GATINEAU – Organizations representing many persistent voices opposed to Canada’s 1999 over-the-air television policy – along with a rare cameo by the Ontario Culture Minister – took the stage Monday for Day 6 of the CRTC’s review of this policy.
The unions and guilds appearing for English and French writers and actors, and for English directors and crew, almost all requested a mix of re-regulation and new rules for conventional broadcasters – a distinct contrast to many broadcasters, who last week called for fewer rules and greater access to revenues.
In what was described as the “first appearance in…
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NEXT WEEK IN OTTAWA, TV broadcasters will tell their regulator, the CRTC, that they want fewer rules and more ways to make money. They will raise the alarm about how difficult it is these days to make money from traditional advertising because of all of the competition for eyeballs coming from new-fangled media, like the Internet, pay TV, and cell phones. They will plead for measures to help them climb back from merely profitable to very profitable.
And they may well get their way. After all, they have powerful friends in Ottawa. In fact, the minister responsible for broadcasting…
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I’VE GOT A BIT OF A SOFT spot for the CBC because when you grew up where I did, the CBC was it.
Apologies to CTV’s Northern Ontario precursor, MCTV, but when I think of old shows from my youth, it’s most often the CBC that springs to mind. Like sooo many of my fellow Canadians, when I think of the Ceeb, I invariably recall many frigid Saturday evenings inside watching Hockey Night in Canada: Me and my father sitting down with a big bowl of warm, greasy, salted popcorn. I usually fell asleep right after Peter Puck during the…
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TORONTO – Discovery Channel put the pedal on the floor Monday for the launch of its Star Racer media campaign.
In a Discovery Channel first, the channel developed one-of-a-kind multi-platform sponsorship opportunities for Mazda, Castrol and Edge Active Care, integrating the brands into every aspect of the production – including television broadcast, broadband and online executions.
Premiering Tues., October 24 at 10 p.m., Star Racer explores the world of auto racing, searching for a fearless driver who wants to become the fastest driver on the circuit. With a judging panel that includes racing icon Paul Tracy, the winning driver…
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TORONTO – The New Democratic weighed in on the CRTC’s TV Policy Review on Monday.
According to a press release from the party, Heritage Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) and MP Peggy Nash (Parkdale High Park) held meetings with key players in Toronto’s film and television industry, although it did not say whom they met with.
"The message from industry is clear: the Federal Conservatives need to step forward with firm commitments and targets to stop the bleed off of jobs from English Canada’s television and film industry," says the press release.
Angus and Nash held meetings in Toronto…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) on Friday announced the election of two independent directors to its board: Michel J. Carter and Anne-Marie Jean.
Jean is a former television producer and currently serves as executive director for Culture Montréal. Carter is an experienced finance and broadcasting executive and former president and CEO of TQS Inc. and Cogeco Radio-Télévision Inc.
As part of its commitment to accountability and governance best practices, the CTF board screens all independent candidates to ensure they pass the CTF independence test, including Carter and Jean. In accordance with the corporation’s bylaws, the process includes…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has confirmed its lineup of speakers and panellists at its upcoming annual convention in Vancouver.
Appropriately for its 80th anniversary gathering, the CAB has booked more than 80 panellists, including keynote speakers Heritage Minister Bev Oda and outgoing CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen, who will likely be giving his last major address to broadcasters before his terms ends in December.
Along with top broadcasting execs (including Rick Arnish of The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Norm Bolen of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., Catherine Bridgman of CanWest MediaWorks Inc., Kathy Dore of CanWest MediaWorks…
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By Glenn Wanamaker
Quebec media columnists are openly wondering this week how long 75-year-old Guy Fournier, an award-winning film producer, scriptwriter, journalist, and author, can remain as Chairman of CBC-Radio-Canada’s board of directors.
In the 11 months since his appointment, Fournier has provoked one outcry after another, first over his musings about Radio-Canada’s role in promoting national unity, then over his radio comments about the joys of defecating, and finally last week, over his comments on how Lebanese law regards bestiality.
In his latest column for the popular French-language magazine “7 Jours”, a Quebecor-owned gossip/entertainment publication,…
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WHO COULD BLAME CANADIAN lawyer Richard Warman for taking a shot with the CRTC last week? What would you do if someone used the web to threaten to kill you, or urge others to do it? Use as many tools as might be at your disposal to protect yourself, I should think.
As you may have read in a number of media reports over the past few days, an Virginia man, Bill White, has called for the Ottawa man’s death (and the death of all Jews, for that matter) and even posted his home address, too, in case someone…
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MONTREAL – Canadian communication policy has shifted. New media are no longer new. Convergence has come and gone and even come again. Policy makers are chipping away at facet after facet of the emerging networked mediascape.
But what role should Canadian communication researchers play in this policy environment? How can their work inform, influence, and shift the agendas of policymakers in Canadian jurisdictions? Should it at all? And just whose work is at issue, as a new generation of communications researchers, activists, and decision-makers begins to take its place in Canadian institutions?
Questions like these are a growing part…
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