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New Media's 'Defining Challenge'
Job one for new CRTC chief: ensure 'net neutrality.'
Room for big and little online?
In a little-noticed speech last month at a Canadian broadcasting conference, Konrad von Finckenstein, the newly appointed chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), told the industry that new media is "the defining challenge of our time in broadcasting. There is no more important matter facing the commission, nor does any other matter have such long-term consequences."
To address the challenge, the CRTC has set in motion two initiatives that will go a long way in determining how it adapts Canadian broadcast and new media regulations to the Internet environment.
First, the New Media Project initiative will analyze whether new media should be regulated, and assess its impact on the creation and distribution of Canadian content. The initiative will also consider critical access issues including network neutrality (described by von Finckenstein as "Internet traffic prioritization") and whether access to high-speed broadband networks should be elevated to a core policy objective.
A final project report is not expected until March 2009. However, the CRTC has a second initiative that will cover some of the same terrain much sooner. In April, the commission announced plans to conduct hearings on the diversity of voices within the Canadian broadcasting environment. (Comments are due on Wednesday with formal hearings to follow in September.)
Ingrown ownership
The diversity of voices consultation comes in response to the growing consolidation of Canadian media, and seeks commentary on whether the changing corporate landscape has had a negative impact on the diversity of perspectives within the Canadian broadcasting system. The CRTC's interest in the issue arises directly from the Broadcasting Act, which includes a statutory objective that Canadian broadcasting "provide a reasonable opportunity for the public to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of public concern."
Canadian media consolidation includes both horizontal integration, where the same corporation controls television, radio, and print outlets in a single market, as well as vertical integration, where a single corporation controls both the production and distribution channels for new content.
The need for an open consultation on media diversity is long overdue. The Canadian market has featured creeping consolidation in recent years, leaving four companies -- CTVglobemedia, CanWest Global, Quebecor and Cogeco -- with dominant control over the television market. (Rogers is rapidly emerging as the fifth player and Astral is a key player in specialty channels.) Four companies similarly dominate the radio market (Corus, Astral, Rogers and CTVglobemedia) and five companies lead the newspaper market (Canwest Global, Quebecor, Torstar, Power Corp., and CTVGlobemedia).
Since many of these same companies also control some of Canada's most trafficked websites, the consultation rightly asks about the impact of cross-ownership of conventional broadcast platforms and new media. Yet it fails to make the more important connection -- many of the dominant media companies play a key role in the Internet service provider market, which is also highly consolidated with the six leading Canadian ISPs (Bell, Telus, Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor and Cogeco), controlling well over 70 per cent of the market.
Blocking, fast-tracking
Many of the major media companies are likely to argue that new media, particularly the Internet, provides a strong counterbalance to consolidation in the television, radio and newspaper sectors since Internet video, podcasting and blogging deliver similar content from a diverse array of sources.
The companies fail to acknowledge, however, that the counterbalance is dependent upon Canadians' ability to access new media content without interference or prioritization, which would make some sites easier to access than others. Indeed, in a world where the same companies, such as Rogers, Quebecor and Cogeco, control both content and carriage of content, there is a real danger that the carriage side of the business may prioritize its own offerings at the expense of diverse, third-party content.
Safeguarding against this form of content discrimination requires considering structural separation of carriage and content as well as network neutrality rules that would require carriers to treat all Internet content and applications in an equal manner regardless of its source.
The CRTC has identified the need to consider network neutrality within the new media context, but the same concern must surely be addressed as a question of sustaining the diversity of Canadian voices. For the CRTC's new chair, confronting that challenge may prove to be the defining issue of his tenure.
Related Tyee stories:
- Canadians Want Media Choice
- Support the Media You Want
- Canada Sleeps Through War to 'Save the Internet'
- CanCon Adapts to a Wild New Media World
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
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- Canada's Economy, Deconstructed (by a 12 year-old)
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- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
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- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- Why Blackberry's Embrace of HTML5 Is Good Karma
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
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- Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
- Does BC Stand for Ban Clotheslines?
