Fot the connections.
Can’t separate telecom, broadcasting: CRTC head
If the federal government wants to liberalize foreign ownership rules in the Canadian telecom sector, it must do the same for the broadcasting industry, says the head of the federal body that oversees both sectors.
“I don't think you can separate telecom and broadcasting in an age of convergence,” Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said Tuesday at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto.
In an informal chat with a conference organizer, Mr. von Finckenstein repeated his views on the government's plan to ease foreign ownership restrictions in the sector. He said the tendency of companies such as Rogers Communications Inc. to own both telecom and broadcasting businesses complicates the process. Liberalizing ownership in telecom only would force Canadian communications companies to take on “artificial” ownership structures, he said.
Speaking at the same conference on Monday, Industry Minister Tony Clement said the government plans to move on a consultation process to liberalize the telecom sector while excluding the broadcasting sector, which carries a host of Canadian content concerns and attracts the ire of opposition politicians.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/treat-telecom-broadcasting-equally-crtc/article1596156/Opposition. Wake up to what is happening and act. Stop reacting.
Act. Come out with your own Canadian positions.