BANFF – Government policy for real new media, including social networks, should not focus on culture, but instead on industrial development, Telus recommends in a white paper on new media released during the Banff World Television Festival.
This approach will provide the flexibility needed to harness the opportunities of new media, suggests the report, entitled “A Friendly Future for New Media.”
“There are huge economic opportunities with new media. We should think about the world as a whole as the market for new media content,” said Telus vice-president of wireless, broadband and content policy Michael Hennessy.
The big western telco’s prescription for new media also states that the starting point for any discussion of new media should not focus on traditional broadcasting, but the broader online world. That approach appears to be in direct contrast to that being suggested by the CRTC, which in its recent public notice asks whether it should consider the creation and promotion of Canadian broadcasting content for the new media environment.
As well, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein has said the hearing will deal only with “professionally-produced Canadian content,” which would exclude much of the Web 2.0 content Telus wants included in the debate.
Another of the 10 recommendations contained in the telco’s prescription for new media is that no content on the Internet be regulated. “The new media exemption is still the right policy. The issue is how to successfully take Canadian new media to market,” reads the report.
Hennessy told Cartt.ca the white paper will form the basis for the telco’s submission to the CRTC in its relook at its decision to exempt new media from regulation, later this year.
“It will be similar, but we’ll provide more details about recommendations around the investment that’s needed to build our networks to the levels we want,” he stated. “It’s really a paper to generate discussion around some of the big new media issues.
“How do you approach the market for investment?” he asked during the NextMedia wrap-up session on Sunday.
Moderator Robert Montgomery pointed out that investment is also hard to find for content, which is viewed as risky. He noted a venture capitalist putting in $1 would recoup about $1.80 after ten years in Canada. The return in the United States is higher at about 18%.
The Telus report also recommends:
– Consumer taxes for Canadian production should not be introduced either through fee-for-carriage on traditional platforms or a new Internet Service Providers (ISP) tax. At the CFTPA annual convention in February, Canada’s creative community tossed around the idea of having ISPs contribute to a fund for new media. At that time, McCarthy Tetrault senior counsel Peter Grant commented that ISPs had extremely high profit margins, as high as 70%, and should contribute 2.5% of their revenues to a new digital media fund.
– The government match TV distributor’s contributors to the Canadian Television Fund dollar for dollar to fund the extension of linear content into the new media sphere.
– Revenues from the 700 MHz spectrum auction should be used to finance new media content that isn’t associated with traditional broadcasting. This initiative would be introduced in 2012 and focus on ensuring Canada’s global competitiveness in this space.
– New media financing should be part of an industrial strategy, with incentives for application and network infrastructure to support the new media environment. As well, Telus wants the government to introduce special tax credits for new media advertising by Canadian companies on Canadian sites.
– The deployment of advanced broadband infrastructure by facilities-based competitors is preferred to unbundling policies that may stifle investment in Next Generation Networks (NGNs).
– There should be a balance between the copyright of content and fair dealing to promote innovation (i.e. mash-ups, etc.) and commercial returns.
– Consumers should be able to access whatever content they want online, subject only to applicable laws.
– The CRTC should ensure that ISPs provide Internet access without unjust discrimination or undue preference, under section 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act.
Norma Reveler is covering the Banff International Television Festival for Cartt.ca this week.
