Archive for April 2nd, 2007
Future Of Canadian Broadcasting
Michael Giest has a great post on the fear many in the broadcast industry have of new technology. Instead of trying to adjust their business model and embrace the internet, they want the government to step in and try to regulate something they have no control over.
There has never been a greater opportunity to get Canadian music, television and movies to a worldwide audience then now. New technology is the savior of “Canadian culture”, not the end of it. Of course, what they are doing is trying to save an outdated business model (simulcasting U.S. shows and inserting Canadian ads), not save Canadian culture. Broadcasters do very little to support Canadian drama, what they really don’t want to loose is their exclusive right to distribute American shows in Canada. They hide under the guise of protecting Canada, but make no mistake, they are protecting their monopoly on Canadian eyeballs, using imported American shows as the bait. The idea that we can get American content right from the source terrifies them. The last thing on earth Canadian broadcasters want to do is actually have to make more Canadian shows. But Corner Gas and Little Mosque On The Prairie are shinning examples of great Canadian Content that can draw an audience. We can only hope that creative people in Canada use the internet rather than hide behind a wall of protectionism.
