The Centre for Innovation Law & Policy
Presents
Guest Speaker
Peter S. Grant
Senior Counsel, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Topic: Addressing the Crisis in Canadian Broadcast Drama: A Modest Proposal
Date: Monday, September 24, 2007
Time: 4:10 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Place: FLV Dining Room, Room 223
Flavelle House, 78 Queen's Park
Description: One of the most difficult and unresolved issues for the CRTC is the decline in support by the over-the-air private English language TV stations for scripted Canadian drama, the riskiest and most expensive type of programming to commission. An incentive plan was tried and abandoned when it failed to work. Support for Canadian drama from private English TV stations fell to a ten-year low in 2006. So what to do? In this lecture, a distinguished communications lawyer analyses the situation and recommends that the over-the-air private broadcasters be regulated on the basis of their group holdings. Consolidation leads to efficiencies but also opens up opportunities. By addressing the problem on an industry-wide basis, significantly increased resources can be funneled into the support of Canadian drama, to the benefit of the broadcasting system.
Bio: Peter S. Grant is Senior Counsel and former Chair of the Technology, Communications and Intellectual Property Group, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, in Toronto. His practice is devoted to broadcasting and cable television, satellite services, copyright, cultural industries, and telecommunications regulation. Mr. Grant is the author of numerous articles and publications, including Blockbusters and Trade Wars: Popular Culture in a Globalized World, a book co-authored with Chris Wood, which was short-listed for the Donner Prize. He is the co-author of the Canadian Broadcasting Regulatory Handbook, a standard industry reference now in its eighth edition.
No RSVPs are required
Further information: centre.ilp@utoronto.ca or 416-978-3724
www.innovationlaw.org
