New media regulations rouse concerns at CRTC town hall meeting

Online advertising revenues are now exceeding $1 billion annually but it isn't translating into more made-in-Canada new media content, said panellists at the CRTC town hall meeting at last week's nextMEDIA conference in Toronto. The blame, they contend, lies with an ineffective regulatory environment."Although ad dollars are moving online and traditional revenue models are under assault, the incentives haven't produced much Canadian presence," said Claude Gallipeau, principal at the Galipeau Group. "Canada is being colonized by US services." Michael Kasprow, VP of Trapeze Media and member of the Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada's board of directors, even questioned the significance of online ad figures that have been cited for 2006. "Display ads are the slowest growing area, and a significant chunk of Canadian eyeballs are being bought for US sites."The town hall contributed to Phase Two of the CRTC's New Media Project Initiative, a study that will help the CRTC determine what actions, if any, it should take to ensure that all media platforms contribute to the objectives of the Canadian Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts. The third and final phase will include the release of a report on the regulatory impacts of new media in March 2008, followed by public proceedings."New media services both complement and compete with the traditional broadcasting systems. It's important that they reflect and serve the needs and interests of Canadians, and are therefore an area of interest for the CRTC," said Namir Anani, Associate executive director, Policy Development and Research, CRTC.Many of the assumptions made in 1999, when the CRTC chose not to regulate new media, have changed, she said. New media had little competition from traditional media then, and the prevailing view was that Canadian content would grow organically online over time. That hasn't happened and now some groups say it may be time for the regulator to step in. The panellists all suggested the definition of new media is unclear. Typically, it's defined by technology and presence online, but this is ambiguous: running the Dove television ad on YouTube shouldn't be considered new media. In the UK, the area is referred to as ‘new innovative services' instead of new media to avoid issues. A clear definition is important, as federal tax credits are only available for traditional programming and the new media regulatory regime is not similarly incentive-based. Another major issue is the battle with US sites for Canadian eyeballs. The system in place now provides incentives for only one screen, creating structural disadvantages relative to the US. "There are 7.2 million active Canadian Facebook profiles," said McLean Mashingaize-Greaves, CEO of The Nimble Company. "If a foreign cellular phone company had tried to set up something like this, there would have been major objections."He suggested treating Internet Services Providers (ISPs) as Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings (BDUs), with the same regulatory contributions and calculations, since most of the content traffic could be traced. But the two models are not at all analogous, interjected Maria Hale, VP at Telus Corp. "ISPs just provide infrastructure, and many providers such as Telus have TV assets too," she said.The prevailing mood of the audience during the subsequent question period focused on the heavy hand of regulation and the deep changes needed to support new media. "Stop forcing new media into marriages with television companies," said one audience member. Another commentator drew resounding applause when he pointed out the entire panel discussion was based on fear. "It's a global economy," he said. "If you don't export your culture, it will die. Canadian content is too narrowly defined, and we need to compete in global markets. And now you're thinking of regulating the Web to force-feed Canadian content." Yet more applause followed when Dominique-Sébastien Forest, director at Quebecor, took the mic. "We need to get over ACTRA," he said. "We can get UK and Australian content easily, but not Canadian. ACTRA pricing has to be brought into line with the realities of the marketplace, as we can't pay 15% more for Canadian content that only results in a .5% increase in migration."

New media regulations rouse concerns at CRTC town hall meeting

News | 12/03/2007 4:41 pm EST

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