YouTube, Apple Music and other lobbyists are petitioning the Senate to slow final passage of Bill C-11, the first in Canada to regulate the internet. “We urge this committee to pause,” executives wrote in a letter to the Senate transport and communications committee..According to Blacklock's Reporter, An Act To Amend The Broadcasting Act “will have a significant impact on music streaming services,” read a committee submission by the Digital Media Association. The trade group represents YouTube, Amazon, Spotify and other companies..“Together these services connect millions of fans across Canada and around the world with tens of millions of songs and podcasts providing unique listening experiences,” wrote the Association. Nine million Canadians subscribe to streaming services, it said..Bill C-11 would see the CRTC regulate undefined “commercial” internet steaming services similar to federal controls on television and radio stations. The Association called it an “antiquated” approach to internet communications..“Bill C-11 attempts to impose a system of regulation that is designed for traditional broadcasters onto streaming services,” wrote the Association. “Imposing this antiquated system onto innovative streaming services in an era of consumer choice, where there are no gatekeepers to content as there are in the broadcasting context, is the wrong approach.”.Lobbyists sought numerous amendments to the bill. The Senate committee is to open hearings on C-11 next Wednesday with testimony from friends and critics of the legislation including the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), Directors Guild, Internet Society and Vancouver advocacy group Open Media, which has described the bill as “disastrous.”.Unifor in a new submission to the committee said it endorsed Bill C-11 with technical amendments. “C-11 is much needed legislation bringing the Broadcasting Act into the 21st century,” wrote the union. “Foreign streamers will be included in our broadcasting eco-system.”.Members of the Senate committee have asked that cabinet spell out regulations it plans to introduce if the bill is passed. “We need the rules before we have the legislation,” Senator Pamela Wallin (Sask.) told a June 23 hearing. “It is not just for the clarity of parliamentarians. It is for everybody who uses the internet which encompasses pretty much all Canadians in one way or another. They need to know what is or what is not about to happen to them.”.“Asking us to sign up for the game without knowing the rules of the game is a little concerning,” said Wallin. “It will affect potentially every single Canadian who uses the internet.”