- BC biotech company seeks approval for GM apple
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
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- Double lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- ISS astronauts grab DragonX space capsule by the tail with Canada Arm
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- BC phases out AirCare to focus on fighting bigger vehicle emissions
- Tsunami senors to be dropped into deep sea off of Vancouver Island
- Student groups file court challenge against Quebec protest law
- ...while on the streets, pirates and ninjas put aside mutual animosity to join student protests
19
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Kaz
4 years ago
Another important point to
Another important point to make regarding the contention that the internet provides a counterbalance to the over-consolidated traditional media in Canada is that access to the internet is incredibly limited. As hard as it is for a lot of technophiles to believe, current research shows that most people continue to use the TV as their primary source of news, and the print media remains an important source as well for many people. If less than 20% of the country has high speed access, it is patently ridiculous to claim that online content counterbalances the pervasive bias that has come to exist in mainstream traditional Canadian media.
The internet is a great resource, a fact that sites like the Tyee are testament to, but it's going to be a matter of years before it can really be considered to be on a level footing with media like television in terms of accessibility.
gaulois
4 years ago
Too late already?
Allowing Shaw and Telus to offer their own VOIP telephony service without setting proper rules on traffic prioritorization already showed a huge CRTC "Net neutrality" bias.
I often wonder if the backwardness of the CRTC is programmed in so that the biggies can further dominate the markets and eliminate competition. What a way to erode the confidence of the public in a regulatory body that should be looking at the interest of the public but keep turning a blind eye under the influence of the corporate lobbyists, just like south of the border! The neocon agenda is that the regulatory framework is unnecessary and are making sure that it is as backward as it gets. Should we not have learnt by now on what happened with the same corporate lobbyists eroding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)regulatory framework south of the border?
The political parties have been as backward on this eroding just as much the confidence of the public. One wonders if the same corporate lobbyists are similary stuffing the pockets of contending parties, just like south of the border... Is this not BTW the corporate model that Harper&Co wish to follow? Yep God bless America and its corporate scumbags.
Gary
4 years ago
The problem as I see it....
...is that the MSM are slowly trying to control everything we do. The internet is a global entity that should not be controlled by anyone but the user. If anything the CRTC should be looking at this from the opposite direction. Set heavy fines for companies that try to control it. Witness the Telus fiasco in removing the alternate web site set up by Striking employees. This was a deliberate attempt to muzzle an opposing opinion and have only the Telus company view put forward. We cannot let this suppression of information go on. For when this happens we will have returned to the days of the Nazi in post and wartime Germany where the propaganda is set to brainwash the masses.
And that will happen if these large companies are allowed to have ANY control over the net.
Gary
4 years ago
Sorry
that shoul read pre and wartime
Michael
4 years ago
Old media controls the new media?
"Since many of these same companies also control some of Canada's most trafficked websites, the consultation rightly asks about the impact of cross-ownership of conventional broadcast platforms and new media."
What stats is the author using to make this claim? I have occasionally used some of the big media sites to look up weather or get technical help with my internet, but for the most past I steer clear since their sites usually suck.
murdock
4 years ago
sattelite transiever
I defy the CRTC, or any other would be 'regulator' of internet content to be able to stop anyone with a sattelite transciever of being able to access any part of any of the internet without any blockage at all.
This is the real fear of dictatorships like North Korea...that a re-broadcast site could be set-up on the other side of the DMZ and send out the signal into their citizens. Part of the reason Kim Jong Il has not allowed anyone within 100 miles of the area and filled it with frequency jammers and signal scramblers.
If the CRTC is that concerned with 'preserving' the monopoly of 'Canadian' content broadcasting, then I have to ask them why they are behaving like dictators?
