CRTC reform urged as feds discuss CanCon
Another pro-market TORONTO think-tank has called for massive reforms to the institution that regulates broadcasting and telecommunications as the federal government seeks opinions on how to overhaul its Canadian content policy for the digital era.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s mandate should be updated to limit what the regulator can do in a marketplace that vastly changed since the institution’s creation nearly 50 years ago, argues a report published Thursday by the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
It suggests the CRTC kill Canadian content requirements for all broadcasters except the CBC/Radio Canada; defer to the Competition Bureau to avoid duplication on rulings on anti-competitive conduct, protecting consumers and reviewing mergers; combine the radiocommunication, broadcasting and telecommunications acts; and generally get out the way on issues such as skinny TV packages.
“The CRTC’s regulatory decisions have often become inconsistent, heavy-handed, and counterproductive,” the report states, blaming the dated federal digital policy. “Regulating how much Canadian content is shown on traditional over-the-air television when Canadians are spending roughly one-third of a day per week watching Internet-based content, for instance, seems like a losing battle.”
The argument comes in the midst of two-months-long consultations by the Department of Canadian Heritage on the government’s approach to cultural industries. “Everything is on the table,” federal Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has said about the process.
While this opens up a wide range of opinions on recent CRTC rules regarding Canadian content, renewed speculation of a Netflix tax and a requirement for pick-andpay TV channels, think-tanks are using it as a chance to call for deep reform to the CRTC itself.
The report, written by former CRTC commissioner and cable and telecom executive Len Katz and Sean Speer, former economic adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper, echoes reports published this spring by the Fraser Institute and the C.D. Howe Insti- tute that called CRTC regulations outdated in the Netflix era.
They point to the CRTC’s failed scuffle with Netflix (it couldn’t convince the U.S. company to hand over subscriber and revenue information) as a key example of why it needs an overhaul. They suggest the timing is good, as CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais’ mandate is set to expire in 2017.
The CRTC has increasingly been in the spotlight as it pursues a consumer-friendly agenda spurred by the former Conservative government’s efforts to boost competition. Consumers have applauded initiatives such as pick-and-pay channels and skinny TV packages that the industry was reluctant to adopt — regulations the report calls “hard to justify” given the lack of rules for new streaming services.
Unlike Conservative leadership hopeful Maxime Bernier’s calls to get rid of the telecom regulator altogether, the report argues the CRTC still has a place, albeit a shrunk one. It calls for a limited role that focuses on technical issues such as inter-operability, spectrum transfer and wholesale rules along with social policies like official languages and access for people with disabilities.
“More generally, the CRTC should be more deferential to market forces in the communications sectors,” the report states.
At an upcoming hearing on differential pricing, the practice of exempting certain types of data from charges, companies and consumer groups are preparing to argue that exact point. Videotron Inc. and Facebook, among others, will argue the CRTC should not regulate the practice they say sparks innovation and consumer choice, while consumer groups counter it hurts smaller players and encourage a ban.
The Department of Heritage consultations end Nov. 25.
The CRTC should be more deferential to market forces in the communications sectors.