Regulator looking into adapting mandatory distribution, skinny basic to online services
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC launched a proceeding Thursday to examine what types of challenges Canadian broadcasters and producers face when navigating the new broadcasting market and when trying to get their content in front of audiences.
The commission is seeking answers by February 24 to questions related to the specific challenges faced by broadcasters – distinct from individual creators and producers – in having their services and content promoted and discovered; how, if applicable, does the regulatory framework help or hinder that discoverability; whether the commission, if it must, support particular classes of broadcasters to sustain or grow their audiences and how it should do that; how these challenges differ for traditional and online services; whether the CRTC should look into regulating connected devices to ensure discoverability; and whether there are any successful initiatives employed now for the discoverability of Canadian content.
The CRTC is also considering if and how it should ensure certain “events of national and cultural significance,” such as the Olympics and national celebrations like Canada Day and the National Indigenous People Day, are accessible to Canadians. It is asking which events should be designated as such and what criteria it should use to make that designation.
The discoverability of Canadian content is a major component of the CRTC’s long road to implement the Online Streaming Act, a law that requires the CRTC to regulate online entities to ensure an equal playing field on Canadian content contributions between traditional Canadian broadcasters and foreign streamers. The CRTC has already approved mandatory financial contributions of 5 per cent of previous year’s revenues on foreign and standalone online undertakings, which is being challenged by the former in court.
But there’s more regulation still to come. In fact, the discoverability question will spring up again in future consultations related to the implementation of the new Broadcasting Act, including in the upcoming proceeding defining “Canadian content.”
“The sustainability of Canada’s broadcasting system depends both on the ability of new and existing services to access the system and on Canadians’ ability to discover the diverse content it offers,” the CRTC said in Thursday’s consultation document. “Changes to the broadcasting system have impacted the existing distribution chain for content, at times making it more difficult for independent Canadian creators and services, among others, to reach their intended audiences.
“At the same time, ensuring that Canadians have access to content, and that it is discoverable, does not mean that content is guaranteed to succeed with audiences,” the regulator added. “A policy principle of this proceeding and of the resulting regulatory framework is to ensure choice in content and the ability to consume that chosen content, not to direct Canadians in which content they must consume, or how they must consume it.”
Thursday’s consultation document includes both general and specific inquiries into the challenges faced by Canadian broadcasters and producers as they compete with those international streaming services historically exempt from mandated contributions to Canadian content.
As such, the CRTC wants to know what types of challenges and opportunities existing and new entrants face in the market; what regulatory barriers should be considered undue; whether those barriers are more prominent in the English- or French-language markets; whether there are specific challenges for creators and producers from indigenous, language minority or “equity-deserving” groups; and whether the new market has facilitated partnerships to reach new audiences and how to take advantage of those opportunities.
The commission is also considering amending and adapting to online streamers some of its existing regulatory tools, including the mandatory programming distribution rule – known by its legal reference 9.1.(1)(h) – which requires broadcasters to carry certain programs, and the $25 per month “skinny basic” TV plan broadcasters must provide to subscribers.
The CRTC is also reviewing the standstill rule, which requires two parties in a carriage dispute to maintain the status quo until either they settle their differences or the regulator makes a decision on the matter. It is inquiring about the effectiveness of this tool, whether it should be updated, and if the standstill should expire, and therefore require a new submission, instead of letting it run indefinitely.
The CRTC will hold a public hearing on the matter starting May 12.
