I read with interest, as I'm sure everybody did, the CRTC findings as well as the report to the government this past week. I think the truth is that nobody knows for certain what it looks like.
I think what we do know is that we can't create policies that largely ignore the reality that is the Internet. If I had a criticism, for example, of the CRTC decision earlier this week, it was that I felt that it existed almost in a vacuum, as if the Internet didn't exist--as if we can create certain kinds of policies designed to support some of the broadcast television you're referring to, and assume that consumers will simply move in that direction regardless of what the costs happen to be.
Now, the CRTC argued exactly that in the report that followed the second day. They suggested that consumers are largely price insensitive and will continue to pay fees, no matter if they increase.
I must admit, I am skeptical. It may be true for a certain demographic of Canadians that they are both price insensitive and heavily reliant on broadcast television, and will continue to pay. But if I take a look at younger demographics in particular, I think they spend... Everyone knows they spend increasingly amounts of time online. In fact, they use that online environment not just for basic communication and access to culture and social media like Facebook, but they use it for what is effectively the equivalent of television. I use in this case even my own children as essentially my example of what I see is happening. If you ask them, take away the TV or take away the computer--and they're young, eleven and nine--it's an easy choice.