Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
National

Google says no to online regulations as CRTC starts hearings

Darpan News Desk Canadian Press, 08 Sep, 2014 11:50 AM
  • Google says no to online regulations as CRTC starts hearings
GATINEAU, Que. - Online delivery services such as Netflix and YouTube would be harmed if regulations for Canada's broadcast industry are extended to the digital world, says Google Canada.
 
The content driver issued the warning Monday at the start of two weeks of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission hearings looking at how consumers view and pay for TV programming.
 
Some of Canada's conventional broadcasters and distribution firms argue that online platforms don't contribute to the country's programming delivery system and should be forced somehow to make mandatory contributions.
 
But legitimate online services do, in fact, contribute to the system through licensing of content, said Jason Kee, Google's public policy and government relations counsel.
 
And mandatory contributions would in the end cost consumers, if a contribution mechanism could even be devised and enforced, he said.
 
"Mandatory contributions would likely increase costs to consumers in the form of increased subscription fees and creators in form of diminished license fees or revenue share for them," he told the hearing.
 
In his presentation, Kee suggested that instituting an online content contribution system would face "practical challenges."
 
The CRTC opened the hearings, dubbed "Let's Talk TV," with the aim of developing new regulations to tackle the dramatic, technology-driven changes that have taken place in the television industry.
 
Companies including Google and Netflix are now in the mix, offering TV program delivery services, streamed online.
 
Their presence has put the conventional television industry under pressure, straining revenues as advertising dollars move to other media.
 
The big cable companies are also feeling the effects of change, particularly with a desire voiced by the federal government to move to a so-called "pick-and-pay" system that would require an unbundling of TV channel choices.
 
The CRTC has also proposed allowing local TV stations to shut down their transmitters, which would require consumers of free, over-the-air programming to pay for TV through one of many service providers.
 
In opening the hearings, CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais suggested that rules protecting specific channels or broadcasters could be thrown out in favour of new regulations that empower Canadians to get TV programming how they want it, when they want it.
 
"Rather than protect specific channels or broadcasters or a particular way of doing business, we must ensure that the television system meets the needs and interests of Canadians, both today and in the years ahead," said Blais.
 
The group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting says the regulatory changes proposed by the CRTC would harm local TV stations and would not help consumers.
 
"Pick-and-pay along with the other significant changes on the table ... will likely harm local broadcasting, especially local news, which is the kind of programming Canadians think is most important," the group said in a statement.
 
"In fact, local, independent broadcasters-stations in small- and medium-sized markets are blunt that the changes could force them off the air."

MORE National ARTICLES

Few Jobless In Toronto Are Collecting Employment Insurance Benefits

Few Jobless In Toronto Are Collecting Employment Insurance Benefits
OTTAWA - Just 17 per cent of unemployed Torontonians are collecting employment insurance benefits, one of the city's lowest rates ever as it confronts a higher jobless rate than the provincial and national average.

Few Jobless In Toronto Are Collecting Employment Insurance Benefits

Belly-dancing Tv Show Shakes Egyptian Religious Body

Belly-dancing Tv Show Shakes Egyptian Religious Body
CAIRO - Egypt's top religious body demanded Wednesday that a new belly-dancing TV show be suspended for "corrupting morals" and serving "extremists" who could use it as a pretext to depict Egyptian society as anti-Islamic.

Belly-dancing Tv Show Shakes Egyptian Religious Body

Number Of People On Canadian No-fly List Must Stay Secret: Government

OTTAWA - Federal security officials are resisting pressure to reveal how many people are on Canada's no-fly list, arguing the information could help terrorists plot a violent attack on an airliner.

Number Of People On Canadian No-fly List Must Stay Secret: Government

Bank Of Canada Maintains Interest Rate At 1% After Steady Economic Performance

Bank Of Canada Maintains Interest Rate At 1% After Steady Economic Performance
OTTAWA - The cost of lines of credit and variable-rate mortgages are not expected to change any time soon as the Bank of Canada held its key interest rate steady at one per cent on Wednesday.

Bank Of Canada Maintains Interest Rate At 1% After Steady Economic Performance

Mountie Who Complained He Couldn't Smoke Medicinal Marijuana Guilty Of Assault

Mountie Who Complained He Couldn't Smoke Medicinal Marijuana Guilty Of Assault
FREDERICTON - A New Brunswick Mountie who pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting four fellow RCMP officers says he hopes his case brings attention to the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mountie Who Complained He Couldn't Smoke Medicinal Marijuana Guilty Of Assault

Nunavut One Step Closer To Opening First Beer And Wine Store

Nunavut One Step Closer To Opening First Beer And Wine Store
OTTAWA - Nunavut wants to deal with its alcohol problem by opening the territory's first beer and wine store. Soon Iqaluit residents will have their say and, if there's enough support for the idea, the government plans to open up a store on a trial basis.

Nunavut One Step Closer To Opening First Beer And Wine Store