BANFF – While it has certainly morphed, like the media it celebrates, The Banff World Media Fest remains the only gathering of its kind dedicated to the global business of television – particularly in the broadband era – and this 36th chapter opened with a touch of déjà vu all over again.
The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters lamented that the six major U.S. studios controlled 72% of the Canadian market, leaving only mince for Canadian independent distributors – and there was the expected echo of Canadian Media Production Association, and others, bemoaning that change had inflicted unkind…
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CALGARY – Add Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to the growing list of Canadians opposed to more staff cuts at the CBC.
In an April 1st letter addressed to CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, with copies to CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors chair Rémi Racine, Heritage Minister Shelly Glover, Industry Minister James Moore, and Calgary Members of Parliament, Mayor Nenshi said that he was “confused” by the decision to cut nearly 25% of staff at CBC Calgary.
“It is my understanding that a loss of 20 positions in Calgary would put its staff size on par with that of CBC Newfoundland…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – The XLIX Super Bowl may have been decided over a month ago, but the matter of American Super Bowl ads coming to Canadian television is still front and centre for Bell Media, the current Canadian rightsholder of the big game.
On Monday, the broadcaster filed a motion with the Federal Court of Appeal seeking to appeal BRP CRTC 2015-25, the CRTC’s January 29th decision prohibiting the practice of simultaneous substitution in Super Bowl games starting in 2017. Bell Media spokesperson Scott Henderson said in a statement that in making that decision, “the CRTC erred in…
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THE INITIAL CALL FOR THE REVIEW of the broadcasting system and the launch of the Let’s Talk TV consultation process was met with both skepticism and guarded optimism in the industry.
In many ways the industry had this coming. The price for cable television has increased dramatically over the past few decades, outpacing rises in price of most household commodities. The associated explosion in the number of channels, combined with the rise in price has created what behavioral economists call a “correlation effect”. This causes people to assume that the number of channels is the main cause of…
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GATINEAU – The biggest stir on the third day of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV policy hearing centered on the possible inclusion of revenue earned from broadcasters’ online activities when calculating Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) Bell Canada arguing that it’s illogical, odd and added insult to injury.
“Working document item 10 concerns us greatly,” said Mirko Bibic, Bell’s executive VP and chief legal and regulatory officer, adding that the proposal on the table “would treat Canadian licensees in that space differently than the Netflixes of the world.”
That bit of the CRTC’s discussion document says: “The definition…
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TORONTO – Halla Bol! Kids TV will become the first channel in the Hindi-language kids category on U.S. satellite TV distributor Dish Network this summer thanks to independent Canadian broadcaster Channel Zero.
Part of Channel Zero World Media, Halla Bol! Kids TV, will be exclusively available starting today to Dish World subscribers as well as to Dish satellite-TV subscribers. Halla Bol! showcases the world’s best-in-class programs in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. Halla Bol’s programming primarily caters to children 2 to 10 years old, but its multi-genre schedule provides appeal for the entire family, says the press release.
As befitting the "World…
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PETERBOROUGH, ON – Lindsay Broadband is celebrating 60 years of business serving the international communications industry.
As a designer, manufacturer, and integrator of broadband communication solutions, Lindsay's products include strand-mounted Wi-Fi hotspots, optical and DOCSIS Gateways, LTE small cell backhaul solutions, end-to-end FTTx and RF solutions.
Headquartered in Peterborough, Lindsay Broadband was founded by John Thomas in 1953, and quickly became one of the largest manufacturers of off-air antenna products worldwide. Other company milestones include:
– 1960s: developed wide bandwidth passives and amplifiers to satisfy demand for more entertainment services;
– 1970s: designed the first silicon based 300 MHz amplifiers, which became the…
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By Etan Vlessing
ANN ARBOR – Inside a production truck around 100 yards from Michigan Stadium, known to many as “The Big House” on the campus of the University of Michigan, CBC Sports director of production Joel Darling is making rapid-fire decisions about how the 2014 Winter Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings game will be captured for Canadian TV.
"It's the biggest show we do all year," Darling tells Cartt.ca as he directs an army of behind-the-scenes CBC staffers in front of computer and TV screens finalizing graphics, video clips and statistical nuggets to broadcast when…
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OTTAWA – Turns out that creating actual public policy is far more complicated than a few easy sound bites about choice and protecting jobs.
While the federal government last week demanded a report from the CRTC on letting Canadians break up their subscription TV bundles by April 30th, the written direction to the CRTC from the Privy Council shows an argument that is far more complex than the throw away sentences about “protecting consumers” which were a part of the Speech from the Throne on October 16. It seems to be demanding a report on providing pick and pay without…
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INDUSTRY MINISTER JAMES MOORE has fair sized reservoir of stamina. After two full days of going west to east talking wireless with just about everyone who’ll ask for his time – and with three days of that still lying ahead – he sounded fresh and combative when it was our turn Tuesday afternoon to talk with him.
For readers not vacationing incommunicado for the past two months, Minister Moore has taken this week to tour the country to talk up the federal government’s wireless policies in the face of an all-out onslaught of sustained criticism from…
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