COMMENTARY: If YouTube is “unlicensed”, the CRTC believes it can regulate the Internet, and that’s a bad idea

By Timothy Denton

LEST YOU BE IN DOUBT that the CRTC believes it has authority over video delivered across the Internet, I refer you to the transcript of the hearing currently underway in Hull regarding the policy framework for local and community television.In this portion the Chairman took issue with the way the counsel for Cogeco, Yves Mayrand, was speaking about the "unlicensed" portion of the broadcasting system, but this term includes the Internet, as I will explain. Yves Mayrand had referred to it as "unregulated" during the company’s appearance last Tuesday.Mayrand said:Now with respect to the notion that perhaps YouTube is part...