GATINEAU – With a light dusting of snow outside and a grey beginning to yet another week of talking about paying for conventional television signals, you’ll hopefully forgive us for feeling just a little like this.
This is the fourth hearing inside of two years (and the second one in the past month!) whose focus is on compensating local TV broadcasters for their signals). This one, as CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein pointed out right at the start, will not set policy, but instead will inform a report to be filed in the new year with Canadian Heritage Minister…
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GATINEAU – Protect Canadian feature films and drama, expand the reach of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), and create a credit system for Canadian content were a few of the things advocated Friday during the CRTC hearings, which wrapped early.
The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters (CAFDE) urged the CRTC to ensure that more, not less, Canadian drama is commissioned under the new broadcast framework. Canada’s film industry is also in peril because not many homegrown movies are getting shown on the small screen, according to CAFDE president Ted East.
“Of all the sub-genres of drama, we believe…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian government has pledged $25 million over five years to TV5Monde and TV5 Quebec Canada.
The news came at the conclusion of the two day Conference of the Ministers responsible for TV5, held in Ottawa. Canada chaired the both the 2008 and 2009 editions of the conference, and its term as chair expires in January, 2010.
"Canada wanted to show the way by being the first partner government to announce an additional contribution of $25 million over five years to TV5Monde and TV5 Quebec Canada," said Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, in the announcement. "This investment addresses Prime Minister…
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OTTAWA – Telus’ Michael Hennessy says that it all comes down to priorities.
In advance of his company’s presentation in front of the CRTC on Tuesday, the SVP of regulatory and government affairs said that the current fee-for-carriage discussions are “doing everything backwards” because they failed to set priorities, and to recognize consumer sovereignty in today’s digital world.
“Our fundamental position is that what we’re talking about now is a tremendous waste of our time and resources because we’re not giving consumers enough credit, and listening to how they want to define the television world, or the entertainment and informational world…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has thrown its support behind the broadcasters’ demands for fee-for-carriage, but only if they promise to put that money back into Canadian programming.
The group said that with “record high profits, cable companies can and should contribute more to Canadian broadcasting”, but should not be allowed to “pass the buck” to consumers.
“Private broadcasters and cable companies have been getting a free ride for too long, and consumers and audiences already aren’t getting what they’ve been paying for through their cable fees and taxes”, said national president Ferne Downey, in a…
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TORONTO and CALGARY – With Industry Canada’s review of the CRTC decision on Globalive still on-going, it’s hurry up and wait for the potential new wireless entrant.
With nothing but time on its hands, the company has sent 400 of their newly trained employees out in Calgary and the Greater Toronto Area to commit ‘random acts of kindness’ such as distributing hand sanitizer and pumping gas, or helping with charities such as the Salvation Army and local food banks.
In the meantime, incumbent telcos and even Globalive itself have been busy compiling their submissions for Industry Minister Tony Clement to aid in the review process. All…
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GATINEAU – We could have a story here about the CBC’s plea for a skinny basic.
We could have re-analyzed its re-demands for new revenue in the form of a wholesale fee and how forcefully its executives argued it needs one, despite how detractors point out it already gets a billion dollars from taxpayers and as a public broadcaster an increase from that stream seems more appropriate.
We could have expended more words on Bell’s SD Freesat proposal and how the company re-iterated it will resist new fees to local broadcasters no matter what right to negotiate might be enshrined in…
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TORONTO – Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium Monday announced it will deliver the Games in a record 22 languages.
Consortium broadcast partners Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), Asian Television Network (ATN) and OMNI Television will air a combined total of 421 hours of multilingual coverage throughout the 17 days of the Games.
"In the truest spirit of the Olympic Games, the Consortium has made a significant commitment to delivering inclusive coverage of Vancouver 2010 that embraces the multicultural heritage of this country," said Keith Pelley, president of the consortium, in the press release. "Canadians of various cultures and backgrounds will have…
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HALIFAX – Canada’s communications regulatory regime is in desperate need of repair, says a report by The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS).
In the recently released ‘In The End of that ’70’s Show: Rethinking Canada’s Communications Regulatory Institutions for the 21st Century’, report author and former AIMS research director Ian Munro says technological advances have made the existing regime obsolete.
"Long gone are the days when the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors were distinct entities," Munro said in a statement. "Yet the regulatory regime still treats them as such, which creates inefficient duplication and complete disconnects across government agencies and departments with…
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By Michael Janigan, PIAC
THE CURRENT SPECTACLE of Canada’s television networks engaged in a pie-throwing contest with the cable and satellite industry seems as confusing to the viewer as an episode of “Lost”.
For one thing, the mantle of “consumer champion” sits uneasily on the shoulders of the distributors – the cable and satellite companies, whose own offerings are crammed with services owned by them that hoover up ever-increasing subscriber fees. In turn, some Canadians are startled to learn that there still is significant local broadcasting, after over two decades of damaging cuts to such programming.
The facts are that the…
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