CanCon review’s helpfulness to new media sector debated; industry to be at table

Industry advocates are divided but the head of a newly announced initiative to review Canadian content rules says it’s unlikely the subject can be broached for TV and film without taking into consideration new media. François Macerola tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that he’s limited by mandate to reporting on how CanCon rules for TV and film might be improved, but that won’t stop him from hearing interventions by new media players – something he’s actually looking forward to. On April 4, Canadian Heritage published a discussion paper, Canadian Content in the 21st Century, as a first step toward a broader dialogue on Canadian content. Macerola has been charged by the department with collecting Canadians’ views on the subject for a report that likely won’t be published for another year. Following a comments and reply period scheduled to end in July, Macerola hopes to begin a long cross-country roadshow to solicit public input into if and how Canadian content should be re-defined from a regulatory standpoint. The discussion paper states that it "…has been developed as a first step to initiate a public dialogue on Canadian content (and) focuses specifically on film and tele-vision production and seeks to generate a contemporary discussion on ‘What is a Canadian film or television production?’" While the issue has been extensively studied – some say to death – new media advocates and Macerola himself believe the discussion could be broadened to include digital products such as broadcast web properties and others. There is currently no single definition for Canadian content for Internet products. The two largest funding mechanisms for new media initiatives take divergent paths on the issue. The Telefilm Canada Canada New Media Fund mandates a certain level of CanCon to qualify, assigning about 20 per cent of its criteria points to the production team and creative talent, subjects, themes and concerns, and the cultural diversity of the subject matter and content. The Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, however, makes no demands of Canadian content for eligible web products. Instead, it puts the focus on the broadcast property, which must meet "eight out of 10 points for Canadian content certification as defined by CAVCO, or be an official Canadian majority co-production as certified by the Co-production office of Telefilm Canada." The lack of hard-and-fast, generally accepted rules about what constitutes CanCon on the Internet has some perturbed, concerned that it may prevent broadcasters from being able to put more money into new media productions. For example, the cable industry has been calling for the money broadcasters spend on new media properties to be considered as part of satisfying their CanCon requirements. "We should consider expenditures on programs related to Internet content and portals as legitimate investments in supporting Canadian content requirements and in producing our online cultural content," Janet Yale, president/CEO of the Canadian Cable Television Association, said in a November 2000 speech. That may not be possible, however, without a de facto standard for Canadian digital content. Steven Comeau, president of Halifax-based Collideascope Digital Production Inc., says it’s only a matter of time before some definitions are hammered out. "Once Heritage gets into the reality of Canadian cultural content in Canadian film and television, it will only become naturally apparent that new media needs to be dealt with in the same endeavour…As things move forward, the issues of Canadian cultural content will become more and more important as competition for very limited funding becomes more and more tight," he tells CNM. "Although it is an issue in television today that’s quite heated, as convergence evolves – as new media becomes a more and more prevalent media, these same issues will have to be dealt with. I fully expect the same policies and thought processes in film and television to trickle down into new media. It’d be nice to know what the rules are so that the community can plan accordingly." Luda Tovey, head of Oberon Interactive in Toronto, doesn’t agree. She believes nailing down requirements for CanCon could prove a precursor to greater regulation of the industry – a move few in the sector would welcome. "The thing about the web that’s different from broadcast television is that it’s not segmented into geographic territories. It is ubiquitous," she says. "We would rely on getting a global audience for our consumer-based web sites, much more so than you would have to for television, in part because the funding infrastructure isn’t there and, secondly, because the revenue models are much softer on the web side. "I would be reluctant to step into that whole regulatory thing around Canadian content with the web. I think the whole new media industry, generally – we have consensus that we don’t want to be regulated. And Canadian content might fall into that category. I can understand why a lot of people in the new media industry might want to be on the agenda when Heritage is talking about anything but I think this one is a trap." She says that even though nailing down hard and fast rules about what is and isn’t CanCon on the web might help broadcasters fund Internet properties, the reality doesn’t support the theory. "…he reality is that broadcasters are not putting money into web sites. That’s the reality. So, that’s the framework in which we’re budgeting and operating. We’re going out to third-party sponsors. Broadcasters don’t have a lot of money and they don’t actually see the benefits at this stage for investing into web sites, so it’s really putting the cart before the horse to some extent. When the whole economic climate changes around the web – and I believe that it will change, we all know that it will – it’s an issue that should be tabled. But at this stage I think it’s pretty dangerous. It might actually have the reverse effect." Either way, new media will likely be on the table when Macerola considers the issue over the next year-and-a-half. "I think that at a certain point I’ll have to listen to the new media people who would like, eventually, to intervene," he says. "For the time being, I know that some organizations are using the traditional definition of Canadian content for new media, some others would like to be more imaginative and try to find a new definition. Even if my mandate is limited to film and television, at a certain point, there will be some synergy, I hope, between these approaches. "I guess it would be very difficult for me to prepare a report without mentioning new media," he adds.

CanCon review’s helpfulness to new media sector debated; industry to be at table

Broadcast | April 8, 2002

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