The State of the Canadian Program Rights Market: 2014
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The State of the Canadian Program Rights Market: 2014 A Report prepared for submission to the CRTC in its formal “Talk TV” proCess June 26, 2014 Prepared by: Principal funding provided by: Peter Miller, P. Eng, LL.B. [email protected] With contributions from: Sara Morton, Sara Morton Consulting & Richard Miller, Available Light Inc. The State of the Canadian Program Rights Market: 2014 Foreword This report was commissioned by the Canada Media Fund (CMF), the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (FCB), in May, 2014, to provide an examination of the state of the Canadian television program rights market, in light of recent developments. The Study is designed to both complement previous similar papers commissioned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (“CRTC” or “Commission”) in May, 2007, and in March, 20111, and to provide input into the Commission’s formal “Talk TV” process2. As in earlier such reports, it should be noted that: 1. The purpose of the report is educational rather than prescriptive. While the report does raise issues that may have public policy consequences, the purpose of this report is not to offer guidance on public policy response. 2. The report presents a snapshot in time. The rights market is very fluid with dynamics changing daily. While the author has made every reasonable effort to ensure information is current and accurate at the time of writing, significant changes may be occurring or have occurred in some areas by the time of reading. 3. The report reflects the research and views of the author, and should not be construed as representing any views of the commissioning parties. 1 As in earlier reports, a key emphasis is on the acquisition of foreign programming rights in Canada, given its status as an economic driver of the English-language TV market. 2 Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2014-190. Peter H. Miller, P.Eng., LL.B. 26/06/2014 2 The State of the Canadian Program Rights Market: 2014 Table of contents Foreword................................................................................................................................ 2 Table of contents.................................................................................................................... 3 1. PréCis.................................................................................................................................. 5 2. Introduction........................................................................................................................ 6 3. Rights Trends over the last DeCade ..................................................................................... 8 More Platforms, shorter windows......................................................................................................................................8 OTT ...................................................................................................................................................................................................8 The Orderly Marketplace....................................................................................................................................................... 10 Defining a “broadcast window” in the OTT age ......................................................................................................... 12 Canadian Rights Market Developments since 2011................................................................................................ 13 Rights to Canadian Programming................................................................................................................................... 15 The Major OTT Players in Canada................................................................................................................................... 17 Rogers Showmi......................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Consumer OTT Devices.......................................................................................................................................................... 20 Bandwidth Barriers to OTT ................................................................................................................................................ 20 Geo-gating .................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Piracy............................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 U.S. Developments since 2011............................................................................................................................................. 25 International Trends ............................................................................................................................................................. 29 UK................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 France........................................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Australia...................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 4. Current State of the Canadian Rights Market .................................................................... 34 The Global Strategy of OTT Players................................................................................................................................ 35 The critical value of Canadian content .......................................................................................................................... 36 Where is TV Everywhere..................................................................................................................................................... 37 5. Towards 2020 and Beyond................................................................................................ 38 Regulatory Impact.................................................................................................................................................................. 38 Program Rights Protection ................................................................................................................................................... 39 Barriers to Direct Foreign Entry .......................................................................................................................................... 40 Preferential distribution of Canadian Services.............................................................................................................. 43 Abandonment of OTA Transmission ................................................................................................................................. 45 Summary Observations......................................................................................................................................................... 46 Technological Impact............................................................................................................................................................ 47 The HBO-becomes-Netflix scenario ................................................................................................................................. 47 The YouTube becomes TV scenario ................................................................................................................................. 50 Potential Tipping Points ...................................................................................................................................................... 51 The unique structure of the Canadian broadcasting system..................................................................................... 52 Access to every popular program available in the US plus Canadian content ................................................. 52 More consolidated and vertically-integrated than that in practically any other country ........................... 53 The broadcasting system going forward......................................................................................................................... 53 6. Conclusions and Commentary........................................................................................... 55 Peter H. Miller, P.Eng., LL.B. 26/06/2014 3 The State of the Canadian Program Rights Market: 2014 Appendix 1 – International OTT & TV - FoCus on Europe and the UK ..................................... 57 Europe ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 57 Summary European statistics............................................................................................................................................ 58 UK .................................................................................................................................................................................................