Post Tagged with: "broadcasting act"

IMG_7298 by Matt Johnson (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2gAV5MH

The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 18: The USMCA Trade Threat That Could Lead to Billions in Retaliatory Tariffs

The Broadcasting Act blunder series has made several references to the risk of a trade challenge over provisions found in Bill C-10. This post unpacks the trade issue and explains why the bill could result in billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs against Canada. The starting point for the trade issue is to recognize that Canada negotiated the continuation of the cultural exemption in the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA or USMCA). This was viewed as an important policy objective for the government, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisting that “defending that cultural exemption is something fundamental to Canadians.” The exemption means that commitments such as equal treatment for U.S., Mexican and Canadian companies may be limited within the cultural sector.

Yet the cultural exemption did not come without a cost.

December 16, 2020 — 2 comments — News

Briefing Deck, page 18, Canadian Heritage, Summary - Amendments to the Broadcasting Act

The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 17: The Uncertain Policy Directive

The Broadcasting Act blunder series has emphasized the uncertainty associated with Bill C-10, highlighting how the bill removes foundational broadcast policies such as Canadian broadcast ownership requirements and leaves many specifics to the CRTC to sort out in a future hearing. In fact, even as Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault claims that the bill establishes economic thresholds, excludes news services, or result in a billion dollars in new funding, the reality is that the bill does not specify any of these things. Rather, Guilbeault is presumably assuming that the Commission will decide to do so. If all of this uncertainty were not enough, Guilbeault has promised another layer of uncertainty, committing to release a policy direction to the CRTC should the bill become law.

December 15, 2020 — 2 comments — News

Sense8 by Caribb https://flic.kr/p/uCAUhJ (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 73: The Broadcasting Act Blunder – Why Minister Guilbeault is Wrong

Canada is currently considering major reforms to how it regulates Internet services. Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s Bill C-10 would dramatically reshape the Broadcasting Act by regulating foreign Internet sites and services with the prospect of mandated registration, payments to support Canadian content, confidential data disclosures, and discoverability requirements. The bill would also remove policies supporting Canadian ownership of the broadcasting system and reduce expectations about Canadian participation in film and television productions. This week’s Law Bytes podcast takes a closer look at the implications of the bill, examining key concerns discussed in my ongoing Broadcasting Act blunder blog series.

December 14, 2020 — 3 comments — Podcasts

One Billion Dollars by Matt Brown (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/pq2SsN

The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 16: Mandated Payments and a Reality Check on Guilbeault’s Billion Dollar Claim

The Broadcasting Act blunder series has identified many of the negative consequences stemming from Bill C-10: the beginning of the end of Canadian broadcast ownership requirements, downgrading the role of Canadians in their own productions, risks to Canadian intellectual property ownership, trade retaliation by the U.S., potential capture of news sites and smaller streaming services, and less consumer choice as services work to avoid the costly Canadian regulatory requirements. Yet for some these costs will still be worth it since their singular goal is to mandate that foreign streaming services contribute funding toward Canadian film and television production. Indeed, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault has made this the centrepiece of his “get money from web giants” strategy claiming that this will result in a billion dollars a year by 2023 in new funding. As this post documents, those claims massively exaggerate the likely funding impact.

December 11, 2020 — 5 comments — News

Uncertainty by Nicu Buculei https://flic.kr/p/923r8Z (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Broadcasting Act Blunder, Day 13: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Targeting Individual Services

Several Broadcasting Act blunder posts have focused on the extensive regulatory requirements for Internet services in Bill C-10, including registration requirements, regulations, and conditions of operation all subject to penalties for failure to comply. While the CRTC will be tasked with establishing the specifics, the bill is notable in that it grants the Commission the power to target individual services or companies with unique or individualized requirements. In other words, rather than establishing a “level playing field” (itself a fiction), Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is opening the door to multiple fields with individual companies potentially each facing their own specific requirements and conditions to operate in Canada.

December 8, 2020 — 3 comments — News