By Howard Law
This is part three of a three-part series – read part one here and part two here.
What will “television” look like in 10 years?
Looking into the future of particular services and companies, the Commission expects that vertically integrated companies (companies that own or control programming services as well as distribution services), for their part, will continue to have the opportunity to leverage their resources and audience reach to acquire popular and lucrative programming as well as be well positioned to produce high-quality programming made by Canadians. Their critical mass provides these companies with the financial…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage announced yesterday the federal government is holding a National Culture Summit on the Future of the Arts, Culture and Heritage in Canada in a hybrid format May 2-4, 2022, to consider the recovery of the country’s cultural sectors from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The summit was initially announced in December, and postponed in January due to the ongoing pandemic.
The rescheduled event will explore four themes: the promotion of long-term competitiveness and growth, the return of visitors (as well as engaging new audiences), the role of digital platforms in Canada’s cultural sectors, and…
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By Valerie Creighton
WITH ALL THE NOISE created by the many opinions and assumptions being floated about Bill C-11, it feels like the bill’s original purpose has been lost in translation.
The summary page of Bill C-11 clearly states the primary objectives (distilled) as:
add online undertakings as a distinct class of broadcast undertakings.
serve the needs and interests of all Canadians – including racialized communities, ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities, disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and ages.
provide opportunities to Indigenous persons, programming that reflects and is in Indigenous cultures and languages.
Bill C-11 is called ‘The Online Streaming Act’…
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By Howard Law
This is part two of a three-part series – read part one here.
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST the Liberals’ first attempt at passing the Online Streaming Act as Bill C-10 last spring is poised for relaunch as the House of Commons considers Bill C-11.
In my last post I described what Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is trying to accomplish with C-11. In this post we’ll take a look at the critique by the bill’s opponents.
Like previous criticism of C-10, it’s best articulated by Michael Geist’s prolific posting. His arguments have been picked up by Conservative…
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By Howard Law
THE NEW SEASON of Canadian culture wars is now available from the House of Commons’ second reading of Bill C-11 the Online Streaming Act, the federal Liberals’ digital reboot and seventh iteration of the Broadcasting Act since 1932.
After minor revisions by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, the Bill C-11 debate promises to be a re-run of last year’s Bill C-10 which drew flak from friends and foes alike and was successfully filibustered by the Conservatives prior to the dissolution of Parliament for the fall election.
Split into three posts, I will cover what Rodriguez says C-11 is about, what its…
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AS THE FEDERAL government works towards modernizing Canada’s broadcasting system through Bill C-11, its intentions for the future of the country’s national public broadcaster remain murky at best.
The mandate letter provided to Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez makes it clear the government intends to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada, but what that will look like, how it will be done and when remain mysteries.
Among other things, the minister’s mandate letter says the Corporation’s mandate should be updated “to ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of Canadian audiences, with unique programming that distinguishes it from private broadcasters.”
CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate is not…
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By Douglas Barrett
AS BILL C-11 WENDS its stately way though the legislative process, one issue crops up that has seemingly not been batted about before in the context of the new legislation. And it’s a pretty basic one: the definition of a Canadian program.
Both the current Broadcasting Act and Bill C-10 authorized the CRTC to determine by regulation “what constitutes a Canadian program for the purposes of the Act.” In a new approach, Bill C-11 in section 10(1.1) requires that in making such regulations the Commission “shall consider” five specific policy questions. As many as three of those questions,…
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Despite ongoing concerns from Canadians
By Amanda OYE
IT WAS NOT that long ago a major topic of discussion in the country was concern about the authorized distribution of the Russian state-funded English-language channel RT.
Cartt.ca readers will recall Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez tweeted to say the government was also concerned and looking into its options. Soon after, service providers began dropping the channel from their channel lineups.
Within the week, the government passed a motion to order the CRTC to “hold a hearing to determine whether RT (formerly known as Russia Today) and RT France (collectively RT) should be…
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By Howard Law
IT’S FIVE YEARS since the Public Policy Forum published The Shattered Mirror calling for Facebook and Google to become major funders of the journalism ecosystem that their digital advertising oligopoly impoverished.
Bill C-18 the Online News Act will do just that. The legislation is about a year behind the Liberal government’s schedule, having been derailed last spring by the Conservative filibuster of the Netflix Bill C-10 and a federal election.
That unanticipated delay after years of lobbying by news publishers discouraged most of them enough to sign take-it-or-leave-it deals with Google and Facebook on compensation for…
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Also proposes $5M for new Changing Narratives Fund
OTTAWA – While Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez has sought to reassure Canadians the CRTC will have the resources it needs to take on the new responsibilities proposed for it in the recently introduced Bills C-11 and C-18, today’s budget provides a few actual details.
Tabled by the federal government today, Budget 2022 proposes to provide the CRTC with $8.5 million over two years, beginning in 2022-2023, “to establish a new legislative and regulatory regime to require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication of news content to…
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