By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Bill C-10 passed second reading unanimously last Tuesday and was officially referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for study, which of course, has already begun.
The prior two meetings on the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act were, for all intents and purposes, labelled a pre-study of the legislation, in order to get a heard start hearing witnesses before the bill was approved in second reading.
So, officially, the meeting last Friday was the first meeting to officially look at the legislation.
However, the committee chair informed members and witnesses at the start of the meeting…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Federal government officials, most notably Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, have been saying since Bill C-10 was introduced, that it could deliver as much as $830 million in new dollars, per year, for the production of Canadian content, by 2023.
Cartt.ca has attempted to guesstimate how the federal government came up with that amount, which is being used as a keystone figure by those who like the bill which would amend the Broadcasting Act. The amount would, of course, be made up from contributions from streamers (or “online broadcasters”) to the Cancon production system.
Knowing our…
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OTTAWA and VICTORIAVILLE, Que. — As Bill C-10 wends its way through the legislative process, CACTUS (the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations), the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec and the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) issued a joint statement today asking for greater recognition of community media as a vital broadcasting sector within the context of the federal government’s proposed overhaul of the Broadcasting Act.
“Community media is the third pillar of Canadian broadcasting, alongside private and public broadcasting, yet there is no description of its role in the new Act that’s been tabled,”…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Netflix’s announcement last Thursday that it will open a Canadian office and, in the words Ted Sarandos (above), co-CEO and chief content officer, hire a “dedicated content executive to work directly with the Canadian creative community” is a “first good step,” federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told Cartt.ca in an interview on Friday.
His concern, though, is the “cozy relationship” the federal government appears to have with major digital platforms, including Netflix.
Singh referred to the “secret deal” between the California-based company and Ottawa in 2017 in which then-Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly provided little…
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GATINEAU — Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault hosted a videoconference on Tuesday with his foreign counterparts from Australia, Finland, France and Germany to discuss their shared priorities concerning the diversity of content available online and its importance in ensuring strong democratic societies.
Taking part on the video call were Paul Fletcher, Australian minister of communications, urban infrastructure, cities and the arts, Annika Saarikko, Finnish minister of science and culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French minister of culture, and Dr. Günter Winands, German deputy minister of state for culture and the media.
“The ministers discussed the importance of promoting a healthy online information…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Bill C-10 and other forthcoming federal government legislation was top of mind for Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault on Monday when he participated in a question-and-answer session at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s (CMPA’s) first virtual Prime Time conference.
He explained that in promoting diversity under C-10, which received first reading in the House of Commons last November and would amend the Broadcasting Act, the government will among other things, in a policy directive to the CRTC, ask the regulatory body to “incentivize the role of racialized minorities and Indigenous people in key creative positions”…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Tabled on November 3, 2020, Bill C-10 finally reappeared in the House of Commons on February 5, 2021 in the House of Commons, for discussion on its second reading.
It ended on a motion by the Conservatives that “Bill C-10, be not now read a second time but that the order be discharged, the bill withdrawn and the subject matter thereof referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.” The amendment was not voted on.
Also on Friday, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC) held its second meeting on the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act….
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – When Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault tabled Bill C-10 in November 2020, his department issued a Q&A which stated: “As the independent regulator, the CRTC will determine whether and how broadcasting services with differing characteristics are required to contribute, and the form of these contributions.
“If the CRTC requires online broadcasters to contribute to Canadian content at a similar rate to traditional broadcasters, online broadcasters’ contributions to Canadian music and stories could amount to as much as $830 million per year by 2023.”
Members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC), during a meeting held on…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Like other organizations who appeared during this multi-day hearing, the Canadian Media Producers Association took a narrow view, arguing other discussions should be allowed to take place first.
“We think it’s important to ask questions about how CBC will ensure discoverability, success, and relevance for programming available online, but before thinking of substituting any current requirements for new metrics, we need to engage in the kind of wider industry consultation that will be possible in a major policy proceeding once Bill C-10 is passed,” said Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the CMPA during its appearance…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Motion Pictures Association (MPA) Canada sent a letter to the federal and British Columbia governments with a proposal to extend tax incentives to global film players for a three-year period, post-pandemic.
The four-point proposal, obtained by Cartt.ca through a freedom of information request, includes federal incentives for foreign studios to hire Canadian production companies, an adjustment to the 23% withholding tax on non-residents of big-budget live action productions that would release some of that tax to them through a rebate, a tax measure to incentivize purchases of Canadian products and services by global studios, and incentives for…
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