OTTAWA – With the CRTC’s report on the future of programming distribution in Canada now in hand, it is expected that Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will unveil a panel of industry experts which she has appointed to come up with key recommendations to overhaul the Broadcasting Act.
We don’t know what it’s going to be called or who is going to be on it as of this writing (really early June 5th), but the announcement could come as early as today and not wait until the Minster’s keynote speech at the Banff World Media Festival this Sunday afternoon, as was assumed.
As Cartt.ca first reported last week, sources told us the panel may have up to a year to make specific recommendations on what a new Broadcasting Act should say. The federal government of course said in the 2017 Federal budget it would be overhauling both the Telecom and Broadcasting Acts.
While we fretted that any work done on the Broadcasting Act (or the Telecom Act for that matter) looks unlikely to be complete before the October 2019 federal election and that all this effort might be for nought, readers pointed out that the 2008 Telecom Policy Review Panel was convened under a Liberal government (Paul Martin as PM) but then completed, and recommendations implemented, by the following Conservative government (Stephen Harper, PM).
That wasn’t a change to the laws of the land, mind you, but that important work did carry on from one government to the next.
