Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, : Does the Internet Ameliorate or Aggravate the Media Concentration Problem?

Transcription

1 Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, : Does the Internet Ameliorate or Aggravate the Media Concentration Problem? Presented at Media Ownership Around the World, Columbia Institute to Tele-Information, Columbia University, New York, October 20 th, 2015 Dwayne Winseck, Ph.D. Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

2 Media + Internet Concentration in Canada: 4 Distinctive & Defining Features 1. Concentration levels are high with some exceptions (e.g. magazines, internet news, radio, internet access); 2. Concentration levels are astonishingly high (Noam) in platform media + core elements of the internet; 3. Vertical Integration is astonishingly high relative to historical, US + Int l standards; 4. Rediscovering of market power, e.g. CRTC mobile TV, cable TV, mobile wireless, FTTX decisions? Ø North American free market model orthodoxy rejected? Ø Common Carriage/Network Neutrality whack-a-mole: HVODEO, Rogers GamePlus, Videotron Music Unlimited.

3 Concentration Rankings Based on HHI Scores, 2014

4 Canada s Top Media, Internet & Telecom Companies by Market Share (2014) co no m y* 3% p en la tir y e m e ed r ia s e 16.4% 27% th e of 27.9% 34% Newspaper 22% Bell, Bell Alliant, NorthwestTel, DMTS, Télébec 6% 4% Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile, Solo Mobile, Inukshuk (Joint-venture 50/50 with Rogers) 0.5% POWER CORPORATION Bell Satellite, Bell Fibe, vision du Nord Rogers, Fido, Chatr, Inukshuk (Joint-venture 50/50 with Bell) co nt ro l Telus Mobility, Koodo, Public Mobile 13% 24% 21% Newspaper & Magazine BROADCAST TV Newspaper PAY TV BROADCAST TV POSTMEDIA 9% 5.3% PAY TV 12% 0.9% BROADCAST TV 0.9% eastlink 15% 0.4% 4% 0.3% 5% 3% 1% 10% 12% 5% NETFLIX Internet Subscriptions GLOBE & MAIL 12% 4% 7% MARKET SHARE Newspaper & Magazine Internet Advertising & Subscriptions 15% 3% 34% 16% 19% 10% 23% 31% 10% to 73 p.3 % cmcrp.org cmcrp@cmcrp.org 50% 29% 15.9% 7.8% % facebook 2% 1% PAY TV 0.7% 4% 13% Internet Advertising TORSTAR 1.2% Newspaper BROADCAST TV 15% Magazines PAY TV! BROADCAST TV Newspaper & Magazine CBC MTS 2.2% 2.3% 47% *market share is based on revenue word clouds produced by wordle.net 2.7% 20% Internet Advertising 15% Broadcast TV & Pay TV 1% 7% 2% 1.5% PAY TV Google SaskTel 2% 1% COGECO 1.8% 7% 5% 3% 2% 2% 1% 5% 0.2%

5 CR1, CR4 & CR10 for the Network Media Economy as a Whole,

6 Vertical Integration in Canada is very high. Vertical Integration in Canada has soared within past half decade. Vertical integration is very high in Canada by historical standards. Vertical integration in Canada is very high by US and International standards

7 Vertical Integration + Network Media Ecology, % 28% 2.6% Vertically- integrated Companies Market Share 2.2% 2.3% Bell 16% Rogers 16.4% Shaw QMI 5.4% 7.8%

8 Top Telecom- Internet and Media Companies in US, 2013 (Market Share) Verizon 15.8% AT&T 23.6%* Disney 3.5% Comcast 10.7% Google 3.7% Vertically- Integrated Companies Market Share T- Mobile 3.8% * assumes AT&T's 2015 acquisition of DirecTV Time Warner 4.5% 36.8% Sprint 5.4%

9 Vertical Integration and Cross-Media Ownership -- Canada in a Global Context,

10 CRTC rediscovers Significant Market Power. 1. Mobile TV case (CRTC BTD ); 2. Mandated cable channel unbundling skinny basic & slimmer packages (2015) + ala carte (2016) (CRTC BRP ); 3. Mandated wholesale mobile wireless services framework (CRTC TRP ); 4. Mandated wholesale wireline services (access to FTTX) (CRTC TRP ). Lessons: SMP + use thereof to curb competition = legal fact not mere allegation; North American free market model orthodoxy rejected; Market structure & competition that does exist = function of regulation not its absence.

11 Concluding Thoughts 1. This research badly needed in Canada. 2. Trends similar to US: falling in 1980s, steep increase in 1990s, mostly plateauing in 2000s but uptick in several sectors in past 5 years or so. 3. Platform media + internet are most concentrated. Concentration levels in these sectors are astonishingly high (Noam); case is more varied in content media industries. 4. Levels of Vertical Integration in Canada are astonishingly high by historical and international comparative standards. 5. High levels of media concentration are reality. What, if anything, will be done about it is a political question. 6. CRTC + Govt have rediscovered SMP + taking offsetting steps via regulation + spectrum policy. Constitutive moments and lessons of media history: once structures of a new medium congeal they stay that way for a long time.