Where to Start? It describes itself in this manner: We are dedicated to ensuring that Canadians have access to a world-class communication system that promotes innovation and enriches their lives. Our role is to implement the laws and regulations set by Parliamentarians who create legislation and departments that set policies. We regulate and supervise broadcasting and telecommunications in the public interest.
crtc.gc.ca
Wikipedia describes it this way: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; French: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building (Édifice central) of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.
The CRTC regulates all Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications activities and enforces rules it creates to carry out the policies assigned to it; the best-known of these is probably the Canadian content rules.
Which leads to today, and some of the diversity and C-11 proposals that are coming down the pipe.
The “modern approach” to broadcasting regulation, according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), involves ordering broadcasters to budget and produce content with diversity quotas in mind, while mandating that various groups of people be consulted every two years.
The CRTC first looked to impose the mandated diversity model onto the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with an update to its broadcasting licence. Now, the Department of Canadian Heritage is laying the groundwork for similar requirements for services like Netflix and Apple TV+ in draft regulations on broadcasting policy under the Online Streaming Act. Consultations are open until July 25, and the finalized regulations will presumably be published sometime after that.
Under the mandated diversity model, the CRTC required the CBC to dedicate 30 per cent of its spending on independent English programming (commissioned television shows and documentaries) to go to producers who self-identify as Indigenous, official language minorities, visible minorities, disabled or LGBT. This mandate is intended to take effect later this year and increase to 35 per cent in 2026.
The CRTC is also mandating the tracking of employee demographics and periodic consultations with equity-seeking identity groups. If you want your interests represented at the diversity table, you’ll have to be a member of one of the target groups.
It should be noted that Canadian Heritage referred the matter of CBC’s broadcasting licence back to the CRTC for reconsideration last September, which means the CBC’s licence conditions on diversity could ultimately end up being rescinded or altered. (In the interim, the CBC has to abide by the CRTC’s original orders.)
That seems unlikely, however, given that Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is now building the scaffolding to impose CBC-style diversity requirements onto Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and others.
apple.news
The draft regulations would require the CRTC to consider demographic data when setting expenditure requirements for broadcasters, “including data concerning the participation of Black and other racialized persons in the Canadian broadcasting system.” They would also require the CRTC to ensure spending requirements are made to support content creation by Indigenous, Black and other equity-seeking creators.
Indigenous spending mandates would need to consider “the importance of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and the challenges and obstacles that they face, including those stemming from historical injustices or the legacies of colonialism.”
Spending mandates for other equity-seekers (Black, LGBT and so on) would need to consider “the challenges and obstacles that they face, including systemic racism and the obstacles faced by those whose first language is not an official language.”
Now, admittedly, I watch about five hours of actual programming TV per year, usually CNN during a hurricane, etc…& the rest of the time it’s YouTube or Netflix or Prime, etc…so I can “Choose” what I wish to watch, and when I “Choose” to watch it.
The CRTC’s analysis included the following findings: that Indigenous peoples made up five per cent of the Canadian population, visible minorities made up 22 per cent, disabled people constituted 22.3 per cent and that LGBT people could make up between from 1.7 and five per cent of the population.
“In the commission’s view, these percentages provide useful guidance on potential overall requirements relating to expenditures on independent productions from Indigenous peoples and the various equity-seeking communities that could at least ensure some measure of proportional representation,” wrote the CRTC in June 2022, before translating the stats into a diversity requirement for CBC’s budget.
And there’s the problem: storytelling and content creation is slowly becoming a matter of state-enforced, identity-based proportional representation, when it should be a matter for creative directors and the free market to decide.
It’s unnecessary — K-dramas and Bollywood movies are already easy to find — and it goes against the spirit of what Canada should be. Canada is a place of individual freedoms, and consequently shouldn’t be a society that cultivates identity blocs dependent on various race-based and sex-based benefits.
Canadian Heritage’s draft regulations for online streaming would also impose a requirement on the CRTC to consult with “equity-seeking” groups about regulating the broadcasting sector generally. The department included the following on a list of equity-seeking groups: Indigenous people, Black people, other non-white people, “Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds,” official language minority communities, disabled people, LGBT people and women. This is yet another example of the cultivation of identity blocs that get special treatment by the state.
There is also a tentative reporting requirement, which would have the CRTC publish its progress on diversity, equity and inclusion.
What are your opinions on the usefulness of the CRTC sin today’s today? Is it even necessary?
