They're against, by the way.
It's funny, you know, I don't have a lot of time to blog right now, so I can't get off on too much of a rant here, but I would really like to hear from someone with a better background in economics than me. Here's my question. Ready for it? Deregulation. Has it ever worked?
I mean, really? Can you please tell me the industry that it's been great for? Let me rephrase that -- can you tell me the industry that was deregulated where things turned out better for the general public? Right now, as we watch the U.S. teeter on the brink of a spectacular financial crisis because one firm managed to almost tank the whole investment market? And as our lips work their way around "Bear Stearns," lips still parched from mouthing the dreaded name of "Enron," plenty of us have time to contemplate such issues as we wait in crowded terminals amidst the blasted, hellish clusterfuck that air travel has become in the wake of that industry's deregulation. Maybe we can try to soothe ourselves, and turn on the radio -- except of course that'll just annoy you, as you listen to the same Mariah Carey song on every station in the country because Clear Channel owns them all, and if you can't get NPR you're screwed because, hey, consolidation and deregulation of the airwaves has really helped the public really stay better informed because there are so many new, wonderful players in the infosphere.
Oh, I could go on. But I won't. If there's a budding John Kenneth Galbraith or Adam Smith out there, please let me know. Because deregulation to me smells vaguely like ass.
So of course, the kabuki spectacle at the CRTC this week is all about deregulation. Basically, two groups who have long enjoyed a great degree of protection -- Broadcasters and BDU's (don't you love that -- it's a fancy way of saying cable and satellite and TeeVee through your phone line -- broadcast distribution units) are duking it out. Each wants to take away the other's protections and keep their own.
Like a dyspeptic Don Quixote, even Jim Shaw's been riding back in on his ass. See, our favorite foot stamper has written his friend the Prime Minister (big donor, Jim Shaw, and we all know how seriously the Conservatives take their election financing) because he's "fed up" with the CRTC. He wants the government to intervene directly to give him what he wants. Just like Charles McVety, another good friend of the Conservatives.
Sweet Jesus, it makes me want to scream. Privileged kids, all, fighting over the candy and the cookies and leaving the entire production community -- which employs tens of thousands of people in this country, and adds millions to the economy -- to fight over the crumbs. And we are the ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD that pulls this bullshit. In Australia, they understand culture. Their parties may not agree on everything, but support of cultural industries? They get why they need to be supported. They understand what they mean to the fabric of a nation. England, France, the rest of what they used to call, "The West," -- they all get it. Canada stands alone on this philistine-crowded cliff, dying to jump off. Way to go! We're number one!
At this point, nothing would surprise me. Nothing.
Ulp.
GATINEAU, Que.–Two of Canada's largest television broadcasters set aside their fierce rivalry yesterday and presented a united front, imploring the federal regulator to put consumers first by resisting demands from cable and satellite companies to relax the regulations governing the television industry.
The top executives of CanWest Global Communications Corp. and CTVglobemedia Inc. sat shoulder to shoulder as they made an "unprecedented" joint submission at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, warning the very survival of Canadian TV is at stake.
Holy Gods. You have to understand something. Canwest and CTV appearing together at this point is like watching the entire player roster of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox go into a gay bar, start doing body shots, and pair off for canoodles and backrubs. It's Sharks and Jets sharing a soda. It's like watching Jon Stewart french kiss Dick Cheney. It's dogs and cats sleeping together. It's like Woody getting together with Mia to talk about the kids. It's like...well....you get the idea.
But, sad to say, this is just a measure of just how weird it's gotten. And also a wakeup call for creatives in this country. There are sides in this hunt, and if you write, produce, act, work on a film set, in marketing, sales, accounting, or anything even tangentially connected to the film and tv business -- whatever your issues might be yesterday, or tomorrow -- you gotta suck it up and pick the Canadian networks on this one.
The CFTPA, Canada's producers association, did a survey that showed that of the top 200 shows in the United States -- fully 97 percent of them were already available on Cable and Sat. That means 6 out of 200 weren't. Six. Out of 200.
What the Cablecos want is complete deregulation. They want to be able to do what they want -- with all the protections they have retained, with no responsibility either to you as consumers of local programming or to the industry at large.
They are all Jim Shaw. Well, most are, anyway. Here's how bad it is. You think the Global/CTV thing is weird? Last week, Ted Rogers spoke out against his own company.
Even he sees what's behind this. It's the purest, wettest, most breathtaking kind of arrogant greed. It's a giant, candy-coloured, gift wrapped "fuck you."
Flown lately in the U.S.A.? Fun, huh? Well fasten your seat belts, bitches. That's what's coming to your TV soon.
So I guess you'll just what, turn to the internet, right? Not so fast, buster. They're putting the fix in on that, too.
So good luck Graehme, Kelly, Maureen, and the other voices trying to counsel some degree of sanity in this mad spectacle. I'm sure you'll be met with the same respectful and attentive attention you got the last time round.
Remember the Bowie song from Ziggy Stardust? "Five Years?"
Two.
Depending on what goes down at the CRTC in the next couple weeks, anybody who makes their living off anything other than shovelling U.S. programs down a pipe has got about two years before you have to seriously think about, you know, maybe doing something else.
Not a great way to end the week, but hey, at least it's sunny, right?
EDIT: You can listen to the CRTC hearing by clicking the button their page. Or you can watch video via CPAC here. (Unless your ISP shapes the traffic.)
2 comments:
I'm also tied up with other issues at the moment, but have a feeling we'll both be tag-teaming this in the coming weeks.
You're right that the avarice and greed is shamelessly visible. Less visible is that these guys are all part of the same tribe -- always have been.
Yes, the Red Sox hate the Yankees, but all Johnny Damon had to do was shave and he fit right into a set of pinstripes.
These people are interchangeable and they're all equally inept at creating and supporting Canadian programming.
In my experience "Deregulation" is the first signal that the owners of an industry know they're in serious trouble and have to start scrambling to hang on to their power base.
New fees and/or further genre protection will not save the Canadian broadcast industry. It's been mismanaged into the ground by people who put their profits ahead of their service contract with their audience and the nation. And its been assisted in that process by regulators too weak or ill informed to confront them.
Now our broadcasters have no recognizable brand and no libraries to sell in the new media markets, so they're screwed as the bulk of cash flows through alternate streams.
Those that own ISP's might be able to stave off the inevitable with shaping and throttlingn that prevents or slows downloads (including the legal ones), but that solution will soon force business users elsewhere to remain efficient and that's corporate suicide for an ISP.
Geo-lock hacks and access to foreign broadcast signals are also becoming easier to find.
But content will still be king and those who create it will not be without a job. We just won't be working for CBC, CTV, CanWest or Rogers.
Much as Jim Shaw is a privileged bully, I still believe he's forcing Canadian broadcasters to become real broadcasters if they're going to survive. If he wins his little power play, they'll have to do that now. If he loses, their long slide to oblivion will continue.
Be confident in the fact that Canadian artists will not be going with them.
You know, you'd think that something like trying not to fuck over the entire Canadian Film and TV industry would be something that'd be a no-brainer for the CRTC.
And yet here I am - again - jaw agape.
I wonder, if when these meetings were all arranged (way back whenever) if whoever set them up just thought they'd pop on through without a sound. 'cause it's been, what? 3 months in between the other near-armageddons that we've been facing down? I mean, you look at them all side by side and it seems like someone's wet-dream made all-too-painfully real.
It's almost literally one thing after another, after another. Seriously, what the fuck is going on up at the CRTC?
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