TORONTO – Effective April 3, Anna Gecan becomes vice-president, content at HGTV while Emily Morgan will be the new vice-president, content, Food Network and Fine Living, Alliance Atlantis has announced. Gecan, left, brings 20 years of television leadership and production experience to her new role, most recently as director, original production for HGTV and Food Network. Over the past year, she oversaw the development and commissioning of more than 20 new titles and the production of over 50 titles for the two channels.
During her tenure, both networks achieved record audience gains, and a series she personally…
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OTTAWA – In a press conference on Monday, the NDP presented a document it obtained which it says shows the governing Conservatives are pushing ahead with plans to strip foreign ownership limitations on broadcast and telecom companies.
The document will be tabled as Canada’s official position at General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) discussions which opened in Geneva Monday. It commits Canada to strip foreign ownership limitations in telecom — with profound implications for telephone, cable and ultimately broadcast services. This position also runs counter to present Canadian law, says the NDP.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins-James…
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OTTAWA – On International Woman’s Day, the Canadian Women in Communications honored their award winners and took the wrapper off a brand new look (right) at its annual gala here in Ottawa Wednesday evening.
The evening was the first industry engagement and speaking appearance for new Heritage Minister Bev Oda and new Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and the event drew its usual who’s who of the communications industry.
A former CWC board chair, Minister Oda, before presenting the Trailblazer Award to Sasktel’s Sandy Larson, lauded the CWC’s efforts in promoting leadership among women in…
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OTTAWA – The New Democratic Party today released a four-point plan for "broadcast sovereignty".
The four points are:
* Change the governance structure of CBC board of directors — ending the patronage appointment process and giving the board the power to hire or fire the CEO, who is currently appointed by the Prime Minister. * Ensure stable long term funding to expand regional programming. * Maintain clear limits on foreign ownership of Canadian airwaves. * Restore the obligation of Canadian broadcasters to promote home-grown drama.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) said in the release that Prime Minister…
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TORONTO – The gala evening celebrating women in communications is Wednesday in Ottawa, but Canadian Women in Communications has announced who the award winners will be.
Woman of the Year: Sarah Crawford, vice-president, Public Affairs, CHUM Television, Toronto
Employer of the Year: Alliance Atlantis Communications
Chapter Leader of the Year: Diane Johnson, president, Descriptive Video Works, Vancouver
Trailblazer of the Year: Sandy Larson, manager of customer service and operations, SaskTel and Mayor of Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Mentor of the Year: Cindy Chatwell, acting marketing manager, Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN), Winnipeg
The CWC Jeanne Sauvé Program winners are: *…
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OTTAWA – While CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen said little to surprise independent producers in his annual address at the CFTPA’s national conference, he did hint at something that could delight them.
With CBC up for licence renewal this year, followed by the major private ‘casters, and with handheld digital media starting to shift industry revenue streams, Dalfen told producers “a bigger TV policy review might be timely” and he’s welcoming suggestions.
Any re-think of the TV policy, cursed by almost all stakeholders except broadcasters since it took effect in the fall of 2000, would begin after the review of…
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AS EXPECTED, FORMER BROADCASTER (TVO and CTV) and CRTC Commissioner, Durham (Ont.) MP Bev Oda, was made Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women this morning when new Prime Minister Stephen Harper was sworn in and announced his new cabinet.
What wasn’t expected was former Liberal Industry Minister David Emerson crossing the floor to become a Conservative and remain in cabinet and in power as Minister for International Trade.
Beauce (Que.) MP Maxime Bernier, a former Standard Life vice-president, has been named Industry Minister.
Industry and Heritage both oversee the CRTC, the regulatory arbiter of the Canadian cable,…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame today announced the launch of www.telecomhall.ca, the new web site which celebrates Canada’s legacy of success and achievement in the telecommunications industry.
The site pays homage to the technological, scientific, policy, business and entrepreneurial genius of Canada’s telecommunications sector, and honors the inventors and innovators, the business pioneers and builders, the unsung heroes and the success stories of this remarkable and vibrant Canadian industry.
The web site features:
The Hall of Fame Virtual Tour: Explore and discover some of the greatest contributors to Canadian telecommunications. View photos, videos and biographies of…
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AFTER A DOZEN OR SO years of lobbying the Liberal Party power establishment, the Canadian cable, radio, television and telecom industries will have to start over beginning today.
No matter how long this new Conservative minority government lasts (we sorely hope it’s longer than Joe Clark’s eight months in 1979), those at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, as well as Canada’s large telcos, have brand new friends to make – and influence.
Issues like foreign ownership of telecom and cable companies, or even broadcasters, might get a more friendly hearing under the Conservatives…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Media Guild said Monday it’s worried that culture, and the CBC specifically, is so low on the priority lists of the federal parties.
Only the Conservative and Green parties mention the CBC in their platforms, despite the fact that the public broadcaster faces a license renewal before the end of 2006.
“But there are more questions about the vague position of the front-running Conservatives than answers,” says the Guild release, ominously.
"I recognize that this election campaign has been fought on a handful of core issues. But it is troubling that the future of Canada’s…
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