Which of the following principles are found in the Broadcasting Act?:
- maximum use of Canadian creative and other resources
- readily adaptable to scientific and technological change
- reliance on market forces
- do not inhibit the development of information technologies
Broadcasting has always been its own particular world, but observers of that world are saying that it’s getting harder and harder to divine what exactly is behind the CRTC’s thinking.
Radio broadcasters are up before the Commission this week, and while it seems pretty clear the radio business is facing some serious challenges — youth now listening to half the radio their elders do; using the cell phone, computer and the Internet to satisfy a third or more of their media/entertainment needs — radio is profitable now, and hence, indications are, the Commission will extract some form of greater “Cancon” contribution. On the other hand, as this site has discussed, the Commission has walked away from broadcast regulation of the mobile space and imposed a minimalist regulatory regime on satellite radio. How all this gets squared in the future is anybody’s guess.
Then witness the Pay TV decision this week. As the Globe reported Friday morning, 4 years of Burger’s life gone, and he’s left wondering why the other guy got the nod, why the Commission introduced a modicum of competition but went back to its old practice of “picking winners” rather than letting the market decide. And new specialty services (basically pay services, but with advertising) are left wondering why they no longer get guaranteed access, but this Allarco service does.
If there’s a consistent pattern here, it doesn’t seem to be in the Broadcasting Act.
And by the way, the answer is all but #3.