4/29/2004Congreso Ibero-americano de Canadá1 Presentation Bill C-2 and Ethnic Television in Canada...

4/29/2004 Congreso Ibero-americano de Canadá 1

Congreso Ibero-americano de Canadá

Presentation

Bill C-2 and Ethnic Television in CanadaA presentation to the

House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology


Freedom

Right Hon. Paul Martin, February 3, 2004

“My wish is that everyone in Canada is free like the birds flying in the sky, that people should be free because everyone deserves to be free”.

Peter Lu, grade 4 student in Toronto

That is about as eloquent a statement on liberty as I have read in a while, for young Peter's words challenge us to put people at the centre of our every effort. In fact, that, putting people at the centre, is what good government is all about: enabling citizens to take charge of their lives, making them free by removing barriers and fostering opportunity.


Symbols of Freedom

In the 1960s freedom was based on radio signals. Over the past 40 years we have added pictures and gone digital. Today satellite television in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq is the primary symbol of liberty and openness and the images that they represent allow viewers to feel as though they are as free as a bird in the sky.


Satellite TV; the 3 markets

• LEGAL

• GREY

• BLACK


Legal Market

• Programme purchased from company “holding the necessary legal rights in Canada to transmit the signal and provide the required authorization.”

• Two Licensed companies; Bell ExpressVu and Starchoice.


Grey Market

Respects Copyright

BLACK MARKETTheft; no respect for copyright.


How the Grey Market Works

• Canadian subscribes to a satellite service provider that is not licensed by the CRTC.

• Customers use the services of dealers who provide a fictitious U.S. postal address so that the U.S. satellite company will have a valid U.S. billing address on file.

• The U.S. satellite company then bills the client's Canadian credit card directly.

• He is respecting copyright by paying the owner of the satellite, who in turn pays the TV networks that produce the programs.


Ethnic Grey Market; 3 basic components

• A group of customers willing to pay for a service that is legal and often CRTC approved, but is not distributed in Canada;

• A group of stations that produce and own the content of their programming and wish to have their signals distributed in Canada, but have no means to do so;

• U.S. satellite companies charging monthly subscription fees to the Canadian credit cards of Canadian viewers and paying the foreign TV stations that own the content.

9Congreso Ibero-americano de Canadá4/29/2004

The Case of TV Chile Canada

• Decision CRTC 2000-722 December 14 2000

• TV Chile Canada “programming will be derived primarily TV Chile Internacional.”

• Category 2 specialty TV licence that permitted, rather than required, its signal to be distributed by satellite or digital cable within Canada.


TV Chile Canada

• 1996 census - only 142,000 Canadians speak Spanish at home.

• No Canadian satellite company has shown the slightest interest in distributing the TV Chile signal within Canada.

• December 16 2003 the CRTC in decision 2003-599 extended TV Chile Canada’s deadline to commence operation until 24 November 2004.


TV Chile Canada’s Situation

• A company that has a licence to distribute its content in Canada

• Without a distributor, its programs cannot earn money in this market.

• Unless it can present its programs in Canada, TV Chile's intellectual property rights in this market are worthless.

• Faced with this stark reality and the fact that TV Chile is currently deriving revenue from Canadian viewers by having its programming distributed through the grey market, TV Chile has never complained about violations of its intellectual property rights through the grey market.


Ethnic TV in Canada

The Second Century of Canadian Broadcasting Heritage Committee June 2003

“It is the Committee's view that with a greater range of international programming choices, most citizens who have opted out of Canada's broadcasting system would be repatriated.”

Report on the Carriage of Ethnic Services by Canadian Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings, January 2003

“According to information provided by Mediastats in June 2001, none of the 44 Category 2 ethnic services authorized for distribution were being carried by ExpressVu or Starchoice.”


Spanish TV in Canada

CRTC Licenses Dish Network• 2000-594 HTV Canada CH 870

• 2000-647 PSN Canada CH 853

• 2000-694 Telemundo CanadaCH 835

• 2000-722 TV Chile Canada CH 842


CRTC Policy

“The CRTC will license an unlimited number of Category 2 services that meet basic licensing criteria . . . .”

