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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OTTAWA – Official Languages commissioner Graham Fraser called Tuesday on the government to compel the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to spruce up its regional programming to help build cultural connections among Francophone minorities outside Quebec and English minorities inside the province.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is in the midst of an investigation of the role of the CBC in the 21st century, Fraser said one of the shortcomings of the public broadcaster is that it has become too centralized in Toronto and Montreal.
He noted that Francophone communities outside of Quebec need to have access…
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s budget was criticized Monday by the arts community for not providing increased and stable funding to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
While Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda announced last month public funding of the CTF would be extended for two more years, there was no increase.
“The Canadian Television Fund has not received any increases since 1996. The CTF desperately needs enhanced, long-term, stable funding,” said Stephen Waddell, national executive director of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).
He added the government’s…
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THE CLOCK CAN’T BE TURNED back on announced acquisitions (CTV/CHUM, CanWest Global-Goldman Sachs/Alliance Atlantis and Astral/Standard) but the CRTC has decided it must look into the overall affect of media consolidation on the tenets of the Broadcasting Act.
As predicted, this turned into a "locking the doors after the horses escaped" analogy in some quarters.
In an interview with Cartt.ca on Wednesday, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein (who must be a little shell-shocked with all that’s gone on within two months of taking the job) said yes, a thorough review of the diversity of voices in…
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VANCOUVER – Because of the high costs of replacing hundreds of TV transmitters with digital ones, CBC has said it plans to upgrade in dense areas while for rural regions, rely more heavily on cable and satellite transmission.
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (which held meetings in the Northwest Territories and Vancouver this week) that CBC’s plan "will disenfranchise Canadians who receive TV over-the-air."
FCB-commissioned research submitted to the committee, which is investigating CBC’s future mandate, shows that three million Canadians do not subscribe to cable or satellite and receive their TV signal…
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