Nathalie Théberge to the annual conference of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA)

Québec City, Quebec
September 9, 2024

Nathalie Théberge, Vice-Chairperson, Broadcasting
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)

Check against delivery

Thank you for that kind introduction.

I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional territories of several First Nations, including the Huron-Wendat Nation. I thank them and pay respect to their Elders.

Thank you for inviting me to deliver today’s welcoming remarks. I have been in the position of Vice-Chair of Broadcasting for almost six months, and I am thrilled to be able to serve, in this capacity, such a dynamic sector at such a crucial time of its evolution.

We have a lot of ongoing work at the CRTC, and I am sure you are all eager to hear more about how it may impact you and your businesses.

Let me start by saying how appreciative we are of the role that you play across the country. Collectively, you provide services to hundreds of thousands of people across Canada. The regions and communities you serve are generally outside urban markets and are not always well-supported by the market’s largest players. In places where national providers do offer services, you give Canadians options and greater choice, which is something we are hoping to see more of in the coming months and years. 

As you know, the CRTC is a quasi-judicial tribunal that makes decisions on broadcasting and telecommunications matters based on the public record. Our decisions must always consider what is in the public interest, which is why we strive to have broad-based public records bringing together a diversity of views and perspectives.

Those records must include more than just the voices of the largest players in our system. They must also include those of many others, including the smaller, independent businesses all of you represent. You serve unique customer bases and face unique market conditions. We want our decisions to include and consider the challenges and opportunities inherent in your business realities. 

I want to use my time today to highlight how some of our recent work contributes directly to diversity and choice in Canada. This includes our work implementing the Online Streaming Act and modernizing our broadcasting framework I will also discuss how our recent decisions in telecommunications are supporting competition in the Internet and cellphone services markets across Canada.

Modernizing Canada’s broadcasting system

Let me begin by sharing some thoughts about our recent work on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.

Our goal is to modernize Canada’s broadcasting system so that the content it produces is reflective of not only the lives and experiences of Canadians and Indigenous peoples, but also their unique cultural expressions. We do that by ensuring that a variety of content from a variety of creators is available on a variety of platforms.

As I’m sure you know, the Online Streaming Act received Royal Assent in April 2023. It directs the CRTC to modernize Canada’s broadcasting framework and ensure that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content.

To implement the Act and respond to the needs of the industry, we knew from the start that we needed to move very quickly. We also knew we needed to engage with a diversity of parties as broad as possible in order to ensure our future decisions properly reflected the reality of the current broadcasting ecosystem.

We’ve been very busy, as a result. In the span of 13 months, from our first consultations in May 2023 to this past June, we have held four consultations and a major three-week public hearing and determined four (4) things: one, which online streaming services will need to register with the CRTC; two, whether those should have basic conditions of service; three, regulatory fees; and four, what type of initial base contributions online streaming services should make to the Canadian broadcasting system. Just last month, we finalized the conditions of service for those contributions.

Let me focus on one of those decisions for just a moment, because it’s key and speaks directly to my theme today of diversity.

In June, we issued an important decision on the base contributions online streaming services will have to make to the Canadian broadcasting system to support Canadian and Indigenous content. During the consultation that led to that decision, we heard from more than 120 groups over the course of a three-week public hearing, and we collected more than 360 detailed submissions from intervenors. These diverse perspectives contributed to a healthy and robust public record that formed the basis of our decision.

Based on this record, we decided that online streaming services that earn $25 million or more in annual revenues – and that are not affiliated with Canadian broadcasters – would be required to make base contributions to certain funds starting in the 2024-2025 broadcast year. That new money will be directed to areas of immediate need such as local news on radio and TV, French-language content, Indigenous content and content created by and for equity-deserving communities, official language minority communities, and Canadians of diverse backgrounds.

And because we wanted to ensure that content creators could access that money as quickly as possible, we decided that the contributions – which we expect will amount to an additional $200 million each year in the broadcasting system – would be made to existing funds.

This includes funds that specifically support a diversity of voices, interests and forms of cultural expression within the broadcasting system. Among these are the Black Screen Office Fund, the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for Black and people of colour (BPOC) creators, the Certified Independent Production Funds that support OLMC producers and producers from diverse communities, and the Indigenous Screen Office Fund.

These funds will be able to support more creators who will bring to our screens their unique stories and experiences, and who will contribute to our diverse cultural landscape.

French-language cultural content

I’d like to take a moment to talk specifically about French-language content. As we work toward building a modernized broadcasting system, this is an issue that is critical to the CRTC, and important to so many in Quebec but also elsewhere in Canada, as it is an integral part of who we are as a diverse and unique society.

The CRTC has always recognized – and always will recognize – the unique challenges the French language faces due to its minority context in North America.  The reality is that in a sea of content, French-language productions are harder to find, consume and enjoy. Ensuring that French-language content creators have the tools and support they need to thrive and share their talent and stories with Canadians and the world is incredibly important to us.

Continuing to support for French-language culture and media will remain a focus as we renew Canada’s broadcasting framework. The Broadcasting Act specifies that we need to take into account the distinctiveness of both official language markets. We know that the solutions to support culture and content in the English and French-language markets are not necessarily the same.

