OTTAWA – CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein set conference delegates straight on a couple of things today at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual convention here at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa before juggling the 2008 regulatory calendar a little bit (See related story).
We’re not an expert judge of people’s overall moods, but he seemed a shade on the grumpy side when addressing the Commission’s need for additional resources as it struggles with regulating broadcasting and all that encompasses nowadays.
First he made it clear that recent comments made during a speech on new media does not mean the Commission wants to regulate the Internet. Instead, the Regulator is gathering information on new media and how it might have to regulate professional broadcasting delivered via the Internet; if it’s necessary, can it be done; and if it can be done, how to do it.
Secondly, he assured delegates that while he commissioned the recent Dunbar-LeBlanc report on Canadian broadcast policies (which has been panned by most broadcasters and welcomed by cable and other carriers), he didn’t write it. “Your association was somewhat upset with the study,” he noted. “I commissioned it, I didn’t dictate the outcome.” The study will add much to the overall policy debate, he added.
(Ed note: Not all broadcasters hated it.)
Then he turned to his request for more money, given the fact the Commission needs more expertise (in the form of hired consultants) and has been working more quickly (the approval of the Citytv purchase by Rogers took 29 days and not seven months). The chair first made the request in June at the Banff Television Festival and von Finckenstein (right) has reiterated his stance that the outside experts which the Commission requires to do some of its research “don’t come cheap.”
However, he said, the CRTC received no answer from the CAB on the request for more money. “Unfortunately, the CAB saw fit to come up with no consensus,” he said during his speech. “I must frankly say I’m disappointed – but I can live with no consensus and that’s fine.”
Then, he continued, it came to his attention that individual CAB members wrote their Members of Parliament opposing any new funding for the CRTC. “That kind of divide is very unhelpful. I think we have to be frank with each other. You want to know where I stand. I want to know where you stand and I have done everything I can to tell you where we are coming from and what our priorities are, etc. and I expect you to do the same,” said von Finckenstein.
“So, I hope this was an isolated incident that won’t be repeated.”
Photo by Denis Drever
