By Christopher Guly
Licensed broadcasters in Canada should not face new contribution costs “until our existing obligations are revisited and recalibrated,” argued Jennifer Lee, EVP and general counsel of Corus Entertainment, to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on Wednesday (Nov. 29), at the halfway mark of the CRTC’s Path Forward hearings in Gatineau, Que.
Corus has proposed that the Commission require “large, standalone online undertakings who are not affiliated with licensed broadcasters” and whose annual gross revenues exceed $50 million to be subject to a base contribution, said Lee, adding that licensed Canadian broadcasters already carry “heavy, inequitable contribution requirements,” and should not be contending with new costs, like requirements for online undertakings such as StackTV.
“The largest standalone online undertakings are owned by multi-billion, and in some cases, trillion-dollar, international media and technology companies,” which, “unlike Corus… enjoy global scale, unlimited access to capital markets [and] no regulation in Canada,” she said.
Matt Thompson, Corus’ VP and associate general counsel, told the CRTC panel that obligations should be assigned to specific undertakings, rather than their ownership group, and that online undertakings should be assigned to three classes: distribution, video programming and audio programming. He said online video programmers should be required to make initial base contributions of 20%, while audio programmers should contribute 4%, with distributors contributing 5%.
To address what Lee characterized as “a news funding crisis” in Canada, Thompson proposed that 25% of all initial base contributions be allocated to the current Independent Local News Fund.
Funds that support non-news Canadian content and creators, such as the Canada Media Fund, should receive 64% of the contributions, “or less, if the commission decides to expand the fund,” said Thompson.
Furthermore, he added that funds that support creators from the Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities should receive 4% of contributions, while “funds that support accessibility, participation and other public-interest objectives like broadcasting services deemed of exceptional importance” should receive 3% of the contributions.
“International streamers enjoy structural competitive advantages,” said Troy Reeb (pictured), Corus’ EVP of networks and content, which he said agrees with “large, unregulated international players… that equitable does not necessarily mean the same. But equitable does not mean that you get to enter the regulated system on your own terms.”
Foreign streamers “have had the better part of a decade to prepare for Canadian regulations,” said Reeb. “They should not be allowed to delay any further.”
Digital First Canada, however, warned that any new money flowing “not go into a fund that digital creators and programs cannot access,” said Scott Benzie, co-founder and executive director of the advocacy organization.
“A lot of the organizations that have come before you have talked of declining revenues, and a drop in percentages of plays from the good old days,” he said. “What they don’t tell you is that there is a new type of artist, an entrepreneur that does it on their own, receives money direct from the platforms and enjoys the ability to connect with a global audience.”
Benzie explained that the best way to support independent digital creators “is to build a network of supporting industries to support specific needs of creators.”
“We are not here looking for a handout,” he said. “If the Commission decides not to support digital-first creators, they will continue to flourish as they always have. But there is a real risk of taking resources they have today and handing them over to a system that admittedly is just learning about our industry.”
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), which serves a blind or partially sighted audience, presented a funding formula under the modernized regulatory framework to the CRTC.
“If the base contribution is set at 5% and online undertakings generate approximately $5 billion, the initial amount available to distribute would be $250 million,” said David Errington, AMI president and CEO, who added that 5% of that amount would be $12.5 million, which could be directed to public interest services.
He said that the AMI recommended that at least 80% of the funds be directed to not-for-profit services under the Broadcasting Act, such as AMI, which Errington noted, “would make a material difference to the sustainability of public interest services.”
Meanwhile, the Shaw Rocket Fund, which supports the creation of children’s content, called on the CRTC to make that sector “a beneficiary of any initial or base contribution,” said Christine Shipton, chair of the fund’s board of directors.
“In addition, we ask there is a dedicated, ongoing and meaningful allocation assigned to Canadian and Indigenous children’s and youth content from every recipient, when appropriate,” she said, noting that this path should be followed into the second phase of the contribution framework discussion.
The Path Forward hearings are scheduled to run until Dec. 8.
The article originally appeared on Playback
