OpenMedia.ca Boycotts CRTC Proceeding as the Commission Faces Charges of Bias

July 6, 2011 – OpenMedia.ca is announcing its boycott of the CRTC's controversial proceeding on over-the-top (OTT) content, which will determine whether online video services like YouTube, AppleTV, Netflix, and others will be regulated. The half-a-million-strong pro-Internet group believes that the CRTC has become overly entangled with the interests of powerful stakeholders, and has structured the proceeding to yield results that favour industry interests over Canadian interests.

According to Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, the CRTC is "erecting barriers to [public] participation in [the] consultation."

For example, the CRTC's choice to deny compensation to public interest groups wishing to participate in the proceeding inevitably leads to proceedings "marred by charges of CRTC bias," as Geist explains. Geist writes in his most recent column, "The end result has been the pervasive sense that the Commission caved to pressure from a small group of powerful stakeholders without regard for consumer interests."

To add to concerns, on June 13, 2011, CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein told the audience at the Banff World Media Festival that those in the big telecom/media industry need to "organize yourselves and make sure the message gets out loud and clear...it is now time for the large vertically-integrated players to establish a new organization to speak for them, and to propose plans for change."

OpenMedia.ca's Executive Director, Steve Anderson, has this to say:

"The CRTC is supposed to work for the Canadian public, and its current approach is simply irresponsible. Making it difficult for under-resourced organizations representing Canadians to participate, while also giving lobbying advice to industry players, only feeds public frustration and the perception of regulatory capture."

"OpenMedia.ca has no interest in participating in a proceeding where the cards are so clearly stacked against the public. We expect more from the CRTC."

Another major public interest group, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, has already decided not to participate in this same proceeding.

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Contact

Lindsey Pinto
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
778-238-7710
[email protected]

Learn More

The full June 13, 2011 Konrad von Finckenstein speech at the the Banff World Media Festival
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/com200/2011/s110613.htm

Michael Geist’s Column:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1013961--crtc-faces-charges-of-b...

About OpenMedia.ca

OpenMedia.ca is a national, non-partisan, non-profit public engagement organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Our primary goal is to increase public awareness and informed participation in Canadian media, cultural, information, and telecommunications policy formation.

OpenMedia.ca is best-known for coordinating the Stop The Meter campaign earlier this year. The Stop The Meter campaign is widely considered the biggest online citizens' campaign in Canadian history, involving nearly half-a-million Canadians.