Dear CBC: The CRTC Decision on Local TV doesn't really matter

There talk of Canadian Media today is the CRTC decision that essentially said that private television broadcasters will get a negotiated fee-for carriage but the CBC will not. CBC President Hubert Lacroix is already saying that it will result in program and service cuts by Mother Corp and the cable and satellite providers are promising it will result in a tv tax higher prices for consumers but no one seems to be making the obvious connection with the other story of the day - Canadians internet time passed their television viewing time this year.

In the world, as I see it, CTV and Global are on their way to obsolescence. Cable and satellite providers are looking at a future with an ever dwindling market for their services and the CRTC doesn't serve much of a purpose anymore.

Television broadcasters and content producers will tell you that the problem with the internet is that there isn't a revenue model in place yet, but there is. There are any number of potential revenue streams - if you can find an audience there are revenue opportunities and there is definitely an audience online.

So, according to my math anyway, the cable and satellite providers are in trouble because the only people who need them are people who don't have the technical savvy to acquire programming online (TV writer and producer Denis McGrath backs me up on this)- and there will be ever declining number of these people - every day more people learn how and every month the technology gets easier to use.

CTV and Global are in trouble because they make most of their money re-broadcasting American programs but (related to what I said in the paragraph above) - people don't need re-broadcasters. There is no money in it in the long term. CTV and Global both make a few Canadian programs, but that's not their primary focus. With every passing day more people can watch American programs, and British programs and programs from whatever country they choose without CTV and Global and without cable and satellite providers. If they can't watch them or download them directly online there are other ways.

The CRTC is facing extinction because everything is moving online and you can't regulate online - you can try, but it doesn't really work. It's close to unenforceable - unless you want to try China's route. So the CRTC, in future, will only be a net neutrality referee.

So to Hubert Lacroix and the CBC - if the present isn't working out for you, embrace the future. Make what cuts you need to and provide programming for people who aren't ready yet but the internet has overtaken television now, make that your new target. Production and distribution for the internet are less expensive and offer a potentially much, much larger (worldwide) audience. Embrace the CBC Radio 3 model to attract desirable niche audiences, put CBC Bold online, put all of your programming online - streaming, downloadable, torrent, and every other way you can. Remember where there are audiences there are revenue models. Take to the internet and become Canada's leader and primary international voice there.

I know that, in the past, it's been said that you can't move as fast as you'd like to online because of the cost of bandwidth but that surely can't be true anymore. If your bandwidth is still expensive you need to re-negotiate because it's falling through the floor for everyone else.

This is the internet, there's an audience here (equal to and soon greater than that for television), advertisers like it (more than television lately), and the CRTC doesn't really exist here - the water is fine. Join us.