5 ms·

I'm still not sure why there is a need to set a quota for content. Or for the state to subsidize it. Entertainment is a hugely profitable business. Disney and

I'm still not sure why there is a need to set a quota for content. Or for the state to subsidize it. Entertainment is a hugely profitable business. Disney and Marvel for instance made billions of dollars of profits year after year for almost a decade. They did it by making content that people want to watch. Why not simply... make content that people want to watch?

m-p-3 6y ago
How do you get a countries' culture not overwhelmed and wiped out by a foreign one when your frontier is right beside the world's biggest producer of content? If we give up, all those small productions will never find a way to flourish, or even become a giant themselves.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  > How do you get a countries' culture not overwhelmed and wiped out by a foreign one when your frontier is right beside the world's biggest producer of content? From talking to Canadians, they pride themselves with being a multicultural society. "Protecting the nation against foreign cultures" doesn't sound very multicultural to me...
  - Pet_Ant 6y ago
    Protecting yourself from a monoculture is protecting multiculturalism.
- nightfly 6y ago
  I don't really think this is true. I'm an American and most of my Youtube channels I'm subscribed are from foreign countries, and this isn't something I've actively tried and do.
3maj 6y ago
Canadian here. This isn't about subsidizing content, this is about censoring content that the Canadian government deems to be "not in the Canadian spirit". This is about treating anyone with a larger audience (youtube, insta, etc) as a broadcaster and making them follow strict government rules.
- gruez 6y ago
  That explains why this law was introduced, but not the general policy of requiring canadian content exists.
  - munk-a 6y ago
    America has a really outsized impact on western culture and has previously leveraged that (through DoD partnerships and public funding) to reinforce its view of what western culture should be like. I think it's reasonable for a country that could easily be eclipsed by the culture of their southern neighbors to make some effort to fund the preservation of things that differentiate it. The Canadian government tends to be pretty bullish on supporting cultural festivals (hence JFL Montreal being a world-wide event) and supporting independent creators through CanCon laws is just another limb of that strategy.
- munk-a 6y ago
  As another Canadian I believe this is a pretty strong miscategorization of the bill, this bill is extending the practice of CanCon to online platforms that would, from given comments, require various algorithmic recommendation tools to highlight content that the CRTC marks as being Canadian. There are some concerns around censorship here (that the Canadian government may decline to mark videos highlighting controversial topics as being Canadian) but it'll honestly just shift those videos out of this preferred requirement. Most services currently offer some regional and language preferences so this doesn't seem like a huge technical requirement but it is quite possible it'll hurt smaller platforms disproportionately more than larger ones - most regulation, even very warranted stuff, tends to increase the barrier to market entry. I think this is a pretty fair way to approach trying to supplement the economy and retain more productivity within the country as we're trying to pay off the debts we've racked up during covid, it'll help boost the take home of artists and independent creators without leaving a large line item supporting the arts for the CPC to cut if they regain a majority. But that's totally just my opinion.
  - themacguffinman 6y ago
    How is this fair at all? It's not fair to consumers whose prevailing choices are regulatorily subverted. It's not fair to media producers who are now penalized for not being Canadian, nor is it fair for media platforms who now have to invent some special process for Canadian users. By what definition is it fair to force foreigners to fund your own nationalist political goals? Why should anyone care that the current Canadian government supposedly can't even muster enough democratic support to enact and maintain a lasting budget item to sponsor its own agenda?
