Level broadcast playing field, Ottawa urged

Canada should ease the regulatory burden on traditional broadcasters to create a level playing field with less encumbered digital streaming rivals, two policy think tanks said in separate reports this week, the Star's Michael Lewis reports.

“While traditional broadcasters have Canadian content quotas and funding taxes imposed on them, online broadcasters enjoy a much more flexible regulatory environment,” said Steven Globerman, a Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of a report released Wednesday called “Technological Change and its Implications for Regulating Canada Television Broadcasting Sector.”

The solution is not for the federal broadcast watchdog to impose new regulations on online TV and movie content, the report says, but rather to further deregulate Canada’s traditional broadcasting industry.

“With the explosion of online content, Canadians have a plethora of choices and options now available to them. Canadians will benefit from further deregulation,” Globerman said.

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CRTC summons top TV providers for review of pick-and-pay rollout

The Globe and Mail's James Bradshaw writes:

"The federal broadcast regulator wants to know how pick-and-pay television is working out so far, and is calling Canada’s largest cable and satellite distributors to account for the way they’ve rolled out new choices to viewers.

"On Sept. 7, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will kick off a public hearing to discuss how the new, more flexible traditional TV packages it has mandated “are being implemented across Canada.” So far, the CRTC is summoning only BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Videotron Ltd., which is owned by Quebecor Inc., to appear at what is expected to be a short hearing."

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Spying by officers was not approved, RCMP commissioner says

The CBC's Terry Milewski writes:
"The RCMP commissioner decided to handle this one himself — and with good reason. As Canada's top cop, Bob Paulson knew it wasn't going to look good, and that he, personally, had been in the thick of it.
"So, instead of punting the question to a communications officer, the head of the RCMP sat down on Tuesday night and tapped out his own version of a tangled story about illicit spying by his officers.
"Yes, he said, the Mounties put two journalists under surveillance. And no, they did not have his approval — which was required. Three times, he'd turned them down. But they'd already done it anyway."
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Pamela Wallin won't face RCMP charges over expenses

The RCMP won't press criminal charges against Independent Senator Pamela Wallin for irregularities in her Senate expenses.
"The RCMP has completed its thorough investigation into Senator Pamela Wallin's Senate expenses," assistant commissioner Gilles Michaud said in a statement Thursday. "Following consultation with Crown counsel, the RCMP has determined that no criminal charges will be laid against Senator Wallin and will be concluding its investigational file."
Wallin said Thursday she was happy to have avoided further scrutiny. (CBC)

Morley Safer, the Toronto-born legendary host of 60 Minutes, has died at 84.

Morley Safer had just retired from his broadcasting post last week, after 46 years in the reporting business.
CBS celebrated his lengthy career this past Sunday with a post-60 Minutes special, titled Morley Safer: A Reporter’s Life. It featured interviews with Safer, and a vast collage of historians, colleagues and past interview subjects.
Notable members of the media took to Twitter to express their condolences.
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