Letter to the editor: Re” Thinking outside the idiot box” (September 27)
FRIENDS spokesperson, Ian Morrison, responds to a Globe and Mail editorial claiming that the CRTC needs to start thinking outside the "idiot box" if it wants to play a meaningful role in Canadians’ lives.
Submitted in response to a Globe and Mail editorial: "The CRTC needs to start thinking outside the idiot box"
Over two decades the Internet has slowly morphed into a medium capable of streaming audiovisual content. When the CRTC first issued an exemption order for web programming, it was considered complementary to, not competing with other programming. That order is now obsolete. The CRTC has clear authority under the Broadcasting Act to regulate audiovisual signals entering Canadian homes, regardless of how they are distributed. The only question is whether the CRTC has the will to do so, in the face of a hostile government, probably on its last legs. The Lobby Registration web site shows that Netflix has met with many government officials up to Paul Calandra, the Prime Minister’s parliamentary secretary. The company clearly thought that it did not need to respect the Commission’s legal authority when it appeared on September 19.
Channel scarcity was never a rationale for broadcasting regulation in Canada. Shelf space for Canada in the audiovisual system was always the goal, and the CRTC has succeeded over five decades in maintaining a strong Canadian presence on English television in head-on competition with Hollywood. A recent Nanos Research poll found that 69% of Canadians’ impression of Netflix would be more positive if it contributed financially to help support Canadian TV programs. This not about technology. It’s about political will.
Ian Morrison
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting