Blais calls out demands for ‘political interference’ with CRTC

OTTAWA — CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais used his opening remarks at a panel discussion Thursday to criticize individuals who are calling for “political interference” in the commission’s decisions. Referring to a speech made earlier in the morning by Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) president Reynolds Mastin at the opening of the Prime Time in Ottawa conference, Blais said that he is “very heartened that you applauded the independence of a very important institution for you, for Canadians. Please remember that calls for political interference ongoing and you cannot choose to defend that independence only when it suits your side of the issue.” In his speech, Mastin had spoken about a face-off between representatives from Netflix Inc. and Blais in 2014, when Blais had requested Netflix provide it with data and the streaming service refused. “The government of the time issued an entirely inappropriate press release siding with Netflix. And that, it seemed, was that,” Maston said, according to a copy of his remarks. That was a mistake, he said. “This wasn’t some jurisdictional dispute, it was a chipping away at our national sovereignty. And with few exceptions, the industry was silent in the face of a direct challenge to the authority of our federal broadcasting regulator from an entity that virtually everyone in this room has an interest in bringing squarely under the CRTC’s umbrella.” Instead, the industry should have publicly backed the CRTC, but didn’t do so “out of fear, rationalized away as political pragmatism,” Reynolds added. Blais said in his remarks before moderating a panel discussion at the conference that after that incident, “my colleagues were the ones left swinging in the wind … and the object of a lot of personal ridicule, online and elsewhere.” He noted that there were two ministerial declarations issued at the time, “in the middle of an oral hearing, the second one after I had sent a protest note to the deputy minister of Canadian heritage about the interference in a commission hearing.” Blais thanked the audience for defending the independence of the CRTC. “But the fact is as we speak, there are calls by people, including by some of you, for political interference of the commission’s independence,” he added. Blais’ comments came just days ahead of the National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl, which will broadcast on Feb. 5. Sunday’s game will be the first in which simultaneous substitution can’t be used to replace American commercials with Canadian ones, due to a CRTC decision issued in 2015. While a court appeal by BCE Inc., which has the Canadian broadcast rights to the game, is ongoing, the court won’t decide on the case in enough time to affect this year’s game, after it declined to implement a stay. There have been calls by a number of parties, including U.S. and Canadian politicians, the NFL, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and Unifor asking the government to reverse the ban. Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly was asked by reporters about whether she would intervene on the issue on Wednesday. In response, Joly said “the CRTC made a decision. The CRTC is an organization that is independent from government” and that the government is obligated to respect that independence. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca

Blais calls out demands for ‘political interference’ with CRTC

Broadcast | February 2, 2017

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Blais calls out demands for ‘political interference’ with CRTC

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