Thank you very much.
I want to start by thanking you, the members of the standing committee, for giving me the opportunity to share with you my vision of things, my understanding of the power of new technology on the public broadcaster.
As you can appreciate, for a university professor who's wired to talk for three hours at a time, an eight-minute slot is quite stressful. I'll try to be concise.
For 15 years or so I have had the chance to work on the convergence of traditional media and emerging technologies. You will notice in my speech today that I do not refer to new media. I think that expression is no longer accurate. It is more dynamic to talk about the organic nature of emerging technologies, since they are constantly coming out. Take for example the title page of
The Economist: When everything connects.
I think one of the mandates of the Canadian public broadcaster is to try to increase the points of contact and connection with its users, the people of Canada.
Because I am so interested in emerging technologies, I observe current trends. I take pleasure in observing new listening behaviour in young people in particular, those who are referred to as millennials or digital natives.
I think there is a great deal of opportunity here to observe this type of division and fragmentation. Multitasking truly takes hold and is conducive to new modes of communication, which requires CBC to come up with new ways to distribute its content and, of course, produce its content.
One of the directors of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said a few days ago:
Digital media is now integral to everything we do. It is not an add-on, it is not a novelty, it is the present reality as well as the future.
The BBC, which I will come back to in a few minutes, changed its mandate at the end of 2006 to now acknowledge the place new technology and emerging technologies have in the role and mandate of the public broadcaster.
They see how young people use visual content other than television. I think it is appropriate to provide some statistics here. A recent study, done a few months ago, asked young people which platforms they use when they watch visual content other than on television: 75% of them said on a computer,
on a desktop, 46% on a laptop, 16% on a portable video player, 13% on an iPod, and now the new kid on the block, 15% on cellular mobile phones, which is obviously a huge area of development.
It's so much so, that a man by the name of Michael Eisner, who used to run a little joint called Disney, retired a couple of years ago. He has now launched a series of 80 webisodes or mobisodes of 90-second clips. The series is called Prom Queen, which is obviously extremely timely for the end of the school year. There are eighty 90-second clips aimed at that specific market, to be used either on mobile phones or mobile devices and on laptops. The whole scheme is integrated with Victoria's Secret and all of the stores where girls would see clothing or jewellery advertised or displays on this mobile content. They'd be interconnected within a huge commercial infrastructure.
I think it points to the kinds of developments that are currently taking shape. It obviously calls for the public broadcaster to be trendy and to follow some of these significant developments. I don't think it's just a flash in the pan.
We can acknowledge that all these technologies... The time young people, and people in general, spend on new platforms and digital content is growing exponentially. Not only is Radio-Canada/CBC competing with the biggest producers of content in the world, but also with the famous new phenomenon called
user-generated content and social networking. I'm referring here to the MySpaces and the Facebooks and the YouTubes of this world. These are huge competitors now.
We are also seeing a migration of content from traditional media to new digital platforms. Not only is there a migration of content, but there is also a shift in business models. The decline in the advertising base to new platforms not only significantly threatens the public broadcaster, but all Canadian broadcasters.
There is a phrase I often hear at the university that I find quite symbolic. At the end of class, students say:
“I'll call you tonight” or “I'll see you at the gym” or “I'll see you on Facebook”.
To me this is a completely fictitious universe and yet it is very real. The ever-changing technological developments are an extraordinary phenomenon. I teach in the field of new technologies at the university. Last week, we were discussing content on
mobile phones. Students were comparing their personal experiences with a host of new developments and stuff. One guy was telling us about his experience on Facebook, and the comment he got from another student was, “Come on, Coleman, you're so ten minutes ago.”
This phenomenon of trying to catch up with what the competition is doing is obviously forcing us to constantly think of novel ways to repackage our content. There's a dogma in the new technology world that says produce once, distribute many. I think one of the greatest producers of content in Canada has to be the CBC/Société Radio-Canada. I think we have to give this public organization the means to not only continue to produce as wide a variety of content as possible, but also to multiply and to disseminate its content on as many different platforms as possible.
I imagine we are running out of time, so I will draw this to a close.
To me, the BBC is probably the best example. In that situation the state recognizes the central role of the public broadcaster in the new digital environment. Through its mandate, the BBC is now required to produce and broadcast on new platforms, namely the famous
video on demand, which is the new storm that's obviously preparing to hit us.
There is also the matter of budget. The BBC has begun posting on line
over a million hours of archival material from both the radio and the television divisions of the public broadcaster. I think that in itself speaks volumes about the potential that digital technologies offer to public broadcasting, and I hope this committee will recognize the imperative pressure that should be put on the government to modify and actually modernize the mandate of the CBC, so that it's totally in tune with the current technological currents that are affecting it.
Merci.