[This commentary was also published at Cartt.ca]
If the internet had
been something that was created from scratch, rather than a rapid and almost
spontaneous evolution of technology and networks, governments around the world would
have played a much bigger role in its development and deployment. It likely, too, would have been much less the
global network that it is today and much more a collection of inter-connected
national networks. Controlled
cross-border exchange of information, entertainment and commerce would likely
have been the norm. And... we'd have an online media world that closely resembled
the traditional, tightly controlled one.
In effect, though, the
internet arrived uninvited and, for some, at least from a video content point
of view, remains an unwelcome guest. Nonetheless,
it's already permanently re-shaping the way we distribute and consume media.
English Canada has a significant
cultural affinity to the United States and we have consumed a diet that has consisted
of a lot of American fare for more than 50 years. Of late though, on all fronts, from our
Canadian English-language broadcasters through to new digital distribution
channels like iTunes and YouTube, we've super-sized our consumption of foreign
content.
In the conventional
system, Canadian content requirements ensure, at least to a degree, that
Canadian producers and talent have a role to play and a vehicle to tell
Canadian stories to Canada, and, on a good day, through foreign sales, to other
parts of the world. There are, however, no corresponding requirements when it
comes to alternative distribution channels.
Across all distribution channels, Canadian audiences are increasingly
turning their attention to foreign content (primarily of U.S. origin) and we
face an increasing attention trade deficit.
We're accustomed to thinking of trade deficits mainly in economic terms,
and that's true here, but our attention trade deficit also comes with an undeniable
cultural impact.
When broadcaster
dollars go to buying foreign content, that takes money out of the country - and
doesn't help our domestic creative industries any. But it is far worse in the online world. When Canadians acquire foreign-produced content
directly from foreign-owned content aggregators like Apple, Google, Amazon,
Microsoft and others, there's no Canadian middleman involved.
When fees are
involved, they go to the aggregator.
When the content is ad-supported, Canadian advertisers increasingly are
following Canadian eyeballs and buying space on these foreign sites. The fragile Canadian content ecosystem is
by-passed and, other than traffic flowing across our network plumbing, we're
passive observers to the whole exchange. No Canadian company profits from the
transaction, the government receives no tax revenue, and dollars flow out of
the country. These lost dollars can't be
channelled back into our content creation industries - and our ability to tell
culturally relevant stories is diminished.
Foreign entities, of
course, have no obligation - and, arguably, little interest - in Canadian
content, and, while our independent production model has been a great success,
the result has been that few Canadian content producers have the scale or
catalogue depth to attract the interest of foreign players. On the home front, we have very few Canadian
content marketplaces or aggregators to showcase Canadian content to Canadians
or the world.
Many nations today are
now developing national digital strategies that - they hope - will shape the
future of the internet in many ways.
Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain are among the countries that
have already released digital strategies.
Even tiny New Zealand released the second
version of its strategy in 2008.
The scope of such
strategies is broad. Content, though,
does not have a significant presence in most of these strategies - and that's
actually not that surprising. While none
of these countries is immune to the unprecedented influx of foreign content
that the internet has made possible, these countries are, with the exception of
New Zealand, the dominant economic power within their primary spoken language
within their geographic region. Germany and France, in particular, enjoy the
advantage of limited content in German or French that is foreign-produced.
Our content funding today
is, in large part, tied to the old broadcast-centric system and this doesn't
encourage development in new forms of entertainment that exploit new
capabilities on new distribution channels.
The new Canada Media Fund will address this to some degree but we don't
know yet what its newly formed policies (or their impact) will be.
We can't - and
shouldn't - try to force Canadian content down consumers' throats. But we can - and should - take active steps
to ensure that there is a viable Canadian digital content eco-system. That includes Canadian-owned marketplaces and
aggregators, both to showcase Canadian content but also to give us an economic
stake in the game regardless of whose content is being consumed.
This isn't a call for
regulatory intervention, but, as part of our national digital strategy, we do
need to address this problem. Losing the
battle for attention from Canadian eyeballs may happen anyway, but if we don't
act soon to offer alternatives to Canadian consumers, it will be a virtual certainty. That, compounded by a lack of capabilities to
help Canadian content reach a global audience, could be the death knell of our
creative industries.
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