(This is an old post that I had kicking around on a different system, and I wanted to keep this one around. If you have already read it, sorry, but if not, it is a small window into what Canadians have to deal with as a country. This was posted back in March 2009, originally… but I liked it, so I decided to put it up again.)

So, apparently I am not losing my job, so I’m not going to be having to look for another one. I have good news in that, because I am sticking around IBM… and I keep a steady paycheque, so I now move on to other concerns.

It has been a while since I have done a full-fledged rant on any particular subject, but this has been stewing in my mind for months, ever since I had heard about this first from a random blog post I had stumbled upon. I am talking about CRTC Public Hearings 2008-11 and 2008-11-1, the move for the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission to start regulating content on the Internet and promoting Canadian content, specifically with broadband video coming into play.

There are many things at stake for Canada as a country in this, which other nationalities might not understand without this paragraph. Unlike a lot of other countries in the world, Canada is right on the border of the United States, and with ten times the population and a hell of a lot more money and broadcasting power than anything in Canada, American media had almost quashed any Canadian-produced content out of existence. That’s when the CRTC stepped in and set it up so that Canadian content would occupy a certain percentage of air time for both radio and television broadcasts. This artificially created a market for Canadian-produced content, which extends to this day. Oh, and they even do something as evil as take broadcasts from Fox or NBC and, if a Canadian channel is airing that same show, switch the signal to the Canadian broadcaster so that we get local ads instead of the American ones. This, of course, peeves off a lot of Canadians, because half the fun of the Super Bowl is watching the commercials… and we don’t get that.

In ’99, the CRTC concluded a study that basically said they weren’t going to try to regulate content on the Internet. From their FAQ page:

In 1999, the CRTC studied the Internet and decided not to regulate it. Access to Internet services was competitive, and both creativity and innovation grew in an environment without regulation. While there was some broadcasting content being offered, most Internet services at the time were text based. The CRTC concluded that the Internet was meeting the objectives of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act. The CRTC periodically reviews its policies to ensure that the objectives continue to be met.

Fast forward to 2009.

The people at the CRTC have reopened this, as broadcasting on the Internet has taken an upswing and some people have gotten pissy about it, because it’s cutting off their funds. And yes, I said pissy, because that’s what they’re being.

Canadian broadcasters are arguing that the Internet has severely hurt them, in both terms of money and Canadian culture, but it seems that people are using the culture part of it to fight. Take, for example, this sample from actor/comedian Colin Mochrie:

Unlike television, when you are broadcasting through new media, the space for content is practically endless. However, being endless, content can easily get lost. So how do we make sure Canadians can find our own content? How do we make sure Canadian content is featured and given “shelf space”?

The full text of his article can be found here.

Let it be known right now that I have great respect for this man. He truly is a funny comedian, and a great actor. However, I’d also like to point out that I know of him from the American version of “Whose Line Is It Anyaway?” and “The Drew Carey Show”. Serious, that’s where I first saw him – it was before I started to regularly watch “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”, which I caught on reruns afterwards.

I’d also like to point out that I lost respect for him after I saw this quote:

Third, if the CRTC is going to create space for Canadian stories in new media, there must be stories to fill that space.

To that end, a levy should be imposed on Internet and wireless service providers to fund new media production, modelled on the levy on cable companies.

Yeah, f*** you too, Colin.

America, you’ve got it right. Most Internet video content is ad-supported, and can usually sustain itself. YouTube, for example, inserts text ads in to support its massive bandwidth fees, and is impressive for its user-driven content. If this goes through, Internet connection fees for EVERYONE in the country will skyrocket, with no real reason other than to “support Canadian content” which it is MY choice to view or not view.

This will kill Canadian web development, and send us back to 1991 for web development technologies. I will cut off my 10 Mbps cable Internet connection, down to the lowest I can find because using the Internet would be pointless if I cannot view the content that I would like to see… either that, or I’m just going to proxy around every single block that ever comes up.

You want supported content for Canadians? Create a Hulu-like service in Canada, that charges a monthly fee to watch high-quality video feeds of Canadian and foreign broadcasts.

You want Canadian content? MAKE GOOD CONTENT! I’m going to use one example, Rick Mercer, who could EASILY compete with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert if people would give him the chance. Corner Gas was pretty good, though a little too topical for people’s tastes – focusing on a small town in Saskatchewan -

Problem is, the company he’s working for, the CBC, is cutting back because of an advertisement shortfall. Since this is a mostly publicly supported company, the funds that came from the federal government were insufficient to help with this. Canadian content will further continue to suffer, as Mr. Mochrie’s arguments had said, but not because of the Internet but by the reluctance to act by the sitting federal government, and yes the economic recession which has caused advertisers to cut back. Yes, way to go Harper, throw more people on the unemployment line in the middle of an economic recession. (And yeah, I expect to be flamed for that. Come on, Conservative supporters, do your worst!)

The point is not to artificially inflate Canadian content by making ISPs charge users more to provide the same service that they have enjoyed for years, but Canadian content providers have got to start putting out competitive products that can and will do well in domestic markets, while still being marketable in foreign markets as well. The Americans did it by taking risks on shows that might have good content… and Canada must follow suit and do similar things, and promote them effectively.

That is, IF they truly care about Canadian content on the Internet, and on TV and via the radio. The way to do it is not by cutting back, it’s by increasing in tough times, and experimenting with new technologies. An on-demand CBC radio schedule would be one way of doing so, turning from the old AM broadcasts into iTunes podcasts, for example.

Start innovating. Go cutting edge. Stop living in the past, embrace the future, etc. Obviously what you’re doing isn’t working, so start coming up with a different business model, or expect to see all Canadian content go up in smoke.

- Me, Myself and I

National borders aren’t even speed bumps on the information superhighway. ~Tim May