Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984–2019

Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984–2019 www.cmcrp.org The Canadian Media Concentration Research project is directed by Professor Dwayne Winseck, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton Univer- sity. The project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council between 2012 and 2018, after which the Faculty of Public Affairs at Carleton University stepped in to provide bridge funding for the next two years of the project. The overall objective of the CMCR Project is to develop a compre- hensive, systematic and long-term analysis of the telecoms, Internet and media industries in Canada to better inform public and policy-related discussions about these issues. Professor Winseck can be reached at either [email protected] or 613 769-7587 (mobile). Open Access to CMCR Project Data CMCR Project data can be freely downloaded and used under Creative Com- mons licensing arrangements for non-commercial purposes with proper attribu- tion and in accordance with the ShareAlike principles set out in the International License 4.0. Explicit, written permission is required for any other use that does not follow these principles. Our data sets are available for download here. They are also available through the Dataverse, a publicly-accessible repository of scholarly works created and maintained by a consortium of Canadian universi- ties. All works and datasets deposited in Dataverse are given a permanent DOI, so as to not be lost when a website becomes no longer available—a form of “dead media”. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Ben Klass and Han Xiaofei, both doctoral students in the Ph.D. program at the School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, for helping enormously with the data collection and preparation of this report. Ben wrote key aspects of the wireless section and helped immensely with the online games, gaming downloads and apps and in-game purchases section of the report. Sabrina Wilkinson, a graduate of the MA Program at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University and currently a Ph.D. candidate at Goldsmiths University in the United Kingdom, has also made valu- able contributions to the sections on the news media. Agnes Malkinson, another Ph.D. candidate in the Media and Communication program at Carleton Univer- sity, is responsible for the look and feel of the reports, does all the visuals, and keeps the project’s database in good working order. Recommended citation: Winseck, Dwayne, 2020, “Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984– 2019”, https://doi.org/10.22215/cmcrp/2020.2, Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, Carleton University. Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................... i Headline Facts ................................................................................................ix Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Why Media Concentration Matters ................................................................. 3 Gales of Creative Destruction ��3 Quantifying Media Ownership and Media Bias ��3 Media Criticism and the Threat to Democracy ��4 Digital Dominance and Cross Cutting Dynamics in Media Industries ��4 Methodology: How Do We Know if Media Concentration is Intensifying or Declining? ....................................................................................................... 8 The Historical Record and Renewed Interest in Media Concentration in the 21st Century ................................................................................................. 11 The Remarkable Rise of Vertically integrated Communications and Media Conglomerates in Canada, 2010-2019 ��20 Burrowing Down: A Closer Look at Competition and Concentration Trends within Specific Media Industries .................................................................. 26 Communications Infrastructure Media ��27 Mobile Wireless ��29 Internet Access ��36 Cable, Satellite and IPTV ��44 The Digital and Traditional Audiovisual Media Services Industries: New Actors & New Dynamics Chip Away at Industry Consolidation ��49 Internet Advertising: The case for why Google and Facebook dominate online advertising in Canada ��50 Do Google and Facebook Dominate Advertising Across All Media? �� 58 Emergent Regulatory Responses to Internet Concentration: Lessons for Canadian Regulators �� 62 Broadcast Television and Radio and Specialty and Pay Television Services �� 64 Divestitures, Spin-Offs and Closures �� 68 Online Video Services �� 70 The End of “the Canadian Television System” or the Emergence of a More Diverse Audiovisual Media Landscape? �� 73 Beyond the Online Video Market: Digital Games, Music and App Stores �� 78 Digital Games �� 78 Digital Music �� 81 App Stores �� 82 Newspapers, Magazines and Online News Sources �� 82 Internet News �� 85 Digital Audiovisual Media Services (Media Content): Growth, Diversity and Consolidation �� 88 The Network Media Industries as a Whole .......................................................94 Concluding Commentary and Policy Proposals for a New Generation of Internet Regulation .........................................................................................100 Toward a New Generation of Internet Regulation �� 107 Figures and tables Table 1: Concentration Rankings on the basis of HHI Scores, 2019 �� iv Figure 1: The Network Media Economy in Canada--What the CMCR Project Covers ��2 Figure 2: Major Communications & Media Ownership Changes in Canada, 1994-2019 ��15 Figure 3: Mergers and Acquisitions in Telecoms & Media, 1985–2019 (Mill$) 16 Figure 4: The Rise of Vertically Integrated Communications and Media Conglomerates, 2008, 2013 and 2019 ��20 Figure 5: Vertical Integration in Communication and Media Sectors – United States vs Canada, 2019 ��21 Figure 6: Connectivity vs Content within Canada’s Vertically integrated Telecoms and Media Companies, 2019 (Ratio by Revenue) ��22 Figure 7: CR4 Scores for the Communication Infrastructure Industries, 1984- 2019 ��27 Figure 8: HHI Scores for the Communication Infrastructure Industries, 1984- 2019 ��28 Figure 9: Mobile Wireless Operators’ National Market Share, 1985-2019 (based on revenue) ��31 Figure 10: Provincial mobile wireless market share, by subscriber, 2019 ��32 Figure 11: Residential Internet Access Services by Type of ISP: Market Share based on Revenue, 2000—2019 ��38 Figure 12: Residential Internet Access Services HHI Scores based on Revenue, 2000-2019 .............................................................................................................40 Figure 13 The Decline of Monopoly Cable TV: Cable Companies vs Telephone Companies, 1996—2019 ��46 Figure 14: Communication Services and Device Prices vs the Consumer Price Index, 2002-2019 ��47 Figure 15: Internet Advertising Spending Outstrips Advertising on All Other Media by a Widening Margin, 2004-2019 ��51

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