OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC’s much ballyhooed fact-finding exercise into on-line and mobile broadcasting has produced “inconclusive results”, the Regulator said Wednesday.
Spurred on by the industry, the Commission launched a month-long investigation in May into over-the-top video options and on-line broadcasting services available to Canadians, and their impact on the Canadian communications system. It even extended its deadline for submissions at the behest of the On-line Broadcast Working Group, a group of some 35 senior private sector executives from the country’s distribution, telecommunications, broadcasting, production and creative sectors.
The CRTC said that the responses filed did not contain “any clear evidence” though did indicate that:
– The traditional broadcasting system continues to support Canadian programming even as services emerge to deliver content to Canadians in new ways;
– While consumption of on-line and mobile programming is growing, current measurement tools are unable to accurately reflect trends in consumer behaviour;
– There is no clear evidence that Canadians are reducing or cancelling their television subscriptions. On-line and mobile programming appears to be complementary to the content offered by the traditional broadcasting system;
– Canadian creators are taking advantage of the digital environment to produce innovative content and to reach Canadian and global audiences. Canadian broadcasters and distributors are also launching their own on-line and mobile programming services;
– Some on-line programming services have established viable business models and are competing in the marketplace for programming rights and viewers; and
– Internet and wireless networks may encounter capacity constraints and be challenged to support increasing consumption of media content.
While noting that OTT providers have “reshaped the broadcasting landscape by introducing viable alternatives, foreign and domestic, to traditional services”, the Commission said that it will not review its new media exemption order or consider policy changes designed to “increase the regulated players’ flexibility to respond to the activities of OTT providers”.
“Stakeholders calling for the imposition of regulatory obligations on OTT providers demonstrated that consumer adoption of OTT services is real and growing”, reads the CRTC’s report. “However, they did not submit evidence of harm to the traditional broadcast system. This is consistent with the Commission’s ongoing research into new media trends.
“The Commission considers that extending regulatory obligations normally achieved through licensing to exempt undertakings could lead to unintended consequences in a global, digital environment”.
The CRTC pledged to continue to monitor “the evolving communications environment” which will be the main focus of its annual consultation with the broadcasting industry next month. It also plans to stage another fact-finding exercise in May 2012, and encouraged stakeholders to compile and submit “rigorously collected data” to assist in that evaluation.
