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> it makes sure that broadcasters have enough Canadian made content compared to non-canadian made content, and to also make sure it has content in both official

> it makes sure that broadcasters have enough Canadian made content compared to non-canadian made content, and to also make sure it has content in both official languages, as well as to help support and promote content from minorities. To me this is completely bizarre, not unlike old soviet censors looking at movies and deciding what was “soviet enough” to get the approval from the bureaucracy. Disney and Marvel made billions of dollars simply making content people want to watch and pay for, why not simply do the same and compete in the marketplace? Imagine how ridiculous it would be if there were quotas on iPhone sold so that BlackBerry still had a legally mandated market share. So Drake would get subsidies for being a Canadian minority but the government would try to limit the air-time given to Lil Nas (one, if not the first openly gay mainstream black rapper)… Tax dollars are paying for this?

Fogest 5y ago
Radio stations in Canada already are required to have a portion of their content be "Canadian". And other than ads it is actually one benefit of getting away from listening to radio and switching to streaming services. You're able to go listen to what you want, not some forced content you hear all the time. Some stations who play things like the top hits will play Canadian songs quite a bit and it just gets boring. I recall Netflix had a deal with the government where they commit xyz amount of money to producing content for their platform made in Canada. I have no problem with things like this as I have no obligation to watch that content. If that Canadian content happens to suck then I just won't watch it. But if Netflix instead had to artificially make me see this content more when I go to browse for a show that would be frustrating. Just like if Spotify had to have their curated playlists have xyz percentage of Canadian content. I don't want what I listen to being tailored based on first the country of origin and then second whether or not I will like the song. I feel like these policies are happening because of pressure from big media companies in Canada. These companies are losing profit to American companies because now they are actually forced to compete and their average-to-meh tier content just isn't as passable anymore when people actually have options.
- didibus 5y ago
  I get your sentiment, but it also seems like you don't care for Canadian culture and identity, history, and everything, and would be happy seeing it eventually die out in favor of American culture or some other. Free market is nice, but applying it to culture is saying you're okay to see your culture lose to another. At the same time, how can a country of a small population win a culture content war against one of multiple time its size with much more capital. The way you talk about being forced to compete, I feel you're assuming that news, media, talk shows, music, movies, and all that are somehow not also incorporating values and morals that reflect a culture. And that there shouldn't be any desire to make sure that Canadian values, morals and historical lineage is still represented in content broadcasted to Canadians. Now personally, I value Canadian culture and identity, and I want to see it grow and prosper and still be represented in broadcast reaching Canadians. That doesn't mean blocking foreign content, but I think it's fair to make recommendations, search results, and other such promotional mechanism prioritize a certain amount of Canadian content when accessed from Canada. And even more so, I think it's a good idea if it should make sure to always include a little bit of First Nation material, a little bit of French Canadian material, etc., to give proportional representation to our minority groups as well, and support their culture and heritage too. As a Canadian consumer, it means that if you truly didn't like Canadian content, maybe you'd need to explicitly seek out non-canadian content, or non-canadian content recommendations. I could see it be an explicit opt-out setting, or having to explicitly switch to the American or some other endpoint. Maybe I'm patriotic, but ya, I do value those things. And I would want the default in Canada for broadcasters to prioritize a certain amount of Canadian content with proportional representation to our various minority/majority groups.
  - 908B64B197 5y ago
