Evidence of meeting #34 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was programming.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Regulatory and Government Affairs, Shaw Media, Shaw Communications Inc.
I don't think that would affect the BDU contribution. It's based on the revenues from television distribution and not on their Internet business. I think they're two separate things.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
They're separate.
Okay, thank you.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
December 2nd, 2010 / 4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Thank you, Chair.
I'm not a regular member of this committee, so my questions might sound a bit naive.
You have video on demand as well. What kinds of things can one get through Shaw Video On Demand--movies...?
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Yes, there are movies and events. UFC is a huge thing in Canada now, so when we run a UFC event--
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
It's Ultimate Fighting Championship, and there's Tapout. Montreal seems to be the hotbed for UFC in Canada--
4:20 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Shaw Communications Inc.
Or in the world.
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Or in the world, yes. That's right.
First-run movies come right into the VOD window, typically coincident or very closely aligned with the release of DVDs in the retail market. That's essentially what it is.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
So if I want to see an older movie from the fifties, sixties, or seventies, I could get it on your system? I wouldn't have to go to Google or--
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Yes, you could get it from us. You could also get the version of last night's Glee from us.
We also have a subscription video-on-demand service, through which, if you subscribe to our movie network service, you can also have a selection of movies on an on-demand basis, which would be running in that library. So it's a very convenient way of getting movies.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Rogers would have it. Videotron would have it, and some of the telephone companies may have it.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Why is it that the CRTC won't consider regulating the Internet broadcasters? This debate has been around for a long time now, at least ten years.
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
We've gone around this circle. We're trying to think of the most reasonable way you could do this without.... Because they're not Canadians.
4:20 p.m.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Is it in the law? I'll have to ask that.
4:20 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Shaw Communications Inc.
Yes, technically it is. The problem is that of course the commission can't license a broadcaster that is not Canadian. The Broadcasting Act says that before they can issue a licence....
What we did with the specialty services was that the distributors actually sponsored them. So we would bring them in, and the commission would establish linkage rules, so that if you brought in a U.S. service you would have to have a certain number of Canadian services.
We've just been looking at this problem over the last few weeks, because when we got hit with the 5% number, our CEO said “Get on this, guys”. So we're trying to look at how to deal with this. From a cable point of view, frankly it's almost a neutral kind of situation, because they're using our network, and we'll find means of charging for it in order to get our investment back. But the problem is that it's really our obligation to pay into the Canada Media Fund, and to pay into all these other things that they don't have to do. Then we start saying “Well, that's just going to erode the whole production industry and the whole Canadian system”.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
I don't mean to interrupt, but if you said we have to bring them within the ambit of the CRTC, how would the CRTC regulate iTunes, or the movie download section of iTunes? How would you do that? In other words, why is the CRTC staying away from it? Do they understand that it will be complicated? Are they worried about negative reaction from the public?
As you know, when we wouldn't let that specialty channel, HBO, in, there was an outcry: “How can you not do this? You're interfering with my right to watch what I want to watch.” And you could say until the cows come home that it was okay and that you could get those programs in Canada, but just through other means. There was a bit of an uproar.
So I'm just wondering why the CRTC won't go there.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
4:25 p.m.
Vice-President, Regulatory and Government Affairs, Shaw Media, Shaw Communications Inc.
I think what we're trying to say here is that, as we did with the specialty sector, if foreign players are going to be coming into Canada through other platforms, there have to be ways of bringing them in, in such a way that they will contribute to the system somehow.
We managed to do that very successfully with specialty and pay TV and the HBO example you gave. All that programming is available in Canada. There are ways of doing that.
I think we're trying to find the appropriate means and work with the government and the CRTC to figure out how we go about that to make sure they are contributing.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Thank you very much.
I wanted to come back to Mr. Armstrong's question. I think I can clarify just a touch of what he's getting at.
Specifically, if customers who are currently purchasing cable or satellite move to watching their television programming over the Internet because Internet times speed up, and you can simply stream all the channels you're currently providing over cable, the current provisions wouldn't provide any funding toward the Canada Media Fund.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
What you're suggesting is the classification of Internet pipes were simply handled the same as telephone wires. They're simply a pipe for communications. If programming moved to the Internet at some point, first of all, do you see that as something whereby the Internet would replace current cable services, or do you see them as complementary moving forward, and you don't see most of your customers de-selecting cable or satellite and simply moving to Internet hookups?