vkou 6y ago
For the same reason that people are (allegedly) concerned about the tyranny of the majority, or about how everything they buy is made in China. Why not make local, better media? For the same reason that Wal-Mart is full of cheap foreign imports, instead of domestic products.
- munk-a 6y ago
  This largely comes down to anti-competitive practices and relative economic output. Canada has a far weaker economy than the US - we've honestly just got a lot fewer people up here - and the US can leverage it's geopolitical power to force other countries to abide by it's laws. If we don't blink when an unequal trade treaty opens up natural resources to private american exploitation we probably shouldn't blink when a country establishes a law that favors it's domestic product over imported. And actually, I believe the US does dump a significant amount of money into both enforcing the "Made in America" mark on products and advertising to buy American - that too is trying to tip the balance toward consumption of a domestic product. And, lastly, unlike in America, in Canada the free market is not held as the solution to all problems - going out of your way to support and help fellow Canadians is a virtue that's widely celebrated.
tortiver 6y ago
I feel like this bill makes more sense if you look at it from a geopolitical standpoint instead of an economic standpoint. Economies of scale dictate that, yes, Disney and Marvel can make billions of dollars of profits year after year. And they can absolutely out-spend Canadian companies, coming from a market with 10x the number of consumers. For comparison, you can look at Quebec. While France has a larger population than Quebec, the difference is smaller, and the cultural difference is larger, and so they punch above their weight against the rest of Canada when it comes to media because they have a drive to consume local content that isn't found elsewhere. And so this bill is an attempt to (artificially) bootstrap that same culture in the other 75% of Canada.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  > Economies of scale dictate that, yes, Disney and Marvel can make billions of dollars of profits year after year. And they can absolutely out-spend Canadian companies, coming from a market with 10x the number of consumers. If it's just about the money then why did Parasites do so well globally? Canadians are free to sell their content in the US after all. > And so this bill is an attempt to (artificially) bootstrap that same culture in the other 75% of Canada. Why are folks from the 75% not interested in it? Seems they would rather buy American.
  - Pet_Ant 6y ago
    Culture snow balls. The American media perpetuates their culture through network effects. Without support our voices drowns out.
finnthehuman 6y ago
>Disney and Marvel for instance made billions of dollars of profits year after year for almost a decade. For a US company. Canada has long had laws making sure content in Canadian isn't drown out by external cultures and to keep some business at home. It's not exactly a complicated motivation, nor is "just out-compete the entire planet" a reasonable suggestion for that goal.
renewiltord 6y ago
Because despite many local cultures producing market inferior cultural products, those cultures nonetheless do not wish to die.
voidwtf 6y ago
I think availability of diverse content is important. You need varying views of every situation and often times there is a bias that originates or caters to the country of origin. American cinema is pretty bad about this too, almost every American movie based on a historical event or military engagement paints America in a favorable light and completely omits the efforts and cooperation of our allies. If you only watched American entertainment you would come out of it thinking they are the only country fighting for the world.

