Post Tagged with: "Broadcasting"

UFC by Aaron Parecki https://flic.kr/p/2kUtrTq (CC BY 2.0)

The Fight for Bill C-11 Exemptions Begins: From Adult Content to UFC Fight Pass, Groups Tell CRTC They Want Out

The debate over Bill C-11 was marked by a massive effort from digital creators to urge the government to exclude user content regulation from the scope of the legislation. While Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez misleadingly insisted that user content was not covered by the bill, it took a policy direction to the CRTC (which is still in draft form) after the bill was passed to make that a reality. Many other groups stayed on the sidelines during the Bill C-11 debates, choosing to instead to wait for the CRTC process to make their concerns known. That started this week with the CRTC’s Bill C-11 consultations on registration requirements and potential exemptions (a post on my submission here) with a myriad of well-known streaming services calling on the regulator to establish additional exclusions from Bill C-11’s requirements. 

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June 14, 2023 3 comments News
Anti-Putin/ Russia protest by Can Pac Swire (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2n5PaWZ

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 122: Monica Song on Banning Russia Today From the Canadian Television System

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked international condemnation and a race to levy sanctions and undo longstanding connections to the country. Responses have included demands that Russia Today, a television network backed by the Russian government, be removed from cable and satellite systems. Companies such as Bell, Rogers, Telus and Shaw have dropped the service, but the desire for a longer-term regulatory solution has brought the issue to the CRTC. Working with a strict two week deadline, last week the CRTC ruled that RT and RT France can no longer be distributed by Canadian television service providers. Monica Song is a partner with the law firm Dentons and one of Canada’s leading telecom and broadcast lawyers. She joins the Law Bytes podcast to unpack the case before the Commission and assess the broader implications around due process and content regulation.

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March 21, 2022 3 comments Podcasts
Agir Pour La Liberte D'Expression by Deb Ransom https://flic.kr/p/2m7BZ4U Public Domain

The Conservative Election Platform: Freedom of Expression Commitment Tainted By Support for Payments for Links, Restrictions on Fair Dealing

The Conservative Party released its election platform yesterday, providing a lengthy document that covers a myriad of policy issues. From a digital policy perspective, there are positions sprinkled throughout the document, covering everything from a new innovation policy (an issue that the Liberals de-emphasized over the past two years and the Conservatives are right to target) to labour rights for gig workers.

On many issues, the reality is the policy platform isn’t all that different from the Liberal government’s approach.

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August 17, 2021 18 comments News
Microphone by Matthew Keefe (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/4zAGdb

Speaking Out on Bill C-10 and the Regulation of User Generated Content

The past week has seen a groundswell of public concern over Bill C-10 and the government’s plan to regulate user generated content. I have given numerous interviews, many of which do a nice job of distilling the key issues in an accessible manner. These include:

I’ve also appeared on several podcasts, including:

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May 5, 2021 8 comments News
Kids in the Hall @ Cobb Energy PAC 05.24.2008 by Melanie McDermott (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/4QTTDu

The Cancon Conundrum: Why Policies to Promote “Canadian Stories” Need an Overhaul

Cultural policy in Canada can be contentious, but there is one issue – support for Canadian content or Cancon – that unsurprisingly enjoys near unanimous backing. Given the economic benefits, federal and provincial policies encourage both domestic and foreign film and television production in Canada, but there is a special place for certified Canadian content, which is typically defended on the basis of the need to support cultural sovereignty by promoting “Canadian stories.”

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March 10, 2020 6 comments Columns