79 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

 

CRTC eases Canadian-content quotas for TV

Regulator cuts local daytime requirement from 55% to zero, but keeps prime-time rule at 50%

 

The CRTC has unveiled a dramatic overhaul of its old protectionist rules for television programming, including the relaxation of its long-standing rules that require TV broadcasters to carry a certain quota of Canadian-produced content.

The national broadcast regulator said Thursday it was cutting the quota for the ratio of Canadian programs that local TV stations must broadcast during the day from 55 per cent to zero. That's a recognition that stations have sometimes been broadcasting the same program episodes many times over the course of a day, or even over years, simply to satisfy the old Cancon rule.

 

 

"Television quotas are an idea that is wholly anachronistic in the age of abundance and in a world of choice," CRTC chairman Jean-PierreBlais said in a lunch address to the Canadian Club of Ottawa.

 

But during weekday prime time — 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. — the requirement that 50 per cent of programming must be Canadian will be maintained.

A statement from the office of Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover said the ministry would review the CRTC announcement closely.

"Our government supports any decision that lets consumers choose what they want to watch," the statement said.

Under the new relaxed rules, specialty TV channels, which currently have Canadian content requirements that range from 15 per cent to 85 per cent, will see their Cancon requirements harmonized at 35 per cent overall. The CRTC says there will no longer be a specific Cancon requirement for the evening hours for specialty channels. 

The regulator said that even though Canadian quotas are being reduced, it will still ensure that the majority of local TV stations and specialty channels reinvest a portion of their revenues into the creation of Canadian-made content. But broadcasters will be able to focus that spending on fewer shows if they want.

'The system cannot remain frozen in time when the world around us is changing.'— CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais

The CRTC is also proposing that video-on-demand services like CraveTV and Shomi be allowed to offer their own
exclusive content, as long as it's also available online across
the country.

 

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...or-tv-1.2992132

[VicHockeyFan]

This part is interesting:

 

 

5. Set-top boxes

Most Canadians who subscribe to television services have a set-top box that they either purchased or are renting from their service provider. These devices transfer or convert video content, enabling it to be displayed on a television screen, and can be used for audience measurement purposes. Currently, the larger cable and satellite companies have a certain advantage since they can share this data with their own television stations and channels.

Data from set-top boxes could help all broadcasters better provide Canadian viewers with the programming they want to watch and could also be used to make more informed programming and scheduling decisions. It could also serve to increase revenues flowing to program creators.

The CRTC is requiring the industry to form a working group to develop an audience measurement system based on the data from set-top boxes. This group will be tasked with proposing technical standards, privacy protections and a governance structure, as well as determining how costs will be shared.

The working group must report back to the CRTC on its progress by June 10, 2015.

 

http://news.gc.ca/we...n.do?nid=947279

[lanforod]

That should have been done 20 years ago. Now many people, and more every year are moving to online streaming, which can't legally be measured on a per household basis.

[sebberry]

I'd rather they force providers to let customers use their own STBs...

[VicHockeyFan]

I'd rather they force providers to let customers use their own STBs...

 

Could they handle all kinds of different technology in different homes?  That sounds problematic, for devices that allow pay-per-view and ordering via the remote control etc.

[sebberry]

Could they handle all kinds of different technology in different homes?  That sounds problematic, for devices that allow pay-per-view and ordering via the remote control etc.

 

It's done just fine in the US.  The CableCARD (and now M-Card) standards are pretty solid.  Heck, there's an M-Card in many Shaw boxes now.  If you're lucky, you'll get a CSR to activate it outside of a Shaw terminal. 

 

I have an HTPC and it would have been nice to tune and record TV shows on it rather than switching between it and the cable box.

[jonny]

What is the point of the CRTC?

 

I honestly have no idea what it does.

 

I know they step in and basically handcuff foreign entities who want to do business within our precious telecommunications industries. I know they regulate these ridiculous Canadian content quotas. Didn't they want to introduce a Netflix tax at some point? Other than being a giant, bureaucratic entity with no real vision or goals, what is the point of the CRTC?

 

I love that Bell created Crave TV in a pretty decent attempt to stave off the pending bloodbath when consumers leave traditional cable TV en masse, and then the CRTC goes ahead and says Crave TV should be available to everybody...good grief. One of our giant telecoms finally makes a sensible, defensible business decision, and the government steps in and tells them they can't do it!

