[White Out]

Honestly I'm at a loss. It seems like this governing body has become useless. Are they not here to protect Canadian content and consumers? How is it that this watchdog has become a poodle on the laps of Rogers/Bell/Telus/Shaw? Honestly it's embarrasing and makes me so angry.

• What is their mandate?
• Who does the CRTC report to?
• Is there any kind of legal protection from the CRTC being bribed/coerced?

Also, and likely my biggest beef... why on earth is it becoming ok for people who broadcast content to OWN that content? Such basic principles that protect monopolies and discourage competition are being ignored. Bell shouldn't own TSN, rogers shouldn't own sportsnet.

What's worse is that people I work with and are friends with dont seem to know or care whats happening with the media in this country and even in the USA. It's mind boggling.

 

[hugh]

Are they not here to protect Canadian content and consumers?

No. It really isn't.

From CRTC FAQS
http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/faqs.htm

What does CRTC do?

Parliament has given the CRTC the job of regulating and supervising the broadcasting and telecommunications systems in Canada. The CRTC reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

• for information regarding the CRTC, go to About the CRTC
• for broadcasting or telecommunications issues that affect Canadians, go to Consumers
• for details about the CRTC Act, the Broadcasting Act, the Telecommunications Act, or other related legislation, go to Statutes and regulations

 

[hugh]

P.S. If folks want to complain about the CRTC then post in this thread

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=30998

We don't need another CRTC Rant thread.

 

[stampeder]

White Out, many of us at this site have taken the time to intervene in CRTC proceedings in the past, and we also keep an eye out for upcoming hearings. The CRTC web site explains in great detail how to have your opinion on the particular matter at hand considered by the decision makers and applicants, with your input becoming part of the official permanent record. If you feel that the CRTC process is flawed, tell them so using their own system, but it has to be pertinent and sanguine to the matter at hand.

 

[ScaryBob]

The CRTC reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

IIRC, the CRTC's original mandate was to protect and promote Canadian culture. That's why it reports to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. I think they have overstepped that mandate to some degree. Requiring Cancon and simsubs is one thing. Padding the pockets of companies like Bell and Rogers is another.

 

[GusX]

Original mandate:

Our mandate is to ensure that programming in the Canadian broadcasting system reflects Canadian creativity and talent, our linguistic duality, our multicultural diversity, the special place of aboriginal people within our society and our social values. At the same time, we must ensure that Canadians have access to reasonably priced, high-quality, varied and innovative communications services that are competitive nationally as well as internationally.

Today's mandate:

Canada's Broadcasting Act (the Act) sets out the policy objectives for the Canadian broadcasting system. The CRTC regulates and supervises the Canadian broadcasting system to ensure the objectives of the Act are met.

 

[hugh]

GusX, where did you get the original one from. How long ago was that? I'd be surprised if that was the way it was originally written since the term aboriginal really only came into vogue in the last 20 years.

 

[stampeder]

Here's another rewording of the CRTC's role, followed by a timeline:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/backgrnd/brochures/b19903.htm

 

[GusX]

I used the wayback machine to find the info.

http://web.archive.org/web/20000620120704/www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/BACKGRND/Brochures/B29903e.htm

You should take a look at their original pages ... they have come a long way from having the public interest in mind rather than big business. Looks like their motto used to be "For Communication in the Public Interest".

http://web.archive.org/web/19971007044348/www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/backgrnd/g5e.htm

 

[Jacquot]

CRTC and regulation

As soon as you have what appears to be a competitive market situation (like satellite TV) the CRTC has an excuse to stop looking after the consumer's interests claiming that the laws of competition will regulate the service providers' appetite for profits.

For as long as paying for a service bundle is the sole means of obtaining desired channels on satellite TV, having to pay for a half dozen channels I have no use for just to view one in that bundle is not to me reasonably priced, high-quality programming. It's the opposite, we're being forced to subsidize the production of materiel for which we have no use for. That's a parody of competition.

If consumer associations of Canada had any guts, the'd take-on the mission of forcing the CRTC to rule-out satellite TV channel bundling (and paying for channels we have no use for) as the sole means of getting those channels we wish to view.

The day we get the choice to pay only for thoses channels we wish to view, we will see real competion happen for the first time in canadian satellite TV broadcasting history. Meanwhile, we're being blackmailed into subsidising mediocrity in the name of cultural diversity with the CRTC's blessing.

 

[GeoStar]

mandate smandate your moneys in their pockets ...

Mandate , don't they make olde boy type deals with diffrent segments of Canadian industry to bilk the consumer of udels of doe.

I mean they secretly got together with the music copywrite crew to ban 8mm tape machines when they thought there was going to be a hint of an interuption to that lucrative milk cow .

Now having the precident of people paying money for nothing on cd roms they have jacked around with the amount of dsl etc down load anyone can have to fill the coffers of similar secretive organizations that they hobnob with, first its culture then its the whole paycheque .. whats next thought and speech control ?

When will they elect these guys in a fair way ie one commis from each province in canada , to ensure that the consumer has even a chance at a say ..?

 

[ScaryBob]

The irony is that Canadian broadcast consumers did not need protection when the CRTC was founded, nor did they before that. It has always been about regulating and protecting Canadian business interests. Every time competition rears its ugly head, the government and its agencies step in to kill it. Canadians need protection from the CRTC, not the other way around.

 

[hugh]

Closing. It appears no one bothered to read post #3.