AS ONE OF THE VERY few Canadian reporters covering the NAB show in Las Vegas, it’s inevitable that I compare what’s going on down here with what’s up at home. Human nature, I think.
So this morning during the official opening of the National Association of Broadcasters annual convention when new president and CEO Gordon Smith talked about the “performance tax” record companies want to foist upon radio stations, I immediately thought about how that’s already going on, and gone on, in Canada, and how the Canadian industry has together fought new fees.
Smith talked about how local radio is pure promotion for singers and other artists and the perfect “I’ll-scratch-your-back, you’ll-scratch-mine” scenario. At least it was until the digital world bulldozed the music industry’s business model. So this battle for a new rights regime to milk more funds from radio broadcasters is just “a bailout,” said Smith, a former Republican Senator from Oregon.
“Technology chopped the head off the record industry’s business model. So what did the industry do? It began suing people. The problem is that you can’t stop technology with trial lawyers. You know you’re in trouble when the health of your business is reduced to suing teenagers,” he goaded.
So they are now demanding radio stations pay up to play their artists’ songs while not that long ago, Smith noted the irony, record company folks risked jail for trying the reverse, paying DJs and PDs to program their artists songs (Google “payola” for a reminder).
“We will continue to fight the record labels in their attempt to save their business model on the backs of free, local radio,” he added, which is an echo of the various battles Canadian radio has had with the various copyright demands north of the border.
His thoughts on the retransmission consent could also have been pulled straight from the Canadian broadcasters vs. carriers fee-for-carriage/value for signal donnybrooks.
“The reality is this: Broadcasters create the most compelling and most popular programming on television. Our programming provides real value to our pay TV partners, and we deserve fair compensation for providing cable and satellite viewers with programs like The Olympics, The Super Bowl, American Idol and Lost,” he said.
“But pay TV doesn’t want to compensate us – despite the fact that our content is the backbone of every pay TV package sold. And can you believe this? Cable representatives are now trying to position themselves as consumer friendly on Capitol Hill. That’s right – the cable guy as the consumer advocate! Folks, you just can’t make this stuff up.”
There’s a certain bit of parallel irony here too in that the NAB demands payment for its members for carriage on cable and satellite, while the carriers here say it’s a symbiotic relationship… kinda the same argument the broadcasters use against record companies to refuse payment. But I digress.
The most glaring difference between the Canadian and American broadcast situations however, was Smith’s plea for the industry to pull together and work with each other toward their common goals.
“I genuinely believe the cause of free, over-the-air broadcasting, with its attendant public obligations, is a just and worthy cause. The values of free and local radio and television – and the public service responsibilities that come with that – are still relevant and vital today, even as a mature technology is being made new again,” he said, while promising to work hard on Capitol Hill so that lawmakers know how important broadcasters are and the contributions they make to American society and democracy.
“Broadcasting is the original wireless technology. We are mobile, and both radio and television are adapting to new technologies and finding new ways to deliver the most popular and important content,” he insisted.
It struck me then there will soon be no such body in Canada with the coming end of the CAB. There is no one to collectively represent broadcasters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and remind the political power players how important radio and TV broadcasters are. So maybe there’s a good reason then why the federal government seemingly has little to say on the digital TV transition and wants to give away spectrum promised to radio companies, as we’ve been reporting.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the work of the National Association of Broadcasters is worth doing, and we must do it together — united. We need you to help us advocate for this great industry, not just in Washington, but all across America,” Smith said. “Let us realize the power of broadcasting and our impact on the American public. Let us continue educating, informing and entertaining our local communities. Let us embrace the digital future and all of its great opportunities.”
Made me realize how short sighted it may have been to short-circuit the Canadian association because there is no one publicly representing and uniting broadcasters like this in Canada – and perhaps its no wonder our politicians don’t know that Canadian TV and radio companies are the original wireless operators, the original networks that united people from sea to sea to sea.
Greg O’Brien is editor and publisher of Cartt.ca and is covering NAB in Las Vegas this week. Comment on what you read below, or e-mail us at editorial@cartt.ca. You can also follow on Twitter, too.
