OTTAWA – A fund aimed at supporting not-for-profit, local radio that launched Thursday will dole out $1.4 million over seven years. Seed money for the fund, called the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC), is coming from Astral Media Inc.
“Canadians may have more media choices than ever, but there has been a clear decline in the amount of programming that reflects local communities and their concerns, from both commercial and public media,” said Charles-Eugene Cyr, president of Alliance des radios communautaires (ARC) du Canada. “The Community Radio Fund will help community broadcasting reach its full potential as an…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will launch a public consultation on new media on Thursday – the same day on which it will release a document entitled Perspectives on Canadian Broadcasting in New Media.
CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 13 that the Commission is looking to the public to confirm the CRTC has correctly identified the issues (in the document) and to help it structure a framework for a public hearing to be held in early 2009.
“I would like to be clear on one point. Our interest primarily lies in…
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TORONTO – Looking to ensure certain levels of TV production is maintained across Canada, the Canadian Television Fund today announced the creation of a new production incentive.
The pilot program is designed to encourage production where volumes have declined significantly, said the press release.
The first production areas to benefit from this $5 million incentive include Atlantic Canada and Quebec, where production activity fell below the target level in 2007-2008, reads the statement. As such, two separate CTF allocations of $2.2 million and $2.8 million have been created for productions based in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, respectively, for 2008-2009….
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OTTAWA – New CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix today urged the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to push the Federal Government to implement the committee’s report CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in the Changing Media Landscape.
"The report highlights the importance of public broadcasting in Canada, and the belief, that I strongly share, that CBC/Radio-Canada should continue to play a pivotal role in the social, cultural, and democratic life of this country," Lacroix said in his opening remarks to the Committee Thursday afternoon.
Lacroix, along with Sylvain Lafrance and Richard Stursberg, the executive vice-presidents of French and English Services, respectively,…
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TORONTO – CTVglobemedia today announced a $400,000 grant to the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation/Fondation du musée canadien de la radiodiffusion (CBMF/FMCR).
This grant is part of the public benefits package that was approved by the CRTC following CTVgm’s acquisition of the CHUM properties.
"We are pleased to continue our support of the CBMF and salute their mission to ensure our nation’s broadcasting history is preserved as an important component of Canada’s cultural heritage," said Paul Sparkes, executive vice-president corporate affairs, CTVgm, in a press release.
"This sustaining commitment by CTVgm has really set the bar for Canada’s broadcasters. In…
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Dear Editor,
THE SIMMERING FEUD in correspondence to Prime Minister Harper seems a little juvenile and very disrespectful of due public process.
Messrs. Shaw, Asper and Fecan should know better. And now apparently, Bell has gotten the scribing urge! But at least Bell asks for some integrity re: the public hearing process – which is a very good thing.
Perhaps it is a tit-for-tat balancing act; but it is not consistent with the Broadcasting Act — and the latter trumps offside rhetorical flourish, we should hope.
Indeed, it is regrettable for all Canadians, and I believe ill-advised, for both…
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TORONTO – Recognizing that the digital transformation is changing fundamentally how audiences consume and interact with audiovisual media, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) announced a new five-year Strategic Plan at the Hot Docs festival on Monday night.
“In a digital era, the need for the NFB as Canada’s public producer and distributor is more essential than ever to undertake the kinds of risks that an audiovisual industry in constant state of change and turmoil cannot afford to take,” the NFB states in its Strategic Plan (2008-2013).
The NFB said key aspects of its mandate include supporting creators,…
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CALGARY and OTTAWA – Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw told Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a letter yesterday that the CRTC is bent on derailing the conservative government’s goals.
The five-page letter date April 16th, which was also sent to Industry Minister Jim Prentice, Heritage Minister Josee Verner and CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, first outlines Shaw’s broad support for the government’s deregulation thrust on the telecom front and then decries the actions, or lack of action, Mr. Shaw feels is happening on the broadcasting and cable file.
“(W)e were the only broadcast distributor to support your Government’s move…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage has announced that Yvon Belanger is joining the board of Telefilm Canada as a part-time member.
During his career, he worked for major accounting firms, including more than 25 years at the firm of Mallette. As certification partner, Belanger had very broad responsibilities that allowed him to gain substantial experience in the issues of standardization and presentation of financial statements. He is a member of the Ordre des comptables agrees du Quebec as well as the Chambre de commerce du Quebec. Now retired, Belanger is a chartered accountant.
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OTTAWA – Canada’s independent producers on Thursday called on a Senate committee to amend Bill C-10 so that the Criminal Code becomes the standard for determining what’s “contrary to public policy.”
Currently, the bill includes provisions that would allow the Canadian Heritage minister to develop guidelines for determining which productions would not be eligible for tax credits because they were "contrary to public policy.”
Representatives of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ) told the senators that employing the Criminal Code will “ensure the continuation…
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