Much Ado about Culture by Acheson Archibald Lloyd Keith;Maule Christopher John;

Author:Acheson, Archibald Lloyd Keith;Maule, Christopher John;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Conclusion

The print and recording industries are producers and merchants of content. In these sectors there are no public producers or distributors of significance, but there is a pervasive public policy presence. The common policies are production subsidies that benefit domestic producers and distributors. Foreign ownership of Canadian newspapers is effectively ruled out by tax law and frozen for Canadian book publishing by investment policy. The distribution policies differ. Foreign firms cannot sell books in Canada but can sell records. The recording industry has a unique relationship with radio broadcasting. As a result, broadcasting content policies are the most significant support program for the recording industry.

There are no entry constraints for Canadians in the record and publishing industries. As a result a changing set of small companies provides a vehicle for experimentation absent in the highly regulated broadcasting sphere. In the recording industry, Canada has opted to create funds financed by levies on broadcasters and consumers of blank tape to be distributed among composers, performers, and record companies. What the ultimate effect of these will be on the contractual and organizational nexus in the industries is moot.

Policy measures taken in the cultural industries frequently have an impact on other countries. Those highlighted in this chapter include the cross-subsidy arrangements whereby profits from the sale of imported books are intended to fund Canadian-authored works; restrictions on foreign ownership on the grounds that nationality of ownership affects the type of material published and distributed; and defining content on the basis of nationality for purposes of subsidies or establishing air time quotas. A number of these policies have elicited diplomatic responses. The Canadian foreign ownership and control restrictions in the print media have initiated a dispute. The conflict is over the denial of entry into book retailing by an American firm, Borders, on the grounds that its contractual relationship with the majority Canadian investor gave it control of the enterprise.38 Foreign trade in books and contracting between foreign publishers and Canadians will also be affected by Canada's banning of parallel imports of books under revisions of its Copyright Act. The new Copyright Act also introduced neighboring rights and the blank tape levy.39 This chapter provides background for assessing those conflicts, along with others in broadcasting and film, in part III.

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