courtesy BroadcasterMagazine.com
2014-09-08
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission proceedings, part of Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians about the future of the television system, will be held in Gatineau, Quebec all this week.
The presentations and discussions will be webcast live by CPAC, the Cable Public Affairs Channel, a privately-owned, commercial free, not for profit, bilingual licensed television service created in 1992 by a consortium of cable companies. CPAC is available via cable, satellite and wireless distributors to over 11 million Canadian homes and worldwide via 24/7 live web streaming.
CPAC will present the consultations online and on the CPAC TV 2 GO app (available for smartphones and tablets on iOS or Android), live each day beginning at 9 am ET / 6 am PT. Senate hearings are scheduled for the TV channel.
A streaming video link to the CPAC feed will be available on the CRTC website at www.crtc.gc.ca/talktv : A live audio feed will also be available, the service providers announced.
(The proceedings are also being shown on delay in the Pacific time zone, on the CPAC cable channel.)
The CRTC will also host digital media channels during the hearing, and the online conversation can be joined at http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/talktv-parlonstele.htm, and on Twitter @CRTChearings, hashtags: #CRTC, #TalkTV.
The schedule of participants in the proceedings is available online; as well as reference documents and related links.
In conversations leading up to these hearings, topics such as the unbundling of cable TV service packages and a greater availability of customized subscriber channel choices have drawn much attention.
Industry critics say bundled services that force consumers to pay for channels they do not watch are not just overly expensive; they are antiquated drags on the industry. The degree to which ‘pick-and-pay’ TV services are already available in Canada is not sufficient, they say.
Program distributors, content creators and rights holders argue that bundled services spread the costs of production, distribution and operation more broadly, enabling smaller services to survive and grow.
The degree to which content distributors in Canada contribute to content creation here, and the homegrown industry overall is to be discussed as well, with calls for new funding models from both private and public sources, financial contributions to Canadian production by OTA as well as OTT service providers; a rationalization of pricing models for online and mobile content delivery; and a ‘Net neutral’ approach to broadband access, pricing and distribution.
I can’t wait for pay and pick, finally a choice as to what I want to pay for. And if it means a few channels go the way of the do-do. It is survival of the fitest. Some will want all sports, others do not. And the public should have a choice in what channels we want and will pay for.