Winners, losers and opportunities lost in the CRTC vertical-integration ruling
A lot was at stake in the CRTC’s hearings on vertical integration in the telecom-media-Internet industries held in June. The big four vertically integrated media companies in Canada — Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor Media (QMI) — said there was no problem, and proposed that, at most, the CRTC should accept some amalgamation of their proposed code. Everybody else disagreed: Telus, CBC, Access Communications, public interest groups, Channel Zero, the Weather Channel, and in a qualified way, Astral.
The commission came out with its new rules on the subject Tuesday. You can see the Globe story here, the press release here or the full decision here.
Arguments were made about small markets needing big media players, and that argument front-ended the CRTC’s press release today. As I’ve said in previous posts, gucci outlet Canada’s total media economy is not small, but the eighth largest in the world, and growing fast. We don’t need “big media” to coddle small outfits, but rather the carriers provide clear channels and the most open media set-up possible, full stop.
Rogers carved out a somewhat distinct position given that with its CityTV network being the smallest of the big four’s holdings (QMI/TVA, Bell/CTV, Shaw/Global (Corus), suggesting a code with a bit of teeth so that it could feed its own mobile and Internet operations. A complete list of positions is available here.
So, on points one, two, three and five, some clear “wins” for competitors and consumers. Point four holds the line, while point six will require us to wait and see if the different players can sort things out amongst themselves. Otherwise, well, more consultations, hearings and decisions. Indeed, the CRTC points to many instances where additional consultations, hearings and decisions might be needed if the parties can’t sort things out by themselves.
Daniel Ek, chief executive of Spotify, argued similarly, saying that it’s twice as likely for a person to purchase music if they have a recommendation from a friend through Facebook.
The Facebook event, known as f8, opened with a sketch by Saturday Night Live comic Andy Samberg doing an impersonation of Mr. Zuckerberg, who came on stage to demonstrate the Timeline feature. It is designed to be navigated quickly in a single page and allow users to curate their history on Facebook.
The announcements come on the heels of a series of redesigns of Facebook’s site. The company recently updated its news feed to highlight information that users would be most interested in, as opposed to updates in chronological order as it had done previously.
The company, which now claims 800 million users, has elicited some concern from privacy advocates and regulators as it seeks to augment services designed to better connect social contacts. In August, Facebook released a significant update to its privacy controls, making it easier for users to tailor posts and photos to specific friends.
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