“These Category 2 services may be competitive with one another and are not assured digital access.”


Grey Market Spanish Channels

• All of the Spanish channels distributed through the grey market meet basic licensing criteria.

• TV Azteca (Mexico)

• TV Colombia (Colombia)

• TV Española (Spain)

• Telefe (Argentina)

• TV Sur (South America)

• Utilísima (Argentina)


TV and the promotion of Culture

• Given TV’s increasing role in family life, it is no surprise that the federal government requires CBC to maintain a French language station (CBKTF) for the 7,390 fransaskois who speak French at home. This helps them to live in French and helps in passing on the francophone culture to the next generation.

• At the same time, the is no requirement for a channel for the 245,496 Canadians who claim Spanish as their mother tongue.


Grey Market = Diversity of News

• The Grey Market lets Canadians get news that is unavailable elsewhere.

“Foreign-based regional news and current events provides real-time information and insights . . . Access to this native language programming is critical to the identification and understanding of regional events.” CSE/CSIS

Radiocommunication Act (Paragraph 9(1)(c))Exemption Order (National Defence and Security) SOR/2002-16 13 December, 2001


Problems with Bill C-2

Prescribes• A $25,000 fine or a one-year jail term (max) for

EVERY participant in the Grey Market.Makes no Distinction • Between the thief who steals Bell ExpressVu

signals and the Dish Latino SUBSCRIBER who only seeks access to channels that ExpressVu and Starchoice refuse to distribute for purely commercial reasons.


Border crackdown unfair!

• Import certificates only available to Satellite Companies and snowbirds

• Neither Canada nor U.S. controls flow of ExpressVu equipment South.

• U.S. companies promote both ExpressVu and Starchoice for Hockey, the CBC and French programming

http://www.canamsatellites.com/

http://www.global-cm.net/CAN/canadiansolution.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~mbfrey/evu/evu1.html

http://www.canamsatellites.com/

http://www.global-cm.net/CAN/canadiansolution.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~mbfrey/evu/evu1.html


Why Should Grey Market be Illegal?

In Canada, it has never been illegal to• subscribe to a foreign newspaper or magazine; • import or read a non-pornographic foreign book;• listen to foreign radio stations via short-wave or

the Internet; or• to watch foreign TV channels via the Internet.


Border Towns

• In Canada, it has never been illegal to watch unfiltered U.S. TV channels via rooftop antennas, as is done every day in border communities.

• Residents of 9 Canadian urban regions (Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Windsor/Sarnia, Catharines/Niagara Falls, Kingston, Cornwall, Montréal and Sherbrooke) can receive at least one U.S. station with a roof-top antenna. In Niagara and Windsor up to six different U.S. networks can be watched this way.


Is Bill C-2 unconstitutional?

• Article 2 (b) of the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms guarantees:

“freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”



• Universal Declaration of Human RightsArticle 19 “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”



• In Bell ExpressVu Limited Partnership v. Rex, [2002] SCC 42 at para 67 Mr. Justice Iacobucci wrote:

“It may well be that, when this matter returns to trial, the respondents' counsel will make an application to have s. 9(1)(c) of the Radiocommunication Act declared unconstitutional for violating the Charter. At that time, it will be necessary to consider evidence regarding whose expressive rights are engaged, whether these rights are violated by s. 9(1)(c), and, if they are, whether they are justified under s. 1.”


End the uncertainty

We ask the Committee to call on the Government to refer s. 9 (1) (c) of the Radiocommunication Act to the Supreme Court to determine whether it violates Articles 2 (b), 15, and 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms and if so, whether such a violation is justified under s. 1.


What does the Congreso Ibero-americano de Canadá propose?

1. Legalization of the Ethnic grey market2. Introduce a grey market “tax” of $1 per

receiver/month to support the Canadian Television Fund.

3. Increase the penalties and provide for civil remedies against those individuals and corporations who sell and use BLACK market radiocommunications equipment

4. Introduce new offence of “trafficking” in pirated receiver cards and modified receivers.

4/29/2004Congreso Ibero-americano de Canadá1 Presentation Bill C-2 and Ethnic Television in Canada...

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