Rescind digital media exemption order: ACTRA

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is asking the government to rescind the digital media exemption order (DMEO) as part of its review of Canadian content in a digital age. The DMEO, introduced in 1999, exempts online services from the same regulations as traditional broadcasters. In its written submission to the government as part of the review, ACTRA said the DMEO was “one of the most short-sighted decisions in broadcasting history.” The organization also that over-the-top (OTT) services should be required to pay sales taxes, and that services with more than 2,000 subscribers should also have to contribute five per cent of their “gross revenues from broadcasting related activities” towards Canadian content, while Internet Service Providers (ISPs) “should make a contribution to Canadian programming that is proportional to the extent to which consumers are accessing programming content through their ISP.” Several of its positions were similar to what the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) asked in its submission last week. The ACTRA document also addressed criticism that requiring such contributions would affect affordability of Internet service. “With due respect to the critics of our proposal to provide an ISP contribution to Canadian content production, we do not accept that this incremental cost will mean Internet access will become out of reach for many Canadians,” it said. “Still, to avoid any possibility of this outcome and to speed the rollout of Internet access to all Canadians, we recommend the government provide appropriate subsidies or tax incentives to ensure all Canadians have access to the Internet.” ACTRA also recommended that federal cultural agencies “fund audiovisual works that are being produced for any primary release market, and not just television and cinema.” It also asked for changes to how income tax is calculated for artists, asked that funding programs “specifically mandate the achievement of gender equity in the positions of screenwriter, showrunner, director and producer by 2020,” and argued that CBC/Radio-Canada should become commercial-free and that the government should take more steps to build export markets for Canadian content.

Rescind digital media exemption order: ACTRA

Brief | November 28, 2016

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Rescind digital media exemption order: ACTRA

Brief | November 28, 2016

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