CAB set to invite pure play new media companies into association ranks this fall

Canada's largest lobby group for private broadcasters may begin inviting new media companies to join their organization, including those with no formal affiliation with conventional television. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) passed a resolution May 12 to create a new membership class and a new outreach program to exploit potential ties between new and old media. A final vote on the issue will be put to CAB members for approval at the association's AGM later this year in Calgary. CAB officials are optimistic the vote will pass. Under the association's existing bylaws, anyone can join as an associate member, but there are no provisions to invite non-traditional broadcasters as full members. It's a bylaw the CAB says will likely be changed to ensure new media members have full voting rights. Although the association is recommending that all new media companies be allowed to join, the members it attracts will likely be subsidiaries of private broadcasters or companies that have developed applications or services that complement conventional television. To further bridge the gap between broadcasting and new media, the CAB has created a new program dubbed CAB Online, a forum for the development of policy and business issues. Headed by Rob Scarf, whose title has now changed to VP, TV and online services, CAB Online will tackle issues such as privacy, gatekeeping, copyright and new business models. The association will look at using meetings, forums and other venues to facilitate a more structured and constructive dialogue between old and new media. CAB Online will likely also commission new research into the state of interactive advertising and cross-platform selling. Two other national associations whose members are actively expanding into new media have no immediate plans to welcome digital content companies or dot-com players. The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) says informal talks between its cable system members and new media companies will continue. Michael Hennessy, the CCTA's senior VP of policy and planning, says he's been actively soliciting partnership opportunities between the two camps, but adds that those efforts haven't extended to creating a new membership class within the association. Bringing regulated & unregulated companies under same umbrella The Specialty and Premium Television Association (SPTV) also has no plans to invite pure-play new media companies to join its national organization. President and CEO Jane Logan says SPTV's strengths lie in lobbying the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on issues such as distribution and content - areas in which dot-coms are unlikely to find much value. Since the CRTC's decision last year against regulating Internet content, new media companies have nearly unfettered freedom over the distribution of most any content, obviating the need for a lobby voice at the commission table. How the CAB will effectively represent regulated and non-regulated members remains to be seen, although the future regulation of its largest members could depend on how quickly the Internet becomes a competitor to traditional industries. The CAB is hoping that if viewers begin migrating from the TV to the web, the CRTC will lighten the regulatory load for broadcasters. The CCTA is also looking at new media in ways that would benefit its own members. The association wants the federal government to allow cable companies to divert a portion of their TV programming contributions to new media projects (CNM, April 6/00). Through a series of meetings with new media producers, Hennessy and the CCTA hope to have a detailed strategy and structured proposal on the feds' desks by the end of the year.

CAB set to invite pure play new media companies into association ranks this fall

Broadcast | May 31, 2000

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