Broadcast Act updates not comprehensive enough: NDP, Conservatives

The Liberal government’s proposed updates to the Broadcasting Act have received sharp criticism from opposition parties, while some advocates for Canadian content makers offered up praise for Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s bill, tabled Tuesday as Bill C-10. On Parliament Hill, NDP MP and Heritage critic Alexandre Boulerice called the update “extremely weak” and “full of holes” in French, while suggesting that the Liberals were trying to “bury” the updates by announcing them on the day of the U.S. election. Boulerice criticized the proposed legislation for narrowly focusing on streaming companies, while failing to give the CRTC authority over web giants such as Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc. Boulerice suggested that the NDP was hoping for an Australian-style law where such companies would be required to pay media outlets for news content. “We were expecting financial compensation for the use of journalistic content - and there’s nothing. Nothing at all,” said Boulerice in French at a press conference. Guilbeault told reporters Tuesday the government was working on developing new rules for Google and Facebook and would bring them forward soon. Boulerice also argued that ISPs should also be asked to support Canadian content. An emailed statement from Conservative heritage critic Alain Rayes echoed the NDP’s stance, suggesting that the Liberals were not taking sufficiently decisive action. “C-10 doesn't address the issues of digital giants nor social media. The Liberal government is simply passing the buck to the CRTC on all the tough questions, while offering no clear direction,” Rayes said in the statement. Streaming companies likely to be affected by the changes have mostly stayed silent. In a statement emailed to The Wire Report, Netflix Inc. spokesperson Lindsey Scully said the company was dedicated to supporting Canadian content. “We all have a role to play in supporting the future of film and television created in Canada. We are reviewing the legislation and remain committed to being a good partner to Canada’s creative community while also investing in local economies.” A representative for Montreal-based audio streaming service Stingray Group Inc. said that the company was currently seeking more information on the changes. Amazon.com Inc. (which operates its Amazon Prime service in Canada) did not comment, and music streaming giant Spotify AB did not respond to a request for comment. Canadian broadcasters were also somewhat quiet: Rogers Communications Inc. did not respond to a request for comment, while a BCE Inc. spokesperson said the company needed more time to consider the changes. Meanwhile, Corus Entertainment Inc. praised the changes for “leveling the playing field” between broadcasters and digital streaming outlets, although a spokesperson for the company said in an email that the changes were only a starting point for reform. “In recent years, Corus has urged Government to do more than just apply an outdated, prescriptive set of rules to a larger group that includes digital players. To ‘level the playing field’ in a way that meaningfully assists Canadian broadcasters, we require a lighter regulatory burden, which allows us to compete in a global environment.” Quebecor Inc. gave a similar response. In a French-language statement on Twitter, the company welcomed the revision of the “outdated” Broadcasting Act, stating that it would begin to address the inequity between regulations for digital streaming services and traditional broadcasters, but noting that the company still had a number of unspecified concerns about how the new act would be applied. Advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting offered a harsher response than the broadcasters: executive director Daniel Bernhard called the proposed updates a “significant capitulation” to tech giants. “What ails the broadcasting system is not just that Netflix doesn’t contribute sufficiently to Canadian content,” he said. “The government has done nothing here to stop our licensed broadcasters from going broke as all the ad revenue goes to Facebook and Google.” Bernhard also noted that the CRTC already has the powers to regulate streaming services like Netflix, without Bill C-10. “If the government was really serious about this they could issue the CRTC a one-paragraph letter tomorrow and have Netflix contribute to the system.” Internet advocacy group OpenMedia offered their own critique of Bill C-10, and argued that the bill goes too far, rather than not far enough. “By wrongly treating online content like a limited resource, fundamentally misunderstands the very nature of what makes streaming platforms so popular in the first place – unlimited choice, and customized content...they should commit to adapting the CanCon system to help our creators and broadcasters compete on the global playing field the Internet supports – not try to wrangle Canada's section of the Internet into a walled garden,” OpenMedia executive director Laura Tribe said in a statement. Meanwhile, groups representing creative workers in Canada were in favour of Guilbeault’s bill. “We applaud the government’s intent to bring online broadcasters – which includes some of the world’s largest global technology companies – into Canada’s legislative and regulatory system,” Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) president and CEO Reynolds Mastin wrote in a statement emailed to The Wire Report. “Given their ability to access domestic audiences and generate significant Canadian revenues, these tech giants must be required to contribute to the production of Canadian programming.” The Writers Guild of Canada was particularly welcoming of Bill C-10, urging the government to enact the new laws as soon as possible. “We cannot afford to lose one more second,” wrote WGC executive director Maureen Parker in a statement. “We have already lost a generation of screenwriting talent to the U.S. for lack of opportunity in Canada — but hopefully this bill will help to retain those that are still here.” — Reporting by Tim Forster at tforster@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Broadcast Act updates not comprehensive enough: NDP, Conservatives

Broadcast | November 3, 2020

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Broadcast Act updates not comprehensive enough: NDP, Conservatives

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