Monday, October 31, 2005
[IWS] Losing CANADIAN CULTURE: TELECOM FOREIGN OWNERSHIP DANGER [31 October 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
BRIEFING PAPER
trade and investment series
Volume 6, Number 3 October 31, 2005
Losing Canadian Culture: The Danger of Foreign Ownership of Telecom
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/Reports/2005/10/LosingCdnCulture/index.cfm?pa=BB736455
or
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2005/brief6_3_Losing_Canadian_Culture.pdf
[full-text, 9 pages]
[excerpt]
This paper considers the danger posed to Canadian culture by foreign ownership of the telecommunications industry. These two services, culture and telecom, are being handled very differently in the international negotiations taking place through the World Trade Organization (WTO). Member countries of the WTO are attempting to expand an agreement to increase international trade in services, called the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
Press Release
Foreign ownership of telecom puts Canadian culture at riskreport
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&call=1221&pa=BB736455&do=Article
October 31, 2005
OTTAWAThe federal government will jeopardize Canadian culture by allowing foreign ownership of our telecommunications industry, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Authored by Julie White, a researcher with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, the study makes the case that common ownership and technological convergence in telecommunications and broadcasting have created a single industry.
Lifting foreign ownership restrictions on telephone companies puts our broadcasting sector immediately at risk, White commented. The carriers (telephone and cable companies) are now also the content creators. Bell Canada Enterprises, for instance, owns CTV television and the Globe and Mail.
If Time Warner or any other giant multi-national were to buy any one of our telephone or cable companies, it would only make economic sense, from their standpoint, to use their foreign produced programming in Canada.
The threat, she added, is very immediate with the Hong Kong round of international trade talks scheduled to take place in December, and the Industry Ministers recent statement that he is open to relaxing foreign ownership restrictions.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
BRIEFING PAPER
trade and investment series
Volume 6, Number 3 October 31, 2005
Losing Canadian Culture: The Danger of Foreign Ownership of Telecom
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/Reports/2005/10/LosingCdnCulture/index.cfm?pa=BB736455
or
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2005/brief6_3_Losing_Canadian_Culture.pdf
[full-text, 9 pages]
[excerpt]
This paper considers the danger posed to Canadian culture by foreign ownership of the telecommunications industry. These two services, culture and telecom, are being handled very differently in the international negotiations taking place through the World Trade Organization (WTO). Member countries of the WTO are attempting to expand an agreement to increase international trade in services, called the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
Press Release
Foreign ownership of telecom puts Canadian culture at riskreport
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&call=1221&pa=BB736455&do=Article
October 31, 2005
OTTAWAThe federal government will jeopardize Canadian culture by allowing foreign ownership of our telecommunications industry, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Authored by Julie White, a researcher with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, the study makes the case that common ownership and technological convergence in telecommunications and broadcasting have created a single industry.
Lifting foreign ownership restrictions on telephone companies puts our broadcasting sector immediately at risk, White commented. The carriers (telephone and cable companies) are now also the content creators. Bell Canada Enterprises, for instance, owns CTV television and the Globe and Mail.
If Time Warner or any other giant multi-national were to buy any one of our telephone or cable companies, it would only make economic sense, from their standpoint, to use their foreign produced programming in Canada.
The threat, she added, is very immediate with the Hong Kong round of international trade talks scheduled to take place in December, and the Industry Ministers recent statement that he is open to relaxing foreign ownership restrictions.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 1:44 PM
