OTTAWA – Since Canadian broadcasters may be dramatically affected by some of the recommendations in the Telecom Policy Review Report published earlier this year, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters has petitioned Industry Canada for formal talks.
A letter sent August 10 and released Friday says: "The CAB strongly recommends that Industry Canada undertake formal consultations with Canada’s private broadcasters before acting upon any recommendations that would have a direct or indirect impact on the operations of broadcasters and/or the achievement of Canada’s broadcasting policy objectives. We would also recommend that Canadian Heritage be involved in the policy discussions."
As reported here before, the federal government loves the TPR report and wants to see much of it implemented.
While broadcasting was beyond the TPR’s scope, its authors did touch upon content anyway so the CAB wants to be sure that it has a chance to say something prior to "any proposal to liberalize foreign ownership rules for ‘carriers’ while retaining them for ‘content’," for example.