We have upcoming consultations on several issues that could impact Francophone Canadians, including on the definition of Canadian content in the audiovisual sector and structural relations in the broadcasting system. We encourage everyone to participate to ensure a pride of place for French-language culture and content in our modernized broadcasting framework. We are aware of the Quebec government’s consultation to develop a legislative framework to promote access to Francophone cultural content and its discoverability in the digital environment. We look forward to seeing the results of this work.

I also want to mention that we currently have an open consultation that is exploring ways in which the CRTC can strengthen its consultation and engagement with official language minority communities and French-language communities. I would encourage everyone with an interest to participate to make your views known on the public record.

Increasing choice and affordability in the market for Internet services

I’ve spent a good deal of time so far on our recent work in the broadcasting sector. With good reason. This is a transformative moment for a system that hasn’t seen a great deal of meaningful reform in more than 30 years. And I am the Vice-Chair of Broadcasting after all.

Having said that, our work in the telecommunications sector is no less important.

We are equally committed to moving fast to ensure that all Canadians have access to a diverse set of options for affordable and high-quality cellphone and Internet services. In the telecommunications sector, promoting diversity means delivering more choice to Canadians.

Last year, the Government issued a direction to the CRTC on a renewed approach to telecommunications policy. It requires us to consider how our decisions promote competition, affordability, reliability, and consumer interests.

The underlying message here is clear: our decisions need to lead to more affordable services for Canadians through enhanced competition. At the same time as we encourage more competition, we must also ensure that there remain incentives for telecommunications providers to invest in high-quality networks, because we know building networks is expensive.

We are encouraged by the recent competitive activity in the cellphone market, following our decision to allow regional competitors to compete as mobile virtual network operators using the networks of large cellphone companies across Canada. We know that this decision has helped open the market for competitors, and we are happy to see that it is already paying dividends.

We’re also seeing new and diverse offers from both regional and national carriers, especially in parts of the country that regional players didn’t or couldn’t serve as recently as 12 months ago. That’s a strong sign that things are moving in the right direction, and there is competition in areas where there had not been any before.

We are taking a similar approach to improve competition in Canada’s Internet market, while maintaining incentives to invest.

In March of 2023, we launched a major public proceeding to improve Internet services competition because we recognized that our approach had not been working to encourage choice and affordability.

The public record of that proceeding showed that competition in the Internet services market was declining. This has left many Canadians with fewer options for high-speed Internet. And less choice is not where we want to be.

To help stabilize the market on an expedited basis, we issued an initial decision in November 2023 that offered competitors a workable way to sell Internet services using the fibre-to-the-home networks of large telephone companies in Ontario and Quebec, where competition had declined most significantly. That access launched in May 2024, and competitors are using it today to offer consumers new fibre Internet choices.

In February, we held a further public hearing to consider whether these temporary measures should be expanded across the country on a permanent basis.

Last month, we published our decision. Based on a robust record of over 300 submissions, and evidence presented by 22 groups during that hearing, we moved quickly to extend the access we had provided in Ontario and Quebec to the large telephone companies’ fibre across Canada. When this access launches in February 2025, smaller providers across the country will have the ability to provide more choice to Canadians who want higher-speed Internet using the networks of Canada’s largest providers.

I’ll wrap up my thoughts on our work in the telecommunications sector by saying this: these decisions are part of our broader effort to ensure that Canadians have access to a diverse set of affordable and high-quality telecommunications services, through increased competition and choice from service providers.

I hope that CCSA members such as yourselves will explore the possibility of expanding your horizons even further and venturing into new markets with innovative new products and services.

Building robust public records

As I said earlier, the decisions we make are supported by the public records we develop through our consultations. We need, and encourage, the participation from as many people and groups as possible to ensure our public records are as broad and diverse as possible. This includes the participation of the CCSA and its members, and many more.

Our aim is always for our consultations to be inclusive so that everyone can participate. For instance, we have adapted some of our consultation documents in American Sign Language and the Langue des signes québécoise, as well as in Indigenous languages.

We are also doing things differently by being as inclusive as possible. Last year’s public hearing on base contributions is a good example. It was the longest broadcasting hearing in two decades because we did not want to turn anyone away.

And this fall, we plan to launch a consultation specifically on public interest participation where we will explore how to better support the participation of groups that represent the public interest in our proceedings and as a result, better reflect a diversity of perspectives.

Conclusion

As I conclude, let me return to where I began my remarks. And that is on the strong appreciation we at the CRTC have for the members of your alliance.

CCSA members aren’t the largest players in the market for Internet, television and telephone services. But what you lack in size, you more than make up for in other ways.

You are innovators that offer products and services to friends, neighbours and family members. You are competitors in the broader market for services. You are also contributors to a system that supports the delivery of a diversity of voices from a diversity of creators across a diversity of platforms.

In these senses, you play a critical role in building and sustaining a communications system that benefits everyone and in which Canadians can be proud and see themselves for who they are: diverse and open to the world.

As we move forward with our work to create the future of Canada’s communications sector, we hope the CCSA and its members will take every opportunity to participate in our proceedings to make your voices heard.

Thank you.