Broadcasters, advocates call for terms of trade and stronger inclusion for racialized producers in C-11

While both support the Online Streaming Act and would like to see it passed, executives from APTN and OutTV would like to see more added to the bill to strengthen their respective channels' positions in the developing streaming landscape, a Senate committee studying the bill heard Tuesday. APTN CEO Monika Ille and OutTV CEO Brad Danks both told the Senate Transport and Communications Committee – which is currently studying the act, also known as C-11 – that the legislation should contain strengthened carriage provision for both their channels. Under Bill C-11, "the CRTC can in theory order certain online distributors to offer programming services for other companies who distribute APTN, but the CRTC wouldn't be able to determine the distribution conditions," Ille told senators, and said that the new act should allow the CRTC to mandate terms of trade with the foreign streamers. Without the CRTC's 9(1)(h) mandatory carriage provisions for cable companies, Ille said, APTN would not exist today, and there must be equivalent provisions for the digital streaming age. The lack of such regulations is "a path to decline" for the network, she said. "APTN lacks market power to conduct meaningful negotiations with powerful online distributors, and APTN's mandate is not market driven," the CEO of the Indigenous channel said. Danks told senators that "there are clear signs that the U.S. market is tightening." "With no requirement for any of these platforms to offer any of these Canadian services in Canada, there's a very real fear that many Canadian services would be locked out of our own market," he told senators, and said that platforms outside Canada have refused to negotiate carriage deals with the LGTBQ2+-centred channel. Asked by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne about whether or not a fund to support broadcasters like APTN in carriage negotiations should mandatory carriage regulations run afoul of the so-called "new NAFTA" trade arrangement, Ille said that a new fund would add a level of bureaucracy to the process. "I would rather go for what we already have and what functions. The CRTC will not abuse its position, and will take the good decisions," Ille said in French, according to simultaneous translation. Director general of the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française Marie-Christine Morin told senators that it would like to see a section of the bill preserved that mandates that the CRTC consult with Francophone content producers in the French language. "We are disappointed and very concerned about the CRTC's unilateral request to strike out 5.2," Morin said. "It is essential to the equitable participation of official language minority communities in the broadcasting system," she said, adding that there are resource and capacity limitations to participating fully in CRTC consultations for organizations like hers. In a later session of the committee hearing Madeline Ziniak and Aldo Di Felice, both of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association, told senators that ethnic media has been marginalized in the past, but are pleased with sections in the bill that strengthen multicultural content creation. Specifically, Ziniak praised the bill's inclusion of language enshrining that Canadian broadcasting should reflect the "multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society." Di Felice added that the policy direction from Canadian Heritage that will govern the implementation of the bill once passed will "fast track a review and update a review of the now 24-year-old CRTC ethnic broadcasting policy." Black Screen Office executive director Joan Jenkinson praised the inclusion of language in the bill specifically reflecting the experience of Black Canadians alongside other racialized groups, but questioned why the House of Commons Heritage committee had only included the language in four out of ten references to racialized people. "This random approach to improving legislation leaves it open to challenge and interpretation should it be passed in this way. There may not be a clear direction to the CRTC to enact policy and regulation that would target Canadian content for Black audiences and made by Black talent," Jenkinson said. "This in turn could lead to legal challenges, as stakeholders argue whether particular circumstances lead to addressing the specific needs of Black Canadians, or whether they are to be combined with all other racialized Canadians." Lisa Valencia-Svensson, managing director of the Racial Equity Media Collective, called for a greater system of accountability for a series of stated goals to promote equity inclusion in the broadcasting system. Valencia-Svensson thus called on Senators to make the recommendation that the act be accompanied by "strong government directives" that mandate the collection of raced-based data; to require that the CRTC make regular reports on its progress in the area; that Canadian Heritage and the CRTC hire senior equity officers to monitor the collection and evaluation of the data; and that there be regular consultation with racialized communities on matters of inclusion. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Broadcasters, advocates call for terms of trade and stronger inclusion for racialized producers in C-11

Broadcast | September 20, 2022

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