    > Free market is nice, but applying it to culture is saying you're okay to see your culture lose to another. If people want to keep it alive, they’ll simply consume it. If you can’t sell it without having to subsidize it and make special laws to force people to watch it, maybe the people already made their choice. > And even more so, I think it's a good idea if it should make sure to always include a little bit of First Nation material, a little bit of French Canadian material, etc., to give proportional representation to our minority groups as well, and support their culture and heritage too. Weren’t the state media making blatantly racist “historical documentary” (with taxpayers money) a few years ago? [0-4] Are people ok with this? I get the minority content but aren’t the French Canadians notorious for buying and consuming their own culture? I work with a few French Canadians who’s been here in the bay for decades and even their kids (born here in America) watch French Canadian content (on TikTok no less!). No need to subsidize it, they just seek it because they want to watch it. When you make something that’s worth it, people simply watch it. That’s why Parasite won an Oscar. [0] https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/cbc-the-story-of-us-representation_b_15986458 https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/cbc-the-story-of-u... [1] https://this.org/2017/07/19/where-cbcs-the-story-of-us-went-wrong/ https://this.org/2017/07/19/where-cbcs-the-story-of-us-went-... [2] https://etcanada.com/news/217608/cbc-issues-apology-after-the-story-of-us-following-criticism-from-quebec-maritimes-viewers/ https://etcanada.com/news/217608/cbc-issues-apology-after-th... [3] https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/couillard-government-wants-cbc-to-apologize-for-errors-in-the-story-of-us/ https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/couillard-govern... [4] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cbc-apologizes-after-canadian-history-series-sparks-uproar-in-quebec-maritimes/article34666160/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cbc-apologizes...
didibus 5y ago
Culture and Media is inherently political, to me it makes sense to make sure that the media reporters, the opinion pieces, and the cultural heritage and lineage remains mostly in control by Canadians for Canadians, and that all Canadians get an equal representation, which considers and encourages minority groups to have a voice. That doesn't mean that you block and censor media and culture from other countries to reach Canadians. A broadcaster is not a publisher. A broadcaster is inherently a curator, it's a promoter and censor in its own right. If you're the biggest distribution channel, but you are in control of choosing what content gets the most or best "air time", which is what a broadcaster does, you have an outsized control and impact on what content reaches Canadians and what content doesn't. That means Disney could buy all Canadian TV and radio stations from money they acquired in the US market, and just decide to only broadcast US news, opinions, media, music and film, etc. Or it means that Canadian broadcasters could choose to do the same because they make more money from big budget American productions than Canadian productions. But it seems wrong to me to say that news, media, and culture should all be driven and optimized purely on what makes the most money, and not on any other dimensions, such as cultural heritage and diversity, equal opinions and voices from Canadians of various groups and affiliations, etc. Similarly, for online broadcasting, it means what does YouTube decide to recommend you? What do they decide to promote or show first in a search result? You'd want regulations to make sure that YouTube considers what's best for Canadians, by making sure it's equally showing Canadian content from various Canadian groups, and not that it's just demoting and making all Canadian voices and content hard to find while instead only recommending content that is optimized for clicks, revenue, outrage, or representing American, or Russian, or other foreign nations or groups. That doesn't mean banning foreign content, it just means it can't get priority over Canadian content in broadcasts. You also can still sell and distribute it in Canada without problems.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  > That means Disney could buy all Canadian TV and radio stations from money they acquired in the US market, and just decide to only broadcast US news, opinions, media, music and film, etc. If people want to consume Canadian content, they'll simply switch to a different station. The free market is always right! > Or it means that Canadian broadcasters could choose to do the same because they make more money from big budget American productions than Canadian productions Why not simply step up their game and make content that people want to watch? They are free to sell it on the US market as well.

