CCA Bulletin 7/11- The CCA weighs in on private television group-based licence renewals

Just the Facts

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) recently submitted a brief to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regarding group-based licence renewals for English-language television.

Why does this issue matter?
 

Television programming is the most consumed cultural product. TV is the format through which the government invests the most taxpayers’ dollars, both directly and indirectly. Television is also the most popular cultural form and according to the objectives of the Broadcasting Act, it should reflect Canadian realities and culture. Due to the consolidation of ownership in the audio-visual sector and the relaxed nature of past regulation, it is imperative that the CRTC set a proper course to ensure that Canadian programming is offered to Canadians across the various platforms now available. This is necessary because for the foreseeable future, traditional television programs will remain as the primary source of such programming.(more)

CCA Bulletin 6/11 - What exactly is the financial impact of C-32 on artists and other rights holders?

Just the facts

Several seemingly contradictory numbers have been quoted over the course of the debate on the financial impacts of Bill C-32 on artists and other copyright holders.

In order to help facilitate debate on this most important issue, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA), with the cooperation of its members and other stakeholders, has prepared a list of revenue sources for artists and rights holders which are at risk unless Bill C-32 is amended.

There is no exact science to tracking revenue losses. This is compounded by the fact that many of the new exceptions in the bill such as education and fair dealing are poorly defined. This viewpoint has been supported by Dan Glover, a copyright lawyer from McCarthy Tétrault LLP, who mentions in his response to professor Michael Geist that, “the fairness test is notoriously soft and subjective, an eye-of-the-beholder test that will be left in almost every case to the judgment of the copier.” (more)

CCA Bulletin 5/11 - The cultural sector mobilizes around copyright reform

Just the Facts

Earlier today, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) participated in a press conference held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to make public Canada’s Cultural Industries’ Joint Statement on Bill C-32, the Copyright Modernization Act. The statement is signed by 88 national and provincial arts service organizations from all arts and culture disciplines. Bill C-32 is currently the object of study by a special legislative committee of the House of Commons.  

The Joint Statement brings together an unprecedented coalition of organizations from the arts and culture industries representing writers, performers, actors, illustrators, musicians, composers, publishers, poets, playwrights, producers and songwriters who are all urging Parliamentarians to make changes to Bill C-32. This coalition is part of a $46 billion industry that employs more than 600,000 Canadians and that, as often stated by Heritage Minister James Moore, contributes twice as much to the GDP as the forestry industry.(more)