Booker
4 years ago
Cartels
Call me cynical, but given the level of media concentration that has already occurred (particularly in BC), I do not have high hopes that the CRTC will do anything to reverse it. Will they break up the near monopoly that Canwest has here? Have we heard the political leaders utter a word about this issue? At least we have The Tyee.
Fiat lux
4 years ago
The control of information
The control of information has always been one of the strongest weapons in the hands of ruling classes and now, for the first time in history, the unwashed masses can communicate and exchange information freely, around the world, in seconds, therefore it is in their interest to try to censor and curb it.
The question is, will people fall for this lie, as they have done for thousands of years, allowing the biggest crooks to rule them ? Looking at the historical precedents, they probably will.
Ed Deak,
BC Dude
4 years ago
This is how fascism starts
This is how fascism starts first our media printed, telivised, now they are going after Our last real democratic free speech around the world as a society that is becoming aware of the traitors amongst US!
"If the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.": Noah Webster - (1758-1843) American patriot and scholar, author of the 1806 edition of the dictionary that bears his name, the first dictionary of American English usage.
BC Dude
4 years ago
I only hope that the CRTC is
I only hope that the CRTC is there for US the people of Canada and with the veracity to come down hard with the full power granted to this great institution!
A real news station owned and paid for by the real people of this Our world who want the Real truth!
No Corporate, Government, or advertising money and no strings attached!
http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php
Why is S Harper in a country known for its extreme human rights abuses?
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/index.php
http://canadianactionparty.ca/cgi/page.cgi?aid=634&_id=128&zine=show
http://canadianactionparty.ca/home.html for more real truth!
BC Rail scandal?
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/
Where is our Mainstream media coverage? To busy putting drunk driver charges on front page headlines, in other words BS.
Chris H
4 years ago
Why they won't do anything
The CRTC won't force net neutrality. They haven't allowed consumers to make their own choices in regards to television, radio, or print media. Someone will end up shoving the internet content that the powers that be wants the public to see. It is just a question of whether it is the CRTC or the IPOs that get to do it. Neither of them care what the Canadian public thinks or wants. Sorry.
BC Dude
4 years ago
If all else fails then it is
If all else fails then it is lawful and the right of the lawful people to show their total displeasure by going out on our public streets to protest against this surge of greed, pre-emtive wars and occupation, While we still can!
Information Clearing House "A Free Press or a Ministry of Truth?"
CRTC is this what we can expect of your once great office?
I think I can speak for about 98% of Canadians, that we will back you up 100% if you go after the big fish!
BC Dude
4 years ago
CRTC where are you, to
CRTC where are you, to bring/force our media up on conspiracy charges of stifling the public?
Thanks to S Harper
Will the USA invade Canada?
Contributed by: siljan
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/index.php
Working Memory
4 years ago
Wrong assumptions
Many of you base your comments on what was.
The mainstream news industry is becoming as fractured as the music market, and people are choosing sides.
The "less-sophisticated" line up behind mainstream news companies, while millions upon millions have already lined up on the internet side, and more late-comers are jumping on board every minute.
Politicians and their partner corporations use the "less-sophisticated masses" to leverage and put pressure on the "smart-set," and in doing so the independent thinker was washed out to sea along with the lemmings. (Yes, it's OK to admit that you're smarter than your neighbor. In fact it's highly recommended, and it wouldn't hurt to let them know it when you see them do something stupid, like volunteer for the 2010 Olympics.)
If the extremely powerful AMAA (American Music Association of America) could not regulate the internet, the woefully underfunded CRTC does not stand a chance.
If you over complicate this CRTC issue the corporations win. Forget laws and write your own rules. The music industry suffered catastrophic damage because they were overwhelmed. Can you imagine where we'd be if the guys at Napster obeyed the law? We'd still be stupidly paying $22 for a CD to an industry that broke every antitrust law in the book.
Keep it simple and keep reminding yourself that you have a brain, better access to information, and most importantly, "a voice." This package will give you the confidence to know that you are making the right decision regarding who and what to believe.
