The Centre for Innovation Law and Policy’s
Institute for the Study of Law, Technology and Culture
&
The Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto
Co-Present
Peter Grant
Partner and Chair of the Technology, Communications and Intellectual Property Group, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Topic:
Canadian Cultural Product and the Long Tail: The New Economics of Production and Distribution in Canada
Click here to watch a video of the presentation
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Reception to follow
Date: Friday, March 23, 2007
Place: Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue, University of Toronto
Description: An eye-opening examination of the impact of new technologies on the production and distribution of Canadian content. The Internet poses threats to conventional distribution channels, but is it really “borderless”? Can digital projection in theatres help the independent film? Can the advent of the Internet increase access to lesser known titles in the “long tail”? How will all these developments affect the financing of Canadian films, TV shows and sound recordings? Can small be beautiful? What are the lessons for policymakers?
Bio: Peter Grant is a partner and chair of the Technology, Communications and Intellectual Property Group of McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto. His practice is devoted to broadcasting and cable television licensing, satellite services, copyright negotiations, mass media and press law, cultural industries, and telecommunications regulation. Mr. Grant is the author of numerous articles and publications, including Blockbusters and Trade Wars: Popular Culture in a Globalized World, a book co-authored with Chris Wood. He has acted as a consultant to UNESCO on the Declaration on the Role of the Mass Media, and was a member of the Canadian delegation to the G-7 conference on the Information Society in Brussels in 1995. Mr. Grant is a past national chair of the Media and Communication Section of the Canadian Bar Association, and a former chair of the CBA Special Committee on Freedom of Information. Mr. Grant acts as the Broadcasting Arbitrator for Canada, and in this capacity, he supervised the allocation of paid and free broadcast time to the parties in the last four federal general elections.
Reception to follow in the Innis Café