Broadcasting

 source: Le Devoir, cited in MSN

author: Guillaume Bourgault-Côté 

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Culture: a billion less because of the web giants

A billion dollars less in the Canadian cultural ecosystem by 2023: this is, according to an evaluation by the Department of Canadian Heritage, the impact that the Internet giants would have if there were no  legislative changes in Canada. But Minister Steven Guilbeault was emphatic  in an editorial interview with Le Devoir  : Ottawa will force these companies to hand over a large part of the money they monopolize.

"The projections of the Department of Heritage are more than a billion dollars less for Canadian and Quebec productions by 2023," Guilbeault revealed Thursday morning. We want to reverse this trend and go after the money where it is. The bill [on broadcasting, which will be tabled this fall] aims to ensure that there is a contribution from these giants to rebalance things a little. "

The billion dollar estimate - this is the first time that Ottawa has quantified the effect of web giants - encompasses different things. “More and more people are disconnecting from cable companies, who pay royalties [used to finance local production],” noted the minister. [There is also] the shrinking advertising base for traditional Canadian broadcasters, which increasingly goes to the web giants. All in all means that for the next few years, there would be a billion dollars less available for creators, our artisans in Quebec and Canada. "

According to Steven Guilbeault, the bill he will table in the coming weeks will help reverse this trend. “What we want: rather than having a deficit of one billion within three years, the objective is to have a few hundred million more per year that are invested [by American platforms]. It's difficult to give an exact figure, but we are in the order of hundreds of millions more that will be invested year after year, and this money will come from the giants of the Web. It will not come from Canadian broadcasters who are already making their effort. "

Empowerment

Two other bills are on the program for the next few months, said the minister: one on “neighboring rights” - to force Google and Facebook to pay the media for the use of their content - and another on “all the issue of hate speech online, child pornography ”- a liberal pledge from the last campaign.

Overall, Steven Guilbeault promises to "make these digital companies accountable" which are currently evolving without any regulatory constraints in Canada.

The broadcasting bill will impose “expenditure and investment obligations” on Spotify, Netflix, Disney and other big players towards whom the habits of cultural consumption converge. They will also be subject to "requirements on French and discoverability", a concept which is somewhat the equivalent of showcasing.

“We know that these companies generate a lot of income and profits in Canada, but it's not clear how,” added Steven Guilbeault. We want to give the CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission] the necessary tools to obtain this information, which they cannot do at present. I'm not interested in algorithms, how Netflix programs its stuff. The companies are resistant to that and it does not interest us…. But, on the other hand, I want us to be able to know how many members Netflix has in Canada, generates how much income, and the same for others. "

Companies will therefore be subject to certain transparency obligations. “You need to have this information to be able to understand whether their contribution to the content is adequate, if the level of effort is there,” says Mr. Guilbeault.

Yale Report

Ottawa received last January the report of the expert committee it had appointed to study the future of communications in Canada. Large and ambitious, the Yale report proposed 97 recommendations that outlined the contours of a revolution in the sector.

Thursday, Steven Guilbeault indicated that the bill he will introduce will respect the spirit of the report - without however embracing each proposal. In addition to integrating the web giants into the regulatory fold, the new law will also modernize the entire broadcasting license system granted by the CRTC.

The Yale report proposed adopting a hybrid model - traditional broadcasters would still need licenses, but digital broadcasters would have to participate in a “registration regime” with obligations attached. "The mixed system has inspired us a lot for the reform of the law", confided Mr. Guilbeault adding that it would not be "not necessarily in these terms". “The system in place has served us well for decades,” he said. But it needs to be modernized and added to it for the web giants. "

The CRTC will be endowed with extensive powers, said the minister, while assuring that this body will "not be interested in the content". “The Council currently has very few tools in its box ... Its only tool [in the face of those who do not respect the rules] is a nuclear bomb: remove a license. We want to give it tools ”allowing in particular the imposition fines on recalcitrant.

Among the recommendations of the Yale report that may not be followed, there is  one to merge Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund. “We won't be able to tackle everything,” said Mr. Guilbeault. We have circumscribed it to be able to pass the bill through Parliament ”, where the Liberals are in the minority.

Likewise, the proposal that Radio-Canada “gradually abandon  advertising for all its broadcast media over the next five years, starting with news content” - this in exchange for increased and stable funding - will likely remain untouched. “The model of saying: we're going to make it completely dependent of government funds has advantages, but also risks,” argues Steven Guilbeault. If the CBC only depends on the government, and the government does not support it, we would compromise its long-term viability. "

Media

Regarding media aid, Steven Guilbeault assured that the sums promised in the 2019 budget will soon be released. “It's coming,” he said.

Companies that qualify will be able to benefit from a tax credit on their payroll. However, the qualification process is still underway - Le Devoir, for example, has not received confirmation that it meets the criteria determining who is an eligible media, said its director, Brian Myles, during the editorial interview.

Announced long before the COVID-19 pandemic increased the pressure on press companies already shaken by a crisis, the federal aid plan also includes a component on philanthropy. But the current rules essentially don't allow anyone to qualify.

Mandated by Ottawa, the Independent Group of Experts on Journalism and Print Media noted in a report published in the summer of 2019 that “current legislation excludes organizations like Les Amis du Devoir, which have long supported journalism and which could play an important role in the future funding of journalism ”.

"If we have set up a program that does not work, it is certain that we have to correct things," said Mr. Guilbeault.