OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is going to re-examine its decision not to regulate new media, and on Thursday it asked the public to help it determine what issues it should consider at a public hearing to be held in early 2009.
The Commission indicates in a public notice that it wants to narrow the range of issues it will consider at the hearing on broadcasting in the new media environment. The regulator proposes looking at what exactly is broadcasting in new media, the creation and promotion of Canadian broadcasting content for the new media environment, and any barriers to accessing Canadian broadcasting content in the new media environment.
“What other issues should be considered?” the CRTC asks the public. Interested parties have until July 11 to submit their ideas.
The CRTC is concerned primarily with professionally-produced Canadian content that is streamed over the Internet.
“Our intention is not to regulate new media, but rather to gain a better understanding of this environment and, if necessary, to propose measures that would support the continued achievement of the Broadcasting Act’s objectives,” CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein said in a statement.
Key among those objectives is to ensure each element of the broadcasting system contributes to the creation and presentation of Canadian programming. Another objective of the Act is that Canadians should have full access to the broadcasting system, both as audiences and as producers and creators in the industry, notes the CRTC.
The Commission exempt new media from regulation in 1999 and broadcasting to mobile devices, such as cell phones, in 2007. The regulator said it’s now appropriate to re-examine the new media broadcasting environment to determine whether these two exemption orders continue to be appropriate or to what extent, if any, they need to be revised.
The CRTC noted the new media environment has changed drastically in the decade since the 1999 exemption order was issued.
Nowadays, Canadians are spending more time accessing broadcasting content over the Internet and on mobile devices, and technologies that enable the delivery of high-quality broadcasting content on new platforms are in commercial use. Also, high-speed Internet access is now available to 93% of households in Canada and has been adopted by more than 60% of Canadian households, while multimedia-capable devices with increased functionality and features are declining in price. Another change is that globally, the pace at which professionally produced broadcasting content is being made available online is accelerating. Advertisers are also looking to new media broadcasting to market their products.
Many of these changes are outlined in Perspectives on Canadian Broadcasting in New Media, a report released on Thursday by the CRTC. The report summarizes the new media broadcasting landscape, including the supporting technologies, consumer adoption trends, media consumption patterns, and business models.
