The federal government's new copyright legislation is expected to take a hard line on the use of circumvention devices that could mean consumers are effectively locked out of digital content they have already purchased.

While the new bill will likely be updated to make expressly legal the "time shifting" of television programs through widely used personal video recorders, there will be a catch. The bill's anti-circumvention provisions could also mean that if broadcasters block the ability to digitally record certain shows through broadcast flags, consumers would not be able to get around that digital lock legally.

"There are real incentives for broadcasters to do just that," said Michael Geist, a digital copyright expert at the University of Ottawa. He cited a push by content owners to sell or stream their content online.