Corporations undermine your confidence to keep you off balance. Use your voice to equalize their chatter.
If you want change you can no longer sit back apathetically. It costs nothing but a bit of time to start a blog or to post your version of the news on websites like NowPublic.com Do so and associate with those of like mind. It will will eventually give you a stronger collective voice.
Corrupt politicians and CEOs operate best in the vacuum that mainstream news media provides. Your best offense (and defense) is to shout them down one voice at a time.
It's what the internet does best regardless of who owns or manages the technology.
Whatever you do, do not apply communist ideology to a free world market. Contrary to what mainstream news media tells you, we are not going backwards, although on some days it seems like it.
Eventually, internet publications like The Tyee will realize that the only way they can possible survive is by becoming either more "activist oriented," or becoming more mainstream.
Whining is so 2006. Do something today and start by scrolling to the top of this page and click on "ACT NOW."
Regards,
Maurice Cardinal
Editor: OlyBLOG.com
Disclosure: I have absolutely zero economic interest or investment in anything Tyee or NowPublic.
Think local. Act Global.
PeteL
4 years ago
Canwest and CP
Just to let everyone know. Canwest recently made a business decision that they will no longer purchase new stories from the long established Canadian Press and instead will rely solely on the Canwest media chain for all of its material.
This will do two things. It will mean that CP will likely have to down size its operations losing such a big subscriber and it will mean that one more branch of media diversity will have been chopped out of the Vancouver market.
Just one more reason not to buy The Sun.
BC Dude
4 years ago
CRTC has allowed CanWest
CRTC has allowed CanWest Global to be the only major msm in Western Canada, a dangerous situation as noted in the lack of or non existent coverage in the biggest scandal to ever hit BC and quite possibly even Canada, the BC Rail scandalinvolving many of Gordo's Ministers!
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/
http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/
http://houseofinfamy.blogspot.com/
We have To start doing OUR part against msn, I haven't subscribed to the local rags for years, I'm canceling my TV cable except basic, I've canceled my cell phone as these are the same corporations trying to privatize OUR internet AT&T, Verizon, ComCast, Bell, Fido, Mike (Telus), Rogers, Telus during strike they blocked (Freedom of Speech) employees from Telus site, Virgin Mobile Canada and also dictating our msm's input for dumbing down US the people, but WE are not as stupid as they would like us to be! Fight the SPP all the way to the top of the Supreme Courts of North America!
BC Dude
4 years ago
NOW"National Organization of
NOW"National Organization of Workers"
A real international news site bought and paid for by ordinary folks like US who are always looking for the REAL TRUTH! No political BS, no advertisers, no corporate dirty money!
Check out Barrick gold minning corp a Canadian Company in Chile.
http://indymedia.us/en/2007/07/26107.shtml
http://www.protestbarrick.net/article.php?id=121
http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Barrick
http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php
BC Dude
4 years ago
www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?
http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Barrick
Truth about S Harper's little visit!
Canadian Prime Minister’s Controversial Visit to Santiago: Time for Barrick Gold, But Not for Communities
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is visiting Chile to mark the tenth anniversary of the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations. Representatives from Chilean civil society asked the Canadian embassy in Chile to facilitate a visit between the Prime Minister and communities affected by Canadian mining companies. Their request has been denied. [July 17, 2007 11:20 am]
village
4 years ago
to WORKING MEMORY...
Your post above.. entitled..: WRONG ASSUMPTIONS, is an inspirational piece of work!
The expanded version provides for great vision and accurate observations as per the COMMUNICATIONS '' HIGH GROUND '' that rarelly is offered the ordinary and not so ordinary CITIZENS..,
As was the printing press , so is the INTERNET.. ( speed of light publishing technology ) providing the tools.. once again for a critical mass of THINKING.. that invariably always brings about change .
THANKS for that contribution..,
Village..