OTTAWA – Independent producers receive little or no compensation from Canadian broadcasters for the digital rights to their programming, according to a new study released by the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA).
The study, Towards a Framework for Digital Rights, included a survey of CFTPA members which found that more than half (56%) of respondents indicated that they did not receive any additional compensation for the digital (Internet and mobile) rights to their shows, whether in the form of an incremental licence fee or a revenue share. At the same time, the majority of respondents said that they were “not confident” about their estimates of the market value for digital rights in Canada.
“The results of the study unfortunately only confirm what we’ve been hearing for the past several years from our membership – that we have a long way to go in establishing a vibrant digital rights marketplace in Canada,” said Norm Bolen, CFTPA president and CEO, in a statement Wednesday. “These results underscore the need for Terms of Trade between broadcasters and independent producers, as the CRTC itself reaffirmed in its recent television group licensing policy framework.”
In addition to surveying CFTPA members, interviews were also conducted with broadcasters, distributors and digital aggregators operating in the major English-language markets (Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) to obtain their views about the state of the digital rights marketplace. The CFTPA said that the major private conventional and speciality TV broadcasters in Canada declined to be interviewed for the study.
“The lack of participation by the big private broadcast groups is disappointing,” said CFTPA Counsel Reynolds Mastin, in the statement. “We believe greater transparency is in the interests of all industry stakeholders, and that this can be achieved without revealing confidential commercial information belonging to either broadcasters or independent producers."
Mastin said that that the CRTC “has taken a step in the right direction” by asking Canadian broadcasters for more data regarding their on-line activities.
“Provided that it asks the right questions and obtains the right data, we are confident that the Commission can serve as the catalyst for an industry dialog about how we collectively move forward in this complex and dynamic area”, he added.
The CFTPA represents the interests of almost 400 screen-based media companies engaged in the production and distribution of English-language television programs, feature films, and new media content in Canada.
