for Broadcasting Services in Canada has focused on its broadcasting recommendations - particularly the suggestion to reassess the impact of simultaneous substitution - the report did cover new media policy and included four new media recommendations to the commission: Canada is in need of a national policy for electronic media, and needs to have available all of the tools of government to give effect to it. This likely includes copyright, fiscal measures, and new programs to incent Canadian participation in new media ventures. While it is beyond the jurisdiction of the CRTC to implement this national policy on its own, we urge the commission to consult with other governmental agencies and departments to begin such a process.Consideration should be given by the government of Canada to establishing restrictions on deductibility of advertising expenses on non-Canadian Internet sites in order to encourage more investment in Canadian sites in a manner similar to Bill C-58. Again, this recommendation cannot be implemented by the CRTC. It needs the involvement of other government departments.The commission should continue to apply its exemption order to new media services.We recommend that, rather than regulate Internet content, the commission should explore ways of ensuring that the Canadian broadcasting system adapts to some of the new trends that the Internet has spawned in order to remain relevant and also to respond to consumer demand. These trends include a desire on the part of many consumers for content "anywhere, anytime," the desire of younger consumers to have an interactive experience with digital media, the desire of advertisers to be able to target relevant audiences with interactive media, and the development of new "communities of interest" that are not necessarily tied to local or regional geographic areas.CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein retained Laurie Dunbar and Christian Leblanc, both lawyers with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, on April 27 to examine all of the commission's broadcasting policies and regulations. Not surprisingly, the majority of the 337-page document is devoted to traditional broadcasting services. It's also not surprising, given the desire of the CRTC under von Finckenstein to move to a more streamlined regulatory approach, that the section of the report devoted to new media espouses a market-based approach as opposed to increased regulation in the space. "In our view trying to regulate Canadian content on the Internet will simply hold Canadian companies back from exploiting the opportunities presented to them to maximize Canadian content and Canadian revenues on the Internet," reads the report. "To regulate Canadians, while the rest of the world competes in an open market, would in our view be counterproductive and would not achieve the objectives of the broadcasting policy for Canada." But regulation does not necessarily inhibit the growth of a particular market. Speaking about regulation in general, spokesman for the advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasters Ian Morrison likened it to traffic lights: "The traffic lights facilitate the flow of traffic, regulation can facilitate markets. And one should abandon, or even jiggle regulation only with great care."Rightly so, the Dunbar/Leblanc report doesn't advocate a free-for-all in the digital media space. It promotes, rather, a collective Canadian policy to guide the interaction between digital media and our broadcasting system. "In our view, this is an issue that requires a cooperative effort by all governmental agencies that have responsibility in this sector," reads the report. "Canada needs a national policy for electronic media, and needs to have available all of the tools of government to give effect to it."

Canada needs national digital media policy: Dunbar/Leblanc report

Broadcast | September 14, 2007

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