MONTREAL – Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada have announced they will each carry an equal number of English and French stations when they launch.
As part of their conditions of licence, each satellite radio service is required to launch with at least eight Canadian channels, one-quarter of them in French. Both services said today they will voluntarily increase that to half.
Also, if they add any new Canadian services in the first 24 months of operation, they pledge to add an equal number of English and French.
“It has always been our intent to ensure satellite radio further strengthens Canadian…
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TORONTO – Reports swirling around all weekend long after the