MONTREAL – A tax promoting the production of Canadian content for the Internet “is not needed”, and taxing Internet service providers for this purpose “amounts to taxing Canadian consumers under a false pretext”, said Quebecor Media.
“Canadians are paying enough taxes and it would be unconscionable to further increase the tax burden in the midst of an economic crisis,” said Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor’s president and CEO, in a company statement. “This would be unproductive and, in any event, illegal. If we truly wish to promote the production of original Canadian content, the industry must be freed of the existing regulatory straitjacket, which is plainly incompatible with the freedom that prevails in the new media universe."
Peladeau’s comments come in response to the CRTC New Media Hearings this week. Saying the “revolution in the media universe” is forcing media organizations to rethink their business models, he, like many other industry stakeholders, feels that attempting to regulate the Internet is a mistake.
"Increasingly, content is available on the Internet or on mobile devices. If they are to go where the audiences are, the media must have the latitude and the means to become developers and producers of content for all platforms, including mobile, which promises to become a leading medium."
Calling new media exploitation rights “the crux of the matter”, he referenced the collective agreement between the Union des artistes and Quebecor’s TVA signed last month, which he claims will help to lay the foundations for the future of television production.
“(The agreement) defines, for the first time, precise parameters for the use of content on all new platforms, and demonstrates that TVA is able to make specific agreements with the various industry players in order to increase the presence of Canadian content in new media. Terms of trade agreements (umbrella agreements) are not necessary for this purpose: negotiation in a free market is a win-win solution.”
"We cannot apply the traditional broadcasting model to new media, for in the digital age its limitations are clearer than ever," he continued. "Attempting to do so will only hasten the system’s demise and undermine Canada’s chances of success in the new digital age."
