Thank you.
Our second point is that funding mechanisms must keep pace with changing market realities. All licensed broadcasting undertakings have a responsibility to support Canadian programming as part of their regulatory covenant, a stated objective of the Broadcasting Act. This includes DTH and cable undertakings, which have benefited greatly from the regulation of the sector.
No one player can decide to unilaterally withhold payments when it no longer suits their purpose. Broadcasters make commitments to Canadian programming based on a larger regulatory framework in place for the industry as a whole, including available funding mechanisms such as the CTF. Clearly, a regulated system, in order to operate in an orderly manner, requires all players to play by the rules. The minister made this point when she appeared before you, and it was reinforced by the chair of the CRTC in his public statement last week.
Having said this, the CAB certainly sees merit in having a public discussion that evaluates the use and effectiveness of contributions from government, distributors, broadcasters, and of course producers of Canadian programming.
We note that the chairman of the CRTC has already indicated that this is an issue worth further study. However, the CAB suggests that such a discussion should not be limited to the regulated environment, but widened to include a broader dialogue on how all players in the system, regulated and unregulated, can contribute to furthering Canada's cultural and industrial policy objectives.
We live in an extremely fast-changing media environment that experiences new content and distribution choices being made available to consumers every day, an environment in which regulated and unregulated media compete head to head, all vying for Canadians' time and attention. To put this into perspective, the attached charts that we provided to you today provide a snapshot of the regulated environment to 1996. We've provided the breakout in the English and French language markets. We've also provided a snapshot of the media landscape today, in 2005-06. Clearly, these charts testify to the radical change and fragmentation in the media landscape.
Now consider the plethora of unregulated media also available to Canadian consumers and operating in the same space, including services like MySpace and YouTube, which we've heard so much about lately.
The first step the CAB recommends in evaluating the public–private partnership in this new reality should include a comprehensive and inclusive review of how funding mechanisms can keep pace with changing market conditions, so that they will assist the industry in remaining competitive, not only at a domestic level but also globally. Without question, the first principle of this review must be the creation of great Canadian programming that attracts audiences on all platforms.
Glenn.