Fogest 5y ago

Radio stations in Canada already are required to have a portion of their content be "Canadian". And other than ads it is actually one benefit of getting away from listening to radio and switching to streaming services. You're able to go listen to what you want, not some forced content you hear all the time. Some stations who play things like the top hits will play Canadian songs quite a bit and it just gets boring. I recall Netflix had a deal with the government where they commit xyz amount of money to producing content for their platform made in Canada. I have no problem with things like this as I have no obligation to watch that content. If that Canadian content happens to suck then I just won't watch it. But if Netflix instead had to artificially make me see this content more when I go to browse for a show that would be frustrating. Just like if Spotify had to have their curated playlists have xyz percentage of Canadian content. I don't want what I listen to being tailored based on first the country of origin and then second whether or not I will like the song. I feel like these policies are happening because of pressure from big media companies in Canada. These companies are losing profit to American companies because now they are actually forced to compete and their average-to-meh tier content just isn't as passable anymore when people actually have options.

didibus 5y ago
I get your sentiment, but it also seems like you don't care for Canadian culture and identity, history, and everything, and would be happy seeing it eventually die out in favor of American culture or some other. Free market is nice, but applying it to culture is saying you're okay to see your culture lose to another. At the same time, how can a country of a small population win a culture content war against one of multiple time its size with much more capital. The way you talk about being forced to compete, I feel you're assuming that news, media, talk shows, music, movies, and all that are somehow not also incorporating values and morals that reflect a culture. And that there shouldn't be any desire to make sure that Canadian values, morals and historical lineage is still represented in content broadcasted to Canadians. Now personally, I value Canadian culture and identity, and I want to see it grow and prosper and still be represented in broadcast reaching Canadians. That doesn't mean blocking foreign content, but I think it's fair to make recommendations, search results, and other such promotional mechanism prioritize a certain amount of Canadian content when accessed from Canada. And even more so, I think it's a good idea if it should make sure to always include a little bit of First Nation material, a little bit of French Canadian material, etc., to give proportional representation to our minority groups as well, and support their culture and heritage too. As a Canadian consumer, it means that if you truly didn't like Canadian content, maybe you'd need to explicitly seek out non-canadian content, or non-canadian content recommendations. I could see it be an explicit opt-out setting, or having to explicitly switch to the American or some other endpoint. Maybe I'm patriotic, but ya, I do value those things. And I would want the default in Canada for broadcasters to prioritize a certain amount of Canadian content with proportional representation to our various minority/majority groups.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  > Free market is nice, but applying it to culture is saying you're okay to see your culture lose to another. If people want to keep it alive, they’ll simply consume it. If you can’t sell it without having to subsidize it and make special laws to force people to watch it, maybe the people already made their choice. > And even more so, I think it's a good idea if it should make sure to always include a little bit of First Nation material, a little bit of French Canadian material, etc., to give proportional representation to our minority groups as well, and support their culture and heritage too. Weren’t the state media making blatantly racist “historical documentary” (with taxpayers money) a few years ago? [0-4] Are people ok with this? I get the minority content but aren’t the French Canadians notorious for buying and consuming their own culture? I work with a few French Canadians who’s been here in the bay for decades and even their kids (born here in America) watch French Canadian content (on TikTok no less!). No need to subsidize it, they just seek it because they want to watch it. When you make something that’s worth it, people simply watch it. That’s why Parasite won an Oscar. [0] https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/cbc-the-story-of-us-representation_b_15986458 https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/cbc-the-story-of-u... [1] https://this.org/2017/07/19/where-cbcs-the-story-of-us-went-wrong/ https://this.org/2017/07/19/where-cbcs-the-story-of-us-went-... [2] https://etcanada.com/news/217608/cbc-issues-apology-after-the-story-of-us-following-criticism-from-quebec-maritimes-viewers/ https://etcanada.com/news/217608/cbc-issues-apology-after-th... [3] https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/couillard-government-wants-cbc-to-apologize-for-errors-in-the-story-of-us/ https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/couillard-govern... [4] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cbc-apologizes-after-canadian-history-series-sparks-uproar-in-quebec-maritimes/article34666160/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cbc-apologizes...

didibus 5y ago

Culture and Media is inherently political, to me it makes sense to make sure that the media reporters, the opinion pieces, and the cultural heritage and lineage remains mostly in control by Canadians for Canadians, and that all Canadians get an equal representation, which considers and encourages minority groups to have a voice. That doesn't mean that you block and censor media and culture from other countries to reach Canadians. A broadcaster is not a publisher. A broadcaster is inherently a curator, it's a promoter and censor in its own right. If you're the biggest distribution channel, but you are in control of choosing what content gets the most or best "air time", which is what a broadcaster does, you have an outsized control and impact on what content reaches Canadians and what content doesn't. That means Disney could buy all Canadian TV and radio stations from money they acquired in the US market, and just decide to only broadcast US news, opinions, media, music and film, etc. Or it means that Canadian broadcasters could choose to do the same because they make more money from big budget American productions than Canadian productions. But it seems wrong to me to say that news, media, and culture should all be driven and optimized purely on what makes the most money, and not on any other dimensions, such as cultural heritage and diversity, equal opinions and voices from Canadians of various groups and affiliations, etc. Similarly, for online broadcasting, it means what does YouTube decide to recommend you? What do they decide to promote or show first in a search result? You'd want regulations to make sure that YouTube considers what's best for Canadians, by making sure it's equally showing Canadian content from various Canadian groups, and not that it's just demoting and making all Canadian voices and content hard to find while instead only recommending content that is optimized for clicks, revenue, outrage, or representing American, or Russian, or other foreign nations or groups. That doesn't mean banning foreign content, it just means it can't get priority over Canadian content in broadcasts. You also can still sell and distribute it in Canada without problems.

908B64B197 5y ago
> That means Disney could buy all Canadian TV and radio stations from money they acquired in the US market, and just decide to only broadcast US news, opinions, media, music and film, etc. If people want to consume Canadian content, they'll simply switch to a different station. The free market is always right! > Or it means that Canadian broadcasters could choose to do the same because they make more money from big budget American productions than Canadian productions Why not simply step up their game and make content that people want to watch? They are free to sell it on the US market as well.