Canada is currently considering major reforms to how it regulates Internet services. Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s Bill C-10 would dramatically reshape the Broadcasting Act by regulating foreign Internet sites and services with the prospect of mandated registration, payments to support Canadian content, confidential data disclosures, and discoverability requirements. The bill would also remove policies supporting Canadian ownership of the broadcasting system and reduce expectations about Canadian participation in film and television productions. This week’s Law Bytes podcast takes a closer look at the implications of the bill, examining key concerns discussed in my ongoing Broadcasting Act blunder blog series.
The podcast can be downloaded here, accessed on YouTube, and is embedded below. Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or the RSS feed. Updates on the podcast on Twitter at @Lawbytespod.
Show Notes:
Broadcasting Act Blunder series
Day 1: Why there is no Canadian Content Crisis
Day 2: What the Government Doesn’t Say About Creating a “Level Playing Field”
Day 3: Minister Guilbeault Says Bill C-10 Contains Economic Thresholds That Limit Internet Regulation. It Doesn’t
Day 4: Why Many News Sites are Captured by Bill C-10
Day 5: Narrow Exclusion of User Generated Content Services
Day 6: The Beginning of the End of Canadian Broadcast Ownership and Control Requirements,
Day 7: Beware Bill C-10’s Unintended Consequences
Day 8: The Unnecessary Discoverability Requirements
Day 9: Why Use Cross-Subsidies When the Government is Rolling out Tech Tax Policies?
Day 10: Downgrading the Role of Canadians in their Own Programming
Day 11: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Licence or Registration Required, Broadcast Reform Bill Could Spell the End of Canadian Ownership Requirements
Day 12: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – The CRTC Conditions
Day 13: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Targeting Individual Services
Day 14: The Risk to Canadian Ownership of Intellectual Property
Day 15: Mandated Confidential Data Disclosures May Keep Companies Out of Canada
Day 16: Mandated Payments and a Reality Check on Guilbeault’s Billion Dollar Claim
Credits:
House of Commons Debate, November 18, 2020
CPAC, Heritage Minister Discusses Bill to Update Broadcasting Act
The Canadian digital first creator economy isn’t something that politicians or policy makers seem to know much about, but they are quick to propose legislative reforms that directly implicate it, most recently in the form of Bill C-10. Yet the sector is thriving, with Canadian stars earning millions of dollars and attracting global audiences that often exceed Canada’s conventional film and television sector. Scott Benzie, the CEO of Buffer Festival, started in traditional media but now advocates and works with creators, platforms and industry around online content. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss the current state of digital first creators in Canada, their omission from the Bill C-10 process, and the formation of Digital First Canada, a new advocacy group to better represent the needs of the community. The podcast can be downloaded here, accessed on YouTube, and is embedded below. Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or the RSS feed. Updates on the podcast on Twitter at @Lawbytespod. Credits: Pokimane Too, Watching PewDiePie’s Rewind ...
Many Canadians follow telecommunications and broadcast issues at the CRTC from a distance – the cost of wireless services, the speed of their Internet access, the availability of broadcasting choice. Others engage more closely on issues such as net neutrality, Cancon regulation, or Netflix taxes. But there is one Canadian who doesn’t just follow the CRTC. She watches it through the use of access to information laws that present a perspective on the CRTC that would otherwise remain hidden from view. Monica Auer, the Executive Director of the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, joins the podcast this week to talk about insider access, slow reimbursement of costs for public interest groups, the number of CRTC meetings, and the Commission’s seeming indifference to commissioning original research. The interview is interspersed with comments from current CRTC Ian Scott taken from one of his first public speeches after being named chair in 2017. The podcast can be downloaded here and is embedded below. The transcript is posted at the bottom of this post or can be accessed here. Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or the RSS feed. Updates on the podcast on Twitter at @Lawbytespod. Episode Notes: FRPC Policy 3.0 Conference (registration) Credits: CPAC, CRTC Chair Ian Scott Speaks About Internet Neutrality FairPlay Canada Urges CRTC Action Against Online Theft Transcript: ...
The Supreme Court of Canada's latest copyright decision - SOCAN v. Entertainment Software Association - affirms yet again that technological neutrality is a foundational element of the law and notably emphasizes that “copyright law does not exist solely for the benefit of authors.” My colleague Jeremy de Beer was an active participant in the case, writing an expert opinion during the Copyright Board phase of the case which reflects the approach that the court ultimately adopted. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss the evolution of music distribution online, this latest case and the court’s commitment to copyright balance, as well as what might come next in the seemingly never-ending battle over Canadian copyright law. ...
