Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller announced Tuesday the members of an advisory panel on the modernization of federal support for the audiovisual sector in Canada.
Miller made the announcement at the annual conference of the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM), being held this week at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau.
The Canadian government is currently reviewing how it supports the audiovisual sector, as “he current framework for federal audiovisual support was built for a different era and needs to evolve so Canadian stories can thrive, both at home…
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Heritage committee recommends copyright protections for content scooped up by bots
By Ahmad Hathout
Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) inquired about what an “opt-out” mechanism would look like for AI-generated news summaries on platforms such as Google, according to a document obtained by Cartt, before the standing committee on Canadian Heritage recommended copyright protections for news content scooped up by bots.
The department, which has been touting Canada’s commitment to AI research and development, had prepared a note ahead of a meeting last fall with News Media Canada, the association for Canadian media that has been sounding the…
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Canada’s film and television production industry generated $10.17 billion in production volume in the 2024-25 fiscal year, a 4.6-per-cent increase year over year, according to the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA)’s annual economic report, Profile 2025, released Monday.
The sector also contributed $11.72 billion to Canada’s GDP, and created 181,360 jobs across Canadian television and theatrical feature film production, broadcaster in-house production, and foreign location and service (FLS) production during the fiscal year, according to the report, which covers the period between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
The report showed…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) says it is committing to expanding funding eligibility to online streamers and international distributors in what it calls a “meaningful evolution in who gets a seat at the table.”
The fund says it wants to “remove barriers” to the money “for a wider range of creators, platforms, and partners,” which also includes indigenous and equity-deserving communities. This comes as the CRTC works to integrate streamers into the broadcasting system and having them get more involved in Canadian productions.
The CMF goal falls under the “maximize” portion of a four-part, three-year strategic plan, released Thursday.
“The…
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MP Champoux says CBC head still needs to explain the strategy for the channel’s distribution
By Ahmad Hathout
Following backlash, Radio-Canada said Friday it has asked Amazon to stop taking subscriptions for its ICI RDI on Prime Video until it can offer the 24-hour French-language news channel on its own ICI Tou.TV service.
“Sensitive to public concerns expressed following its announcement of the distribution agreement for ICI RDI on Prime Video, Radio-Canada has asked Prime Video to pause the channel’s signal for new subscriptions,” the public broadcaster said in a press release Friday afternoon. “This will allow the public broadcaster to…
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CBC says it’s listening to concerns, but expounds on why it did the deal
By Ahmad Hathout
The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage will call the president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada to explain the public broadcaster’s decision to make its news products available on Amazon Prime Video as add-on subscriptions.
A motion, introduced by Bloc Quebecois MP Martin Champoux, to bring Marie-Philippe Bouchard before the committee was received favourably by the Liberals and Conservatives and passed at the end of the committee’s study session Tuesday on the state of journalism and media.
A date for Bouchard’s appearance will be determined later. The committee…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A coalition of independent television stations has submitted an application to the CRTC requesting the regulator compel Meta to come to the bargaining table after alleging the social media giant has been hosting news programming without paying.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it had banned Canadian news on its platforms after the Online News Act, which requires technology platforms to pay to link that content, became law in 2023. Late last year, the CRTC said it acknowledged measures taken by the company to comply with the law Continue Reading
Since its launch in May 2019, the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) has provided nearly $111.7 million in funding to support the creation of original local journalism in underserved Canadian communities, according to information provided Monday in the House of Commons by the Department of Canadian Heritage in response to a question from Conservative MP Andrew Scheer in November.
LJI funding recipients include the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), Community Radio Fund of Canada, National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, News Media Canada, Quebec Community Newspapers Association, Réseau.Presse, Consortium…
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The Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE) announced last week it will hold a one-day event on artificial intelligence and the creative industries, taking place on Feb. 11 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
Titled “Valuing Human Creativity in the Age of AI”, the gathering will bring together Canadian, Indigenous and international perspectives to explore the impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries and to foster collective reflection on the transformations currently underway, a CDCE press release said.
“Designed as a space for dialogue and the sharing of expertise, the day…
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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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