OTTAWA – Recording movies inside movie theatres will soon be illegal in Canada.
“Canada’s new government is taking action to curb film piracy by bringing forward amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada. Piracy and mass copying of films has had a significant and direct impact on the entire film industry, including producers, directors, actors and creators,” said the Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, in a press release.
Right now, it’s only sort of illegal to record a movie from your seat in the theatre. However, while the theatre owners normally have policies against…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. as a public broadcaster should foster democracy, and needs stable long-term funding to operate effectively, says new CBC board chairman Timothy Casgrain.
Appearing Tuesday before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Casgrain told the committee though that CBC Television, unlike public radio, shouldn’t be totally free of advertising.
“CBC Radio doesn’t compete with Hollywood and CSI and Lost, and you the viewers make that choice,” he said. “CTV and Global are a rebroadcast of U.S. shows with different commercials – that’s what the CBC is up against. Should we come to the House…
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OTTAWA – Auditor-General Sheila Fraser isn’t as worried about the appointment process at the CBC as Friends of Canadian Broadcasting Corp. or the unions, which complain it’s too political.
Asked repeatedly by Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Committee members on Tuesday about the appointment process for the CBC’s chair, other board members and president, Fraser would not criticize the government.
“You have to recognize that the CBC is a Crown corporation and the government is the shareholder of the CBC and it is usually the shareholder who appoints the president,” she said. “The real issue is to make sure you…
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OTTAWA – Seven months after former CBC chairman Guy Fournier "flushed himself" out of the job, the Corp. has a new chairman of the board.
Heritage Minister Bev Oda announced the appointment of Timothy W. Casgrain on Friday afternoon. It’s fair to say he is a complete outsider.
"The credentials Mr. Casgrain brings to the CBC will provide strong leadership," said Minister Oda in her release. "I am confident that his experience and sound judgement will greatly benefit the CBC."
Casgrain (pictured) is currently chair of charter airline Skyservice Investments. Prior to that position, he served as executive vice-president…
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OTTAWA – Calling the CBC the most important outlet for Canadian programming, representatives from the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) urged the government to provide the public broadcaster with long-term stable funding.
Appearing Thursday before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson complained though that the CBC was asking for unduly long periods for the rights to programs under the its broadcast licences. He also noted multiple-platform rights were being sought, sometimes indefinitely, without fair compensation.
He added though that the CBC is not the only one seeking these kinds of deals;…
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OTTAWA – It’s time for the CRTC to set a deadline for Canadian television broadcasters to shut off their analog signals, Industry Canada’s assistant deputy minister Michael Binder told a wireless gathering this morning.
The 700 MHz band, which broadcasters use to send their traditional over-the-air analog signals, is being given back to the U.S. government as of February 17, 2009 and Binder says now is the time to set a deadline in Canada. “We would like to see broadcasters vacate this band and we could use (it) for other applications,” he said during the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association…
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OTTAWA – With less than a month before the CRTC hearing into the purchase of CHUM Ltd. by CTV and rumours swirling as to who might emerge as the winning bidder for CHUM’s A-Channels (see below), the NDP says the CRTC has to set up some tough content conditions governing the combined company.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus said Friday "that if the CRTC is going to give the green light to this unprecedented merging of television media, clear and binding conditions must be laid down."
Angus is calling for enforceable targets for new prime time drama, for example. “Where…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada said today that despite a story in the Globe and Mail this morning speculating a U.S. private equity firm may take the telco private, that the company is not currently in any such negotiations, nor does it intend to go that route.
“At the request of the TSX Market Regulation Services, BCE today issued a statement to confirm the fact that there are no ongoing discussions being held with any private equity investor with respect to any privatization of the Company or any similar transaction. BCE further stated the company has no current intention to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should amend the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to stipulate distributors must make monthly, rather than just annual, contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), the all-party Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended in a report released this week.
That was one of six recommendations contained in the report, entitled The Future of the Canadian Television Fund. It includes dissenting opinions from the Bloc Quebecois and Conservative Party members. The report was tabled on March 21.
The Standing Committee under recommendation number one strongly condemns the actions of Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media – both of…
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OTTAWA – CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch called on the federal government to come up with a long-term strategy for the public broadcaster, including spelling out how it would be funded.
Appearing Thursday before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is in the midst of an examination of the role of the public broadcaster in the 21st century, he said that strategy should be enshrined in a formal contract, as is the case in Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong. In the United Kingdom, the BBC operates under a Royal Charter that is formally renewed, after debate,…
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