Entertainment: Bill C-32

This is an issue that's close to the hearts of everyone in the radio industry.

You may remember last year's "Save Local TV" campaign, which was launched by local broadcasters to allow them to charge carriage fees. As someone who has been working in broadcast, I've noticed some things that the public advertising doesn't make clear, and is even more vague in the large markets where the main broadcasting hubs reside. Most of the major broadcasters, such as CTV, Global, and the like have smaller "satelite" stations in local area far from the center of the Canadian universe that is Toronto, and it costs these broadcasters money to create, develop and deliver their content to the cable and satelite companies that send it off to the home viewer.

Ultimately, this argument is sort of a moot point now, since most of the carriers own most of the broadcasters. Plainly put, everybody owns everybody else. But I digress...

The issue at hand now, is Bill C-32, particularly the sections that will result in saving broadcasters tens of millions of dollars. The general public might view this with much the same light as they did with last year's campaign. "Don't these broadcasters have money to spare?" Well, not an endless supply. I was confused about this, too, but as someone who works in the industry, I was able to get a little better insight to the issue.

The Bill is an update to old copyright laws, tariffs (fees) and other issues that radio broadcasters deal with on a regular basis. Some want to charge the broadcasters multiple times over for the same piece of audio, be it a song, or what have you. And this, for the broadcasters, is the key point. They are essentially forced to spend millions of dollars needlessly for content they have already paid for, thus, lining the pockets of giant record labels and other content providers.  This money rarely, if ever, finds it's way down to the artists, who we love, but often barely scrape by. And a lot of that money leaves Canada, making it even harder for the struggling Canadian artist.  Bill C-32 will help broadcasters keep their money in Canada, with greater benefit to Canadian artists and all Canadians alike.  The idea is to for our broadcasters to use this money to support and help grow local and national tallent.

Contact your local MPs and let your voice be heard. Support your local broadcasters, support your Canadian tallet, and help keep Canadian money in Canada.
Check out isupportmylocalradio.ca for more on this controversial Bill.