BANFF – In her speech launching the 2006 Banff International Television Conference on Sunday, Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, announced the government will ask the CRTC to study the technological changes facing the broadcast industry and throws her support behind sustaining our public broadcaster.
“Other nations began to build the policy framework for the new digital world decades ago,” says the Minister. “Unfortunately, Canada did not.”
“Without a doubt,” she adds, “there are challenges.”
“With the arrival of new technologies, the growth of the private sector and the virtual explosion of choice on our airways, much has changed in broadcasting,” says Oda.
According to Canadian Heritage, the CRTC will undertake a factual examination of the evolution of audio-video technologies (including television and radio), how current and future generations will use those technologies and their impact on the system as a while.
The commission will be asked to present findings to the government on December 14, 2006.
“The priority of this government is to take action, look to the future and to move in sequence,” says Oda on the future of the CBC/SRC has on the industry. “That is why we are going to start by gaining some valuable information on the technological realities of the entire system.”
Conceding “the CBC/SRC has to be one of the most enduring topics of debate since its inception,” Oda suggests questioning the role of the CBC may well be a Canadian tradition and is required again, within this new economy.
“These debates occur as each generation passes through different stages in their lives. And so, we acknowledge that for this generation and the next, the same debate and questioning must be undertaken, she adds.”
“We want to gain key insights into how changing technologies and usage patterns will affect all elements of the broadcasting section, from public and private broadcasters to independent producers, from advertisers to distributors, and from creators to Canadian audiences,” she explained.
The government will use Section 15 of the Broadcasting Act to request the CRTC report on technological change, with the report going to the Governor in Council.
The last invocation of Section 15 came in June of 2002, with the request to clarify the regulatory environment concerning Internet retransmission of broadcasting signals in Canada.
Last spring, the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel reviewed Canada’s telecommunications policy and regulatory framework.
