More calls for diminishment of the role of the the CRTC —the state-censor and enforcer of liberal-left ideological, government-mandated “Canadian culture”, which officially causes more harm than good. (Liberals are in favor of that.)
Business leaders want foreign investment in broadcast, telecom
Canadian content rules: Inadvertently weaken country’s identity
Duncan Mavin, Financial Post
Published: Monday, April 03, 2006The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission should open up the broadcast and telecommunications industries to foreign investment and foreign content, Canadian business leaders say.
Rigid regulations imposed by the commission are inadvertently weakening Canadian identity, said more than two-thirds of executives who responded to a Web-based survey conducted for the Financial Post by COMPAS Inc.
The CRTC’s regulations harm the industries they are supposed to help by protecting inferior products while discouraging investment and innovation, those who responded said.
Canada’s private broadcasters spent $1.3-billion on acquiring and producing programming in 2005, of which $587-million, or 45%, was spent on Canadian programs, including $86.6-million for home-grown dramas and $310.2-million for Canadian-based news programs, according to figures released by the CRTC last week.
[…] The business leaders said consumers should be allowed to subscribe to non-Canadian broadcast, Internet or telephone services.
They also said opening up the market would be of most benefit to existing Canadian investors, corporate telecom users, consumers and the Canadian telecom industry.
The poll respondents also called for foreign investors to be allowed to acquire majority stakes of up to 65% in Canadian telecom carriers and broadcasters. Non-Canadians are banned from holding a broadcasting license in Canada.
More than 70% of those polled by COMPAS also called for a more restricted role for the CRTC, which would limit the commission to protecting freedom of expression in small towns and regions where local media monopolies flourish.
The poll’s findings echo a submission from the Competition Bureau last month that noted it would be in the best interests of Canadians for the CRTC to refrain from regulating new forms of broadcasting such as Internet-based radio and cellphone transmissions and, instead, allow the traditional radio industry to deregulate.
The business leaders polled by COMPAS said the primary focus of CRTC regulation should be to protect broadcasters and mobile telephone providers from “disorder in the airwaves” rather than regulating foreign content or investment in the industry.
[…]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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