By Ahmad Hathout
Apple has filed a letter to the Federal Court of Appeal requesting that the panel of justices review a recent CRTC decision that it believes could bolster its challenge to the commission’s own base contribution ruling.
In the letter dated December 11, the tech giant alleges that the CRTC has handicapped the attorney general – its legal counsel at the court – by stating in paragraph 4 of its November decision on the definition of Canadian content that the commission believes defining such programs is “a necessary step before establishing financial or…
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The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) announced Wednesday it has joined the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), a global community of organizations dedicated to preserving and sharing the world’s film heritage.
Founded in 1938, FIAF brings together major non-profit film archives to collaborate and share knowledge.
“Membership in this prestigious federation reflects the NFB’s expertise in digitization, restoration and conservation — work that lies at the heart of its mission as Canada’s public film producer and distributor for more than 80 years,” an NFB press release said.
“We are extremely…
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Creative group highlights Guilbeault’s impact on culture
By Ahmad Hathout
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault announced Thursday night that he resigned from cabinet over his government’s deal with Alberta to build a pipeline project that he says will fall short of climate change goals and that disturb initiatives he put forward as environment and climate change minister.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the federal government and Alberta, announced earlier that day, stipulates that the province will build one or more private sector-constructed and financed pipelines “with at least one million barrels a day of low emission Alberta bitumen with a route that…
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By Howard Law, author of MediaPolicy.ca and Canada vs. California: How Ottawa took on Netflix and the streaming giants (Lorimer, 2024)
In October 2022, Netflix appeared at the Senate committee reviewing the proposed Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, when the Conservative senator Fabian Manning pitched a softball question: What was the Hollywood giant’s “main priority” in amending a bill it didn’t welcome?
The Canadian spokesperson for the streamer was succinct in his answer: “If I had to choose just one, it would be the issue of copyright ownership.”
Last week, Netflix got what it wanted.
The CRTC’s Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The head of Quebecor on Thursday excoriated the federal government’s decision to up CBC/Radio-Canada’s annual funding while not forcing it out of commercial advertising sales.
The Liberals allocated an additional $150 million to the public broadcaster’s annual appropriation, which was a pre-election commitment from Prime Minister Mark Carney, but did not push it out of those ad sales for which private television broadcasters compete.
“Regrettably, this new government has missed an opportunity to support an industry facing ever-growing challenges and job losses at an alarming rate,” Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor, said during…
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Liberals fulfill pledge to up CBC funding by $150M
By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – While the federal government announced some $51 billion in cuts and savings and projected a deficit of about $78 billion in its budget delivered on Tuesday by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to address what he characterized as a “level of uncertainty higher than what we have seen and felt for generations,” Canada’s film and television industry welcomed a significant funding allotment as part of the government’s plans for $141 billion in new spending.
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) “applaud groundbreaking cultural sector investments” in the budget.
“Today’s budget…
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Warning their sector is on the brink of collapse, independent third-language community television producers are asking the federal government to include a $10.52-million annual program in the upcoming federal budget to safeguard Canada’s local news sovereignty.
“Without immediate intervention, hundreds of thousands of Canadians could lose access to trusted local news in their own languages — creating an information vacuum that hostile foreign actors could exploit to spread disinformation,” reads a Monday press release from the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA). “The warning comes in an open letter to Prime Minister Mark…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC’s vice president of broadcasting said Wednesday that some of the base contribution money collected from online streamers, which is to be delivered to Canadian content funds, has already been released, despite a court-ordered stay of that policy.
Scott Shortliffe told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, in a briefing about the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, that the streamers’ money from the previous broadcast year – which ended on August 31 – has been collected by an independent company and that some of the money has already been delivered.
“We understand that the money has been…
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Indigenous broadcaster APTN, public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) announced last week they are once again partnering to produce Remembering the Children: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the annual national commemorative gathering in Ottawa.
Supported by Canadian Heritage, the 90-minute live event Remembering the Children “will share the powerful truths of residential school Survivors and pay moving tribute to the children who never made it home,” says a CBC press release.
Hosted by Earl Wood and Melissa Mollen Dupuis, the multilingual commemorative event will encompass…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Nearly five months after the Online Streaming Act became law, the CRTC warned about a delay in implementing the new rules after its request for funding was denied by the Department of Finance, according to a letter obtained by Cartt.
“The CRTC began working with Canadian Heritage, the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Finance to have approved financing and a revised fee regime in place for April 1, 2024,” CRTC Chair Vicky Eatrides wrote in the heavily redacted September 19, 2023 letter to then Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge.
“We were counting on…
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