OTTAWA – Hot on the heels of Bill C-18’s regulation of news on social media platforms, the CRTC announced a follow-up plan to regulate podcasts as soon as they figure out what a podcast is, how they’re distributed, and what they are even seeking to regulate.
“It is the CRTC’s duty to protect Canadian media in all forms,” said CRTC committee chair Fred Dwarkin. To that end, members of the CRTC are currently undergoing consultations with a number of subject matter experts including their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, younger staffers they run into on the elevator and that one neighbour kid who helped them with their iPad one time.
The subcommittee says they have also performed numerous queries on Bing and quora.com to gain a better understanding of what exactly a podcast is.
“I understand they involve a lot of talking and are usually pretty long,” added Dwarkin. “It seems a lot of the talking is about news, but not just news but other current topics as well, which sounds like something we should regulate. But others are just entertainment, which also sounds like something we should regulate, but then I see some podcasts film themselves and are also on YouTube, which I thought we already regulated?”
Other subcommittee members claim the bill has been misconstrued, and that the CRTC is not seeking to regulate podcasts at all.
“We’re not seeking to regulate podcasts, we only want to regulate podcast platforms, which is where you download them I guess? Or do you get them in the mail,” asked subcommittee deputy chair Gladdis Smith.
“But then there’s also this other thing called podcast networks that produce different podcasts, and sometimes the networks have a website where you can download them directly, but then they’re also on the platforms, and there’s Spotify which is sort of both?” said Smith, trailing off.
“Whatever we do, we’re confident it will help Canadian podcasters in the same way bill C-18 blocking Canadian news on social media has led to a renaissance of Canadian journalism.”
Of the little that is known of the coming regulations, some experts have stated concern is overblown.
“I’m not actually that worried,” echoes one Canadian podcaster. “Right now my company makes much less than the $10M revenue threshold. I’m confident that with the CRTC’s involvement, it will stay that way forever.”