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission | CRTC
The CRTC is an independent public authority in charge of regulating and supervising Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications
Wikipedia describes it this way: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; French: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building (Édifice central) of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.
The CRTC regulates all Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications activities and enforces rules it creates to carry out the policies assigned to it; the best-known of these is probably the Canadian content rules.
Which leads to today, and some of the diversity and C-11 proposals that are coming down the pipe.
The “modern approach” to broadcasting regulation, according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), involves ordering broadcasters to budget and produce content with diversity quotas in mind, while mandating that various groups of people be consulted every two years.
The CRTC first looked to impose the mandated diversity model onto the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with an update to its broadcasting licence. Now, the Department of Canadian Heritage is laying the groundwork for similar requirements for services like Netflix and Apple TV+ in draft regulations on broadcasting policy under the Online Streaming Act. Consultations are open until July 25, and the finalized regulations will presumably be published sometime after that.
Under the mandated diversity model, the CRTC required the CBC to dedicate 30 per cent of its spending on independent English programming (commissioned television shows and documentaries) to go to producers who self-identify as Indigenous, official language minorities, visible minorities, disabled or LGBT. This mandate is intended to take effect later this year and increase to 35 per cent in 2026.
The CRTC is also mandating the tracking of employee demographics and periodic consultations with equity-seeking identity groups. If you want your interests represented at the diversity table, you’ll have to be a member of one of the target groups.
It should be noted that Canadian Heritage referred the matter of CBC’s broadcasting licence back to the CRTC for reconsideration last September, which means the CBC’s licence conditions on diversity could ultimately end up being rescinded or altered. (In the interim, the CBC has to abide by the CRTC’s original orders.)
That seems unlikely, however, given that Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is now building the scaffolding to impose CBC-style diversity requirements onto Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and others.
Jamie Sarkonak: Liberals want to impose diversity requirements on streaming giants — National Post
How the government intends to use Bill C-11 to impose ideological constraints on streaming giants is starting to become clear
The draft regulations would require the CRTC to consider demographic data when setting expenditure requirements for broadcasters, “including data concerning the participation of Black and other racialized persons in the Canadian broadcasting system.” They would also require the CRTC to ensure spending requirements are made to support content creation by Indigenous, Black and other equity-seeking creators.
Indigenous spending mandates would need to consider “the importance of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and the challenges and obstacles that they face, including those stemming from historical injustices or the legacies of colonialism.”
Spending mandates for other equity-seekers (Black, LGBT and so on) would need to consider “the challenges and obstacles that they face, including systemic racism and the obstacles faced by those whose first language is not an official language.”
Now, admittedly, I watch about five hours of actual programming TV per year, usually CNN during a hurricane, etc…& the rest of the time it’s YouTube or Netflix or Prime, etc…so I can “Choose” what I wish to watch, and when I “Choose” to watch it.
The CRTC’s analysis included the following findings: that Indigenous peoples made up five per cent of the Canadian population, visible minorities made up 22 per cent, disabled people constituted 22.3 per cent and that LGBT people could make up between from 1.7 and five per cent of the population.
“In the commission’s view, these percentages provide useful guidance on potential overall requirements relating to expenditures on independent productions from Indigenous peoples and the various equity-seeking communities that could at least ensure some measure of proportional representation,” wrote the CRTC in June 2022, before translating the stats into a diversity requirement for CBC’s budget.
And there’s the problem: storytelling and content creation is slowly becoming a matter of state-enforced, identity-based proportional representation, when it should be a matter for creative directors and the free market to decide.
It’s unnecessary — K-dramas and Bollywood movies are already easy to find — and it goes against the spirit of what Canada should be. Canada is a place of individual freedoms, and consequently shouldn’t be a society that cultivates identity blocs dependent on various race-based and sex-based benefits.
Canadian Heritage’s draft regulations for online streaming would also impose a requirement on the CRTC to consult with “equity-seeking” groups about regulating the broadcasting sector generally. The department included the following on a list of equity-seeking groups: Indigenous people, Black people, other non-white people, “Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds,” official language minority communities, disabled people, LGBT people and women. This is yet another example of the cultivation of identity blocs that get special treatment by the state.
There is also a tentative reporting requirement, which would have the CRTC publish its progress on diversity, equity and inclusion.
What are your opinions on the usefulness of the CRTC sin today’s today? Is it even necessary?