m-p-3 6y ago

How do you get a countries' culture not overwhelmed and wiped out by a foreign one when your frontier is right beside the world's biggest producer of content? If we give up, all those small productions will never find a way to flourish, or even become a giant themselves.

908B64B197 6y ago
> How do you get a countries' culture not overwhelmed and wiped out by a foreign one when your frontier is right beside the world's biggest producer of content? From talking to Canadians, they pride themselves with being a multicultural society. "Protecting the nation against foreign cultures" doesn't sound very multicultural to me...
- Pet_Ant 6y ago
  Protecting yourself from a monoculture is protecting multiculturalism.
nightfly 6y ago
I don't really think this is true. I'm an American and most of my Youtube channels I'm subscribed are from foreign countries, and this isn't something I've actively tried and do.

3maj 6y ago

Canadian here. This isn't about subsidizing content, this is about censoring content that the Canadian government deems to be "not in the Canadian spirit". This is about treating anyone with a larger audience (youtube, insta, etc) as a broadcaster and making them follow strict government rules.

gruez 6y ago
That explains why this law was introduced, but not the general policy of requiring canadian content exists.
- munk-a 6y ago
  America has a really outsized impact on western culture and has previously leveraged that (through DoD partnerships and public funding) to reinforce its view of what western culture should be like. I think it's reasonable for a country that could easily be eclipsed by the culture of their southern neighbors to make some effort to fund the preservation of things that differentiate it. The Canadian government tends to be pretty bullish on supporting cultural festivals (hence JFL Montreal being a world-wide event) and supporting independent creators through CanCon laws is just another limb of that strategy.
munk-a 6y ago
As another Canadian I believe this is a pretty strong miscategorization of the bill, this bill is extending the practice of CanCon to online platforms that would, from given comments, require various algorithmic recommendation tools to highlight content that the CRTC marks as being Canadian. There are some concerns around censorship here (that the Canadian government may decline to mark videos highlighting controversial topics as being Canadian) but it'll honestly just shift those videos out of this preferred requirement. Most services currently offer some regional and language preferences so this doesn't seem like a huge technical requirement but it is quite possible it'll hurt smaller platforms disproportionately more than larger ones - most regulation, even very warranted stuff, tends to increase the barrier to market entry. I think this is a pretty fair way to approach trying to supplement the economy and retain more productivity within the country as we're trying to pay off the debts we've racked up during covid, it'll help boost the take home of artists and independent creators without leaving a large line item supporting the arts for the CPC to cut if they regain a majority. But that's totally just my opinion.
- themacguffinman 6y ago
  How is this fair at all? It's not fair to consumers whose prevailing choices are regulatorily subverted. It's not fair to media producers who are now penalized for not being Canadian, nor is it fair for media platforms who now have to invent some special process for Canadian users. By what definition is it fair to force foreigners to fund your own nationalist political goals? Why should anyone care that the current Canadian government supposedly can't even muster enough democratic support to enact and maintain a lasting budget item to sponsor its own agenda?

vkou 6y ago

For the same reason that people are (allegedly) concerned about the tyranny of the majority, or about how everything they buy is made in China. Why not make local, better media? For the same reason that Wal-Mart is full of cheap foreign imports, instead of domestic products.

munk-a 6y ago
This largely comes down to anti-competitive practices and relative economic output. Canada has a far weaker economy than the US - we've honestly just got a lot fewer people up here - and the US can leverage it's geopolitical power to force other countries to abide by it's laws. If we don't blink when an unequal trade treaty opens up natural resources to private american exploitation we probably shouldn't blink when a country establishes a law that favors it's domestic product over imported. And actually, I believe the US does dump a significant amount of money into both enforcing the "Made in America" mark on products and advertising to buy American - that too is trying to tip the balance toward consumption of a domestic product. And, lastly, unlike in America, in Canada the free market is not held as the solution to all problems - going out of your way to support and help fellow Canadians is a virtue that's widely celebrated.

tortiver 6y ago

I feel like this bill makes more sense if you look at it from a geopolitical standpoint instead of an economic standpoint. Economies of scale dictate that, yes, Disney and Marvel can make billions of dollars of profits year after year. And they can absolutely out-spend Canadian companies, coming from a market with 10x the number of consumers. For comparison, you can look at Quebec. While France has a larger population than Quebec, the difference is smaller, and the cultural difference is larger, and so they punch above their weight against the rest of Canada when it comes to media because they have a drive to consume local content that isn't found elsewhere. And so this bill is an attempt to (artificially) bootstrap that same culture in the other 75% of Canada.

908B64B197 6y ago
> Economies of scale dictate that, yes, Disney and Marvel can make billions of dollars of profits year after year. And they can absolutely out-spend Canadian companies, coming from a market with 10x the number of consumers. If it's just about the money then why did Parasites do so well globally? Canadians are free to sell their content in the US after all. > And so this bill is an attempt to (artificially) bootstrap that same culture in the other 75% of Canada. Why are folks from the 75% not interested in it? Seems they would rather buy American.
- Pet_Ant 6y ago
  Culture snow balls. The American media perpetuates their culture through network effects. Without support our voices drowns out.

finnthehuman 6y ago

>Disney and Marvel for instance made billions of dollars of profits year after year for almost a decade. For a US company. Canada has long had laws making sure content in Canadian isn't drown out by external cultures and to keep some business at home. It's not exactly a complicated motivation, nor is "just out-compete the entire planet" a reasonable suggestion for that goal.

renewiltord 6y ago

Because despite many local cultures producing market inferior cultural products, those cultures nonetheless do not wish to die.

voidwtf 6y ago

I think availability of diverse content is important. You need varying views of every situation and often times there is a bias that originates or caters to the country of origin. American cinema is pretty bad about this too, almost every American movie based on a historical event or military engagement paints America in a favorable light and completely omits the efforts and cooperation of our allies. If you only watched American entertainment you would come out of it thinking they are the only country fighting for the world.