Broadcasters could lose new media rights if not used within a year

Broadcasters who purchase new media rights for programming should lose those rights within a year if they are not exploited, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association told the CRTC’s new media hearing Tuesday. The idea caught the attention of chair Konrad von Finckenstein who asked the CFTPA to table terms of a “use it or lose it” agreement with the regulator by April. John Barrack, CFTPA national executive VP and counsel, told the hearing that broadcasters gobble up a huge chunk of rights—including digital rights—when they buy productions, and in the process fail to exploit them on new media platforms. “What we are saying is that currently, certain broadcasters are taking a whole range of new media rights and sitting them on the shelf,” he clarified in an interview. “And what we are saying is, this is a partnership. We want them to help promote our projects and get the word out and our content out there. But what we don’t want to do is have those rights gathered up for little or no money and then set on the shelf.” Barrack urged the CRTC to consider a fair and equitable terms of trade agreement between broadcasters and producers that would tackle the issue of new media rights. If broadcasters fail to exploit rights on new media platforms, the rights must revert to the original owner who is the producer within 12 months, he said. However, von Finckenstein expressed scepticism, saying “it’s hard to believe” that broadcasters hoard these rights so producers can’t have them. He asked what broadcasters must do more to not lose these rights and asked the CFTPA to draft a terms of trade agreement, which will provide a framework for understanding the association’s intentions by April when broadcast licence negotiations begin. After Mario Mota, CFTPA’s VP, broadcasting policy and regulatory affairs proposed that large ISPs and Wireless Service Providers (WSPs) be compelled to pay a small percentage of their gross revenues to support the creation of new media content, von Finckenstein asked how new media content is measured on online platforms. When the CFTPA replied that it could be done through the International Standard Audio Visual Number (ISAN), von Finckenstein’s interest piqued, and he mentioned that it might be worth exploring. However, he expressed disappointment that the CFTPA hadn’t prepared an expert to testify on the digital watermark. He ordered the CFTPA to file a report “soon,” in the interest of the public. Developed under guidelines approved by the International Standards Organization (ISO), ISAN uses watermarking and fingerprinting technologies for tracking and distributing video in many formats. Since it is hard to determine the amount of Canadian content on new media platforms, ISAN could prove to be vital in tracking this content. The CFTPA said only a small number of producers have so far registered to use ISAN and the watermark is relatively new, having entered the Canadian market about two years ago. The CFTPA currently administers ISAN in Canada and charges $35 for it. However, ISAN is not the only watermark used for tracking purposes. Comscore and Google both have similar tracking technologies. Tracking Canadian content online was also top on the mind of the executives from the Documentary Organisation of Canada. DOC co-chair John Christou told the hearing that the CRTC should work with software companies to develop a method for monitoring the amount of Canadian content online. “There is no reason why a “Canadian” watermark couldn’t be developed to track the usage of Canadian video on the web,” he said.

Broadcasters could lose new media rights if not used within a year

Broadcast | February 25, 2009

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