Score Media says net neutrality should be a ‘cornerstone’ national policy

OTTAWA—Net neutrality should be a “cornerstone” of Canada’s national digital strategy so that individuals and organizations can reach new audiences, John Levy, chairman and CEO of Score Media Inc., told the Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Thursday. “We believe that net neutrality must be a cornerstone of the Canadian communications and regulatory policy so that a level playing field exists with all content producers, whether they are vertically integrated with Internet service providers or not,” Levy said. He added that network neutrality in the digital age is as important as the CRTC’s access and must-carry rules, that is, the terms of licensing that ensure carriage. Without network neutrality, Internet service providers (ISPs) have the “power of life and death” over content producers, he said. Net neutrality policy stipulates that Internet service providers cannot prioritize one kind of content or platform over another. The principle is intended to ensure that all users to get the same open, access online. As a small broadcaster, The Score has had to be nimble to compete with large companies. Levy said, “We would have no opportunity to succeed if we didn’t have access .” Levy said the CRTC’s access and must-carry rules allowed The Score to compete with other broadcasters more than 10 years ago. “If our right to carriage 10 years ago had been left to the discretion of the BDUs , this independent voice would not be participating today,” Levy said. Some ISPs in Canada, such as Bell Canada and Rogers Communications Inc., use Internet traffic management technologies, such as deep-packet inspection, to throttle traffic for specific applications, like peer-to-peer file sharing programs, at peek hours. “The phenomenal growth of Internet traffic seen by all the ISPs has been causing congestion on the Internet,” Bell says in its terms of service. “Bell has chosen to reduce the impact of this congestion by using a combination of increased capacity and better Internet Traffic Management during periods of peak usage. This solution will also ensure that all our customers get fair use of the Internet during these periods.” Levy said that digital media, through The Score’s website and some mobile applications, now makes up 10 per cent of the company’s advertising revenues, but that, 18 months ago, The Score did not have any new media presence. “I am absolutely convinced that in the next two-to-four years, we’re going to be generating as much revenue off of the television network as we are from the TV network,” Levy said. In October 2009, the CRTC introduced a complaints-based regulatory approach to deal with net neutrality. But critics have said that the system is too complex, expensive and cumbersome for the average person to navigate. NDP MP Charlie Angus, the party’s digital affairs critic, introduced a private member’s Bill C-398 on the issue on May 29, 2009. The bill would amend the Telecommunications Act by restricting network management practices that “would favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership, destination or type.” The bill was carried from the last session of Parliament but is still at first reading. Bloc Québécois MP Roger Pomerleau asked Levy how copyright laws fit into Internet regulation. Levy said copyright should be considered separately issue from net neutrality. “Who the content creators are is changing overnight,” Levy said. “Now is coming from all over and it’s a different ball game. The same guy who is creating music in his basement, who has access to the world, doesn’t really care whether he’s copied or not. The notion that we have to protect him the same way we protected the major labels may not be true.” Tom Jenkins, executive chairman and chief executive director of Open Text Corp., Canada’s largest software company, also addressed the committee Thursday morning. Jenkins told the committee that only one to four per cent of cultural and archival content in Canada has been digitized. “If you’re under 25, you don’t know about most of Canada because most of Canada is still analog,” Jenkins told The Wire Report prior to the hearing. “Books are now collecting dust in our libraries because, if you’re under 25, you go on the Web, you don’t read a serial document called a book.” Jenkins said government needs strong leadership to anticipate and deal with the changes brought about by new digital technologies. He said the amount of digital content worldwide is increasing exponentially—doubling every 30 days. People’s brains are being re-wired to adapt to the new digital environment, he said. “Kids, or people under 25, do not have memory abilities the way we do,” Jenkins told the committee. “But their ability to aggregate five or six pieces of information and integrate it is better than us. Their brains are different now and it’s impacting the consumption of media.” jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Score Media says net neutrality should be a ‘cornerstone’ national policy

Broadcast | May 13, 2010

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