OTTAWA – With many Canadians concerned about the economy, environment, and our troops overseas, you’d think culture would not be on the radar in the federal election, but the parties have made promises that could affect broadcasting.
The Conservatives have vowed to change the make-up of the CRTC commissioners to better reflect the regions and francophones. Leader Stephen Harper said the chair position would alternate between English speakers and French speakers, the vice-chair positions (in broadcasting and telecom) would be split with one anglophone and one francophone, at least one-quarter of the commissioners would be French-speaking and would be…
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OTTAWA/GATINEAU – Tickets for the October 29th Telecom Laureate Awards Gala at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa/Gatineau are now on sale.
The 2008 Telecom laureates who will be honoured are: Jim Balsillie (RIM); Mike Lazaridis (RIM); Carol Stephenson (Stentor, Lucent, Richard Ivey School of Business); David Golden (Telesat Canada); The late David Simmonds and his sons, Robert Simmonds, Gordon Simmonds and Donald Simmonds (Clearnet, Lenbrook Communications).
The 2008 Special Recognition Award winner is the Western government telephone companies and their successor companies for 100 years of service: Manitoba Telephone System (MTS Allstream) – Pierre Blouin, CEO; Alberta…
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OTTAWA – Statistics Canada’s release yesterday of radio listenership data that’s a year old is the final one it will compile, the government’s numbers arm said.
This release (some of which we’ve quoted below for old time’s sake…) was based on a survey of Canadians aged 12 and older. The radio project of the Culture Statistics Program was a joint endeavour of the CRTC, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and Statistics Canada. The basic radio listening data are provided by BBM Canada.
The last television viewing data were released on March 31, 2006, for the fall of 2004.
Radio…
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the CRTC on Wednesday during an election stop with a message aimed squarely at Quebecers who haven’t had a look at the existing structure of the CRTC.
The PM said yesterday “(b)ecause CRTC decisions affect our daily lives, it must reflect our linguistic and cultural reality.” So, “a new Conservative Government will ensure that decisions about French-language broadcasting are made by people who understand the French-language and culture."
That’s happening already but anyway, under the plan:
* The chair of the CRTC will alternate between English speakers and French speakers. (This has…
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OTTAWA – Despite complaints about the CRTC’s decision to allow the new owners of Quebec private conventional TV broadcaster to dramatically cut local programming, Minister of Canadian Heritage Josee Verner said late Friday she’s not going to get involved.
The TQS union and the opposition Liberals had demanded the decision to let Remstar Diffusion take over the broadcaster while cutting local news to the bone be referred back to the CRTC for a re-think.
Without Remstar’s bid to purchase, it’s thought that former co-owners Cogeco Inc. and CTVglobemedia were tired of losing money with the station and were considering shutting…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will put off a review of its benefits policy until after the federal government renders its views on the Canadian Television Fund.
The Commission issued a public notice in July, asking for comments on altering its benefits policy so that some money could be directed to new media initiatives. Currently, when one broadcast company buys another, a certain percentage of the transaction (10% in the case of television companies) must be set aside for public benefits, which are mostly for the production of Canadian content.
However, a number of recent transactions (such as Goldman Sachs’…
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OTTAWA – With the very future of the Canadian Television Fund in question, the CBC along with the independent production community are urging the CRTC to postpone its plans to review funding for new media in September. The CRTC has put out a call for comments (Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-62) regarding its proposed changes to its public benefits policy that would create new funding streams for new media within the CTF.
In just the last few weeks, the Harper government has cut tens of millions in funding to arts program and has so far given no indication if…
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TORONTO – ACTRA and the Directors Guild have both added their voices to the chorus condemning the federal government’s cuts to arts funding programs.
“These cuts are shocking and short-sighted, and they certainly aren’t business friendly,” said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director. “Support for arts and culture are among the most efficient investments a government can make. Government funding leverages other investments, markets Canada to the world and enriches our society here at home.”
Federal government cuts to cultural programs were announced on Friday, August 8. More cuts were discovered this week. Programs affected in the film and television industries…
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MONTREAL – The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the Association des producteurs de films et de television du Québec (APFTQ) have called for an urgent meeting with the ministers from Heritage and Foreign Affairs to discuss the government’s decision to eliminate cultural programs valued at nearly $18 million.
Last Friday, the Conservative government announced that the A-V Preservation Trust ($300,000), the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund ($1.5-million), the National Training Schools Program ($2.5- million), PromArt ($4.7-million) and Trade Routes ($9-million) will be eliminated as of March 31, 2009.
“These cuts risk diminishing Canada’s international reputation,"…
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OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) is calling on the Canadian Heritage minister to force the CRTC to re-examine its decision to allow TQS to cut its local news.
The decision illustrates the regulator is not serving the public interest and something must be done, the media union said in a statement.
The CEP is asking the Canadian Heritage minister to send the decision back to the CRTC for reconsideration.
“Having laid off more than half the staff of the TQS network in April, the network’s new owners have told the CRTC they…
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