Canada doesn’t know what to do either…

CRTC Canada’s regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has launched a consultation on broadcasting in the new media environment for a public hearing to be held in early 2009. In 1999 the CRTC looked at new media services delivering content over the internet and decided to exempt them from content regulation. But a lot has changed since the days when fewer than 10% of those who used the internet had broadband connections.

As of 2006 more than 60% of Canadian households had broadband and 93% are currently wired for it, with an existing cable, telephone or other connection already in their home. Also in 2006, 60% of Canadian radio stations stream their programming on the internet but only one Canadian televisions station streams its programming.

In 2007 the Commission also exempted mobile television, but with all the major mobile companies now offering a selection of primarily USA-based mobile TV, the Commission wants to revisit its earlier decision.

To kick off the consultation the CRTC released a compendium of recent research on new and “old” media, Perspectives on Canadian Broadcasting in New Media. The report spends a lot of time examining how much internet access has grown in Canada and how the traditional media are adapting. I’m Canadian (I haven’t lived there for the past 15 years, though) but reading about how radio broadcasters are adapting leaves me with the overall impression that they are no more prepared for it than are most broadcasters in developing countries. Of course radio broadcasters in Latin America and Africa have lots of time to think about it before they have to deal with significant broadband penetration, but if radio broadcasters in Canada and other developed countries didn’t see the internet coming or can’t come up with a viable business model…

Most of the business models presented in the report seem to be for national and specialty services but it seems that at least some local radio stations are making the best of the challenge:

Research data indicates that clearly many radio broadcasters view having a website as an important part of their business plans. Further, where there is no strong local television or daily newspaper presence, some radio stations are seizing an opportunity to expand their role as providers of timely audio and audiovisual local content.

The report also hints at some classic “business models” being developed, such as companies that provide both content and telecom networks that may be giving preferential treatment to their own services so their video streams reach perfectly you while the competition’s are jerky. Mobile service providers are also guilty.

Certain content providers expressed concerns regarding the availability of access to mobile platforms for the purpose of distributing programming to the Canadian public. These stakeholders submitted that some mobile service providers were acting as gatekeepers to their wireless platforms and, in some cases, denying access on just and reasonable terms.

Like broadcasters, Canada’s regulator doesn’t have a very clear plan either, hence the consultation, which has at its core “three simple questions”:

First, is it necessary to regulate commercial television delivered over the Internet and through mobile devices?

Then, if it is necessary, can it be done?

And finally, if it can be done, how should it be done?

(from a speech by CRTC Chair, Konrad von Finckenstein)

CRTC public notice of the consultation

Perspectives on Canadian Broadcasting in New Media

Online consultation (until 15 June ‘08)