Funding agencies and other industry players need to do more to adapt to YouTube and iTunes, which are driving Canadian Internet users to American content, or risk the eventual marginalization of Canadian content online.

That stark warning came this week at Interactive Ontario’s ‘What Is Broadcast’ panel in Toronto, where digital consultant Alan Sawyer warned U.S. content is increasingly being ‘broadcast into’ Canada via streaming technologies, and all under the CRTC’s radar.

‘The threat is an influx of U.S. content that will dwarf, or obliterate the Canadian industry, if we don’t take measures to survive.’

Brady Gilchrist, president of Admodo Group, agreed that, with ‘shadow broadcasters’ like Facebook and Twitter already directing content to Canada, Canadians had only to unhook their cable or satellite TV service to end the Canadian broadcast system.

‘If people pull the plug on that [digital set-top box], it’s game over,’ said Gilchrist, who added he already ended his cable service to watch TV at home via the Internet and iTunes.

Stéphane Cardin, VP of policy and stakeholder relations at the Canadian Television Fund, said the upcoming Canada Media Fund aims to shore up Canadian content producers looking to prosper in an increasingly border-less digital world.

‘We’re going to support innovation. We’ll be making significant financial contributions,’ he told the panel.

Cardin predicted the CMF will eventually direct fewer dollars to broadcaster envelopes and more to indie producers as the latter innovate and gain a presence online.

‘As we evolve, if you are a distributor and secure a sizeable audience, you will make your way into the system, over time,’ he told digital content producers at the gathering.

And while CTF didn’t fund domestic content without a Canadian broadcast licence, Cardin said he could see Canadian producers that make product for the world market eventually securing CMF funding with only an international broadcast presale and no Canadian broadcaster yet on board.