Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for coming this afternoon.
This has been a very interesting study. I must say, at the start, that I think the CBC has certainly led the way in many areas in terms of new platforms--i.e., the original iPod downloads. Any show that you want to be able to hear, you're hearing it in multiple platforms. I think we're seeing right across the spectrum with the private broadcasters that they're exploring more and more new ways.
The question of importance for us, in terms of dealing with suddenly very large integrated empires that are dealing with control of the platforms and content, is on the anti-competitive nature and the potential problems.
I always think back to one of CBC's first real experiments, when you made national and international news when you wanted to show Canada's Next Great Prime Minister using BitTorrent. Part of the reason you made international news was that the show was completely throttled by the cable companies, because they saw it as.... Maybe they didn't even know what it was, but the experiment fizzled.
Are you concerned now that many of your number one competitors, and sometimes very hostile competitors, who are running the bandwidths might decide to throttle a little more content if you attempt to use new avenues like BitTorrent?