[thundergun]

Once I can stream sports online, without having to buy a gamecentre like package for every sport (that somehow still has regionalized blackouts), I expect the number of people cutting the cable will skyrocket.

[jonny]

Once I can stream sports online, without having to buy a gamecentre like package for every sport (that somehow still has regionalized blackouts), I expect the number of people cutting the cable will skyrocket.

 

Absolutely.

[Kikadee]

Once I can stream sports online, without having to buy a gamecentre like package for every sport (that somehow still has regionalized blackouts), I expect the number of people cutting the cable will skyrocket.

 

And on the flip side, if CRTC takes the next step and breaks up bundled cable packages, then I will never have to pay for (or scroll through) a million sports channels and kids channels ever again!

[thundergun]

^ To each his/her own. The way I see it is that any good show makes its way to an online streaming service relatively soon. News is available in many different formats (TV, radio, newspapers, internet). Live TV, in my opinion, is only needed for sports.

[VicHockeyFan]

 Live TV, in my opinion, is only needed for sports.

 

I agree.  That's all I seek out TV for.

[johnk]

The CRTC is a clumsy, behind-the-curve outfit in many ways but it has helped create a viable tv production sector through the CanCon regs.
Without mandating a certain amount of Canadian-made content nobody would be producing shows in Canada. The huge US entertainment industry churns out dozens and dozens of sitcoms, dramas, soaps and so forth.

If successful they recoup their costs in the US market. Episodes can then be dumped on the world market at a price that undercuts domestic production costs in other countries. A half-hour sitcom made in Toronto or Vancouver or Halifax might cost $250,000 an episode. Episodes of a US show might be available for $100,000 an episode. Sorta like Chinese steel flooding tbe market and undercutting the domestic product.

Without the CanCon production regs networks would simply purchase finished US programming without all the associated hassles of creating and producing their own. Their would be no jobs in Canada for our own technicians, actors, producers, writers.

Canada will never rival the Hollywood machine or produce mega-million dollar Transformer-type blockbusters; we are too small to go head to head against that.

But Canada can do smaller-scale and sell into international markets and that seems to be happening nicely. I've seen Murdoch Mysteries in Kuala Lumpur, Steven and Chris in Bangkok, Trailer Park Boys in Europe, Quebec productions on French tv.

Without the CRTC regs that would not have come about, we would be inundated by foreign content and Canadian talent would have far fewer opportunities.

Edited by johnk, 18 March 2015 - 10:59 AM.

[lanforod]

.

Canada will never rival the Hollywood machine or produce mega-million dollar Transformer-type blockbusters; we are too small to go head to head against that.
 

 

The Twilight series is Canadian filmed, does that qualify...

Titanic is another example

 

We have had many blockbusters filmed in Canada.

[johnk]

The Twilight series is Canadian filmed, does that qualify...
Titanic is another example

We have had many blockbusters filmed in Canada.

Don't know Twilight. Was Titanic done in Canada? Cameron is from Canada but that movie has so much CG stuff, was it done here? Certainly not much that has anything Canadian about it. I would think Hollywood has much greater capacity for that stuff than anywhere else, they can turn out half a dozen simultaneously. But I admit I don't know for sure. Never saw Titanic, didn't want to after someone told me "the boat sinks".
But my point is about tv which is overseen by the CRTC and that's where Canada has developed a viable industry specializing in smaller-scale productions because it was given a chance.

Edited by johnk, 18 March 2015 - 04:16 PM.

[VicHockeyFan]

Some type of ruling is coming down today re unbundling.

[Sparky]

^ You have to love election year.

[VicHockeyFan]

^ You have to love election year.

 

Well, they appointed CRTC head Blais in mid-2012, and he's been working the file to the satisfaction of the government since then.

[Mike K.]

How about a ruling regarding cell phone rates? Good grief, I was looking at 4G sticks and Wind's ROAMING rate of 5 cents a MB is cheaper than the big 3's home region bundle rate. Lame.

[VicHockeyFan]

How about a ruling regarding cell phone rates? Good grief, I was looking at 4G sticks and Wind's ROAMING rate of 5 cents a MB is cheaper than the big 3's home region bundle rate. Lame.

 

You want government setting prices?  Bad idea.  That'll definitely keep competition away from this country, and slow technological advances.  Government setting prices anywhere is never good.