Ensuring IP stays with Canadians amid regulatory change and a declining traditional broadcasting system were among the key issues raised by several of Canada’s media leaders on the second day of the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF).

The Canada: State of the Nation panel moderated by Playback on Monday (June 12) included Barbara Williams, EVP, CBC; Jamie Schouela, president, global channels and media, Blue Ant Media; Troy Reeb, VP, broadcast networks, Corus Entertainment; Andrew Peterson, head of Canada, YouTube; Brad Danks, CEO, OUTtv; and Hayden Mindell, SVP of television, Rogers Sports & Media.

One of the keys to growing business while the traditional broadcasting system is shrinking is shifting to streaming and IP ownership, said Schouela, noting that was the factor that allowed Blue Ant Media to grow its free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels globally so quickly.

“The reason we’ve been an early adopter in that space is we happen to own a bunch of IP, and our production partners happen to own a bunch of IP as well. So as new opportunities emerged, we had the ability to ride and take that opportunity to grow,” he said.

“There are always ways to monetize content at a global level. But if you have the IP, you have options.”

Reeb acknowledged the duality that exists in that IP ownership conversation.

On the one hand, indies producing for Corus want to hold onto 100% of the intellectual property, he said. But the company has made it a big part of its overall strategy to try to own more of the IP so it can make a profit and participate in the global sales.

Corus wants ownership so it can “not only create something culturally significant, but something that actually provides a return on investment and doesn’t result in the broadcaster just becoming sort of the Canadian branch plant of an international producer’s business or an international studio’s business,” said Reeb.

Danks said “Canada has got to be bigger. Everything you do has to have a global or at least a much larger reach right now. But it all starts with IP. If you don’t have IP, you can’t get into those platforms.”

IP ownership is doubly important amid the AI revolution, he added.

As Danks explained, the key to developing IP will be using advanced data and analytics from new platforms, so “if you don’t own the IP, and you don’t have the relationship directly with YouTube, Amazon, Roku or Apple, you can’t get the data in a way that you can use it. And if we as a country don’t have companies that are doing that, we’re going to be left out.”

IP ownership is one of the key conversations surrounding the adoption of Bill C-11, aka the Online Streaming Act, and how the definition of Canadian content should evolve with the modernization of the Broadcasting Act.

The new legislation is a big topic at BANFF, addressed in a Canada Media Fund panel discussion on Cancon on Sunday, and in keynotes from Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) chairperson and CEO Vicky Eatrides on Monday.

Reeb said he feels the government will now regulate foreign competitors in a way that creates a level playing field, but he’d like to see broadcasters more top of mind in the CRTC proceedings.

“To be optimistic about that level playing field means that there has to be a place on it for Canadian voices, Canadian content and — I would say to the minister, who keeps forgetting to mention this word — Canadian ‘broadcasters,'” said Reeb. “If there aren’t Canadian broadcasters to host those Canadian stories, both in the linear space and in the digital space, then we’re going to have a real problem getting those Canadian stories out to as many people as need to hear them.”

Bill C-11 isn’t perfect “but it’s a great start,” said Danks.

“Instead of having an inward-looking system, which is what we’ve had for the last decade, we’ll be able to say ‘We’re now part of a global community. How do we fit into the global community?’ as opposed to pretending Canada is its own market,” said Danks.

“We’re now open to the world, and that’s a good thing … so we have to figure out how our businesses will work within that new structure, and then work on the regulation with the CRTC to determine what we need so that we can be not only strong here, but also making original programming that we can export globally.”

Williams called C-11 “a real win” with IP “at the centre of the opportunity to be sure we keep a strong Canadian content system intact.”

“The devil is in the details here, and the CRTC has a huge role to play in managing the consultation process and really taking from that how they will turn those directives into action. And I take the message from the CRTC chair this morning: we all need to be involved. We want to have a chance here to weigh in. So get in there and make your voice known for what you think is important.”

Peterson said he hopes the CRTC recognizes “there are a lot of nuances to how different distribution platforms work, and there is not going to be a great one size fits all.” YouTube, for instance, doesn’t take a stake in the IP of its creators and partners, and invests “heavily in making sure that creators of all sizes can have the opportunity to build a sustainable business,” he added.

“There are ways we can always evolve, and I don’t want to pretend, ‘Hey, we’re perfect, just leave us alone,'” he said. “But one of the things I’m most proud of working at YouTube is that we have played one of the key roles in removing a lot of the barriers to entry.”

Another challenge facing Canadian broadcasters is figuring out what to do with their business as linear television audiences decline in both Canada and the U.S., where the downward trend is “probably two, three years ahead of us, putting a lot of pressure on everything,” said Danks.

“We talked about it being a seesaw, where you’ve got one part going down; can you make the transition to streaming fast enough?” said Danks, whose LGBTQ+ TV and streaming service is on SVOD and FAST channels globally.

Williams said the term “Canadian broadcasters” evokes thoughts of a “dinosaur” these days.

“It’s not about being a broadcaster anymore. It’s about being a place where great Canadian content is collected and then branded and shared and distributed,” she said. “It’s not only about television and it’s not only about prime time. At the CBC, we believe that we have a huge opportunity to grow and be more relevant in the next five years. And TV will be a part of that, but a shrinking piece.”

Schouela said his company remains “quite bullish” with FAST and streaming but is “definitely feeling a bit of the ad market pullback over the past six months,” but is seeing growth in the FAST and streaming sides of its business.

At Rogers Sports & Media, the five-year plan is focused on “optimizing what we have doing fewer things, but doing them bigger,” said Mindell.

“We live and die on our audiences,” he said. “We have no other form of subsidization of our business, so we just have to generate as large an audience as possible.”

Photo by Kristian Bogner Photography