gunsmoke2
April 24th, 2001, 10:58 PM
CRTC ... tear down this wall
No one should be able to tell Canadian viewers what channels they can and can't watch
National Post
It has often been observed that the 49th parallel is a digital Berlin Wall where satellite television is concerned. Canadian consumers watch U.S.-made movies at the cinema, read U.S. magazines and listen to U.S. radio over the Internet. But Industry Canada, the RCMP and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) have claimed it is illegal to subscribe to U.S. satellite television. The Disney Channel, MTV, ESPN and HBO have been off limits to Canadians, along with numerous specialty channels that viewers south of the border are free to purchase. While the CRTC cites protection of cultural identity to justify the ban, the real reason is to protect the U.S. networks' monopoly Canadian agents, such as the Family Channel (Disney), MuchMusic (MTV) and The Sports Network (ESPN).
Last week, the Ontario Court of Appeal properly told Canadian authorities it's time for a change. The Radiocommunications Act, said the court in a unanimous decision, prohibits people only from watching Canadian satellite television for which they have not paid. In the court's view, Parliament never intended the Act to "punish individuals and companies engaged in the reception of [direct to home] satellite programming signals from foreign countries."
Hundreds of thousands of Canadian households circumvent the CRTC's rules by purchasing so-called grey-market U.S. satellite dishes and procuring an U.S. post-office box for billing purposes. In the Ontario case, the RCMP raided a store in Lindsey, Ont., that sold dishes required for use with U.S. satellite services, seizing even the in-store security camera. Describing the actions of the RCMP, which announced a criminal crackdown on these dishes back in 1999, as "massive and unnecessarily over-inclusive," the court rejected the view that grey-market dishes are illegal.
The Ontario court is not alone. Last September, two of three British Columbia Court of Appeal judges declined to grant an injunction against businesses selling dishes required for use with U.S. satellite services. And in a similar case, Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge C.E. Haliburton observed wryly in November, 1997, "I understand that Cuba imposes serious penalties on citizens who attempt to receive radio and television signals from international sources. Such interference is clearly incompatible with freedom of speech and the freedoms which we have always taken for granted in this country."
It has long been obvious that the CRTC's content policies are a relic of obsolete broadcast technologies. They are also contradictory: Any Canadian living near the U.S. border can freely pick up U.S. television or radio signals with off-air antenna; and yet Canadians are banned from using a parabolic antenna for a similar purpose. In an age of satellite TV and broadband Internet access, the CRTC's regulations are both indefensible and unenforceable. The courts are merely putting the law of the land in sync with technological reality. The trend is for the good: No one, including the government, should be able to tell Canadian viewers what television channels they can and can't watch.
GS2
No one should be able to tell Canadian viewers what channels they can and can't watch
National Post
It has often been observed that the 49th parallel is a digital Berlin Wall where satellite television is concerned. Canadian consumers watch U.S.-made movies at the cinema, read U.S. magazines and listen to U.S. radio over the Internet. But Industry Canada, the RCMP and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) have claimed it is illegal to subscribe to U.S. satellite television. The Disney Channel, MTV, ESPN and HBO have been off limits to Canadians, along with numerous specialty channels that viewers south of the border are free to purchase. While the CRTC cites protection of cultural identity to justify the ban, the real reason is to protect the U.S. networks' monopoly Canadian agents, such as the Family Channel (Disney), MuchMusic (MTV) and The Sports Network (ESPN).
Last week, the Ontario Court of Appeal properly told Canadian authorities it's time for a change. The Radiocommunications Act, said the court in a unanimous decision, prohibits people only from watching Canadian satellite television for which they have not paid. In the court's view, Parliament never intended the Act to "punish individuals and companies engaged in the reception of [direct to home] satellite programming signals from foreign countries."
Hundreds of thousands of Canadian households circumvent the CRTC's rules by purchasing so-called grey-market U.S. satellite dishes and procuring an U.S. post-office box for billing purposes. In the Ontario case, the RCMP raided a store in Lindsey, Ont., that sold dishes required for use with U.S. satellite services, seizing even the in-store security camera. Describing the actions of the RCMP, which announced a criminal crackdown on these dishes back in 1999, as "massive and unnecessarily over-inclusive," the court rejected the view that grey-market dishes are illegal.
The Ontario court is not alone. Last September, two of three British Columbia Court of Appeal judges declined to grant an injunction against businesses selling dishes required for use with U.S. satellite services. And in a similar case, Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge C.E. Haliburton observed wryly in November, 1997, "I understand that Cuba imposes serious penalties on citizens who attempt to receive radio and television signals from international sources. Such interference is clearly incompatible with freedom of speech and the freedoms which we have always taken for granted in this country."
It has long been obvious that the CRTC's content policies are a relic of obsolete broadcast technologies. They are also contradictory: Any Canadian living near the U.S. border can freely pick up U.S. television or radio signals with off-air antenna; and yet Canadians are banned from using a parabolic antenna for a similar purpose. In an age of satellite TV and broadband Internet access, the CRTC's regulations are both indefensible and unenforceable. The courts are merely putting the law of the land in sync with technological reality. The trend is for the good: No one, including the government, should be able to tell Canadian viewers what television channels they can and can't watch.
GS2