Broadcasting Policy Development

In Missed Opportunities, Marc Raboy reveals the short-sightedness behind the traditional view of Canadian broadcasting policy as an instrument for promoting a national identity and culture. He argues that Canadian broadcasting policy has served as a political instrument for reinforcing a certain image of Canada against insurgent challenges, such as maintaining the image of Canada as a political entity distinct from the United States and acting against internal threats, most notably from Quebec. It has served as a vehicle for the development of private broadcasting industries and to further the general interests of the Canadian state. Most of the time, Raboy maintains, this policy has been the object of vigorous public dispute.

Where do Canadian content requirements come from? What is the difference between an over-the-top (OTP) service provider and a broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU)? How is broadcast regulation changing in response to the rise of new media? The second edition of Broadcasting Policy in Canada answers these questions by tracing the development of Canada’s broadcasting legislation and analysing the roles and responsibilities of the key players in the broadcasting system, particularly those of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Revised and updated to reflect the impact of digital media on the broadcasting industry and subsequent developments in the regulatory framework, the second edition of Broadcasting Policy in Canada offers a comprehensive overview of the policies that provide the foundation for the Canadian broadcasting system, including discussion of topics such as Canadian content, media regulation, and program financing. The book continues to provide a valuable resource for students, policymakers, and broadcasting industry members who are affected by the CRTC’s policies and decisions.

Addresses a critical analysis of major media policies in the European Union and Council of Europe at the period of profound changes affecting both media environments and use, as well as the logic of media policy-making and reconfiguration of traditional regulatory models. The analytical problem-related approach seems to better reflect a media policy process as an interrelated part of European integration, formation of European citizenship, and exercise of communication rights within the European communicative space. The question of normative expectations is to be compared in this case with media policy rationales, mechanisms of implementation (transposing rules from EU to national levels), and outcomes.

Where did Canadian content regulations come from? What do international trade agreements mean for existing broadcasting policy and business practices? How are new media changing the face of broadcasting in Canada? Broadcasting Policy in Canada traces the development of Canada's broadcasting legislation and analyses the roles and responsibilities of the key players in the broadcasting system, particularly those of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Robert Armstrong expresses with remarkable clarity the complicated changes to issues such as Canadian content, media regulation, and tax measures to provide a comprehensive overview of policies that have created the Canadian broadcasting system as it exists today. He also discusses related issues such as new media and the Internet, copyright, social concerns, and cultural diversity in a global media environment. Broadcasting Policy in Canada will serve as a valuable resource for students, policymakers, and industry players of all kinds who are affected by the CRTC's policies and decisions.

Few will deny that public service broadcasting?broadcasting that is controlled neither by the state nor by private media corporations?is an essential ingredient in modern democracy. But, as a number of initiatives in transition economies have shown, the inception and development of a strong public broadcasting system is a Herculean task that is easily sidetracked by politics or ideology, or stalled by lack of funding. Especially when state budgets are stretched, the expense is hard to justify. This collection of documents, comments, and cases brings all the major issues in public service broadcasting policy into focus and sets the problems to be addressed in sharp relief. It draws on white papers from NGOs and broadcasters, legislation from a wide range of countries (and a model law), accounts of public broadcasting efforts in transition states, analyses of evolving policy in established systems, government regulatory guidelines, and a great deal more. Among the matters touched upon are the following: the principles of public service broadcasting and their cultural and economic justification; limiting state interference; the place of public broadcasting in a multi-channel, ?market-driven? world; the appropriate mix of public and private revenues; objectivity and impartiality in broadcasting; how institutional structures can shape programming strategies; the use of competition law to adjust relations between public and private broadcasting; EU accession standards for public service broadcasting; and the impact of digital broadcasting. Broadcast professionals, students and teachers in communications and related fields, government officials interested in strengthening public service broadcasting and keeping pace with rapid developments?all will benefit enormously from this thoughtful and informative book. It will allow them to think well beyond the standard formulae about the function of public service broadcasting and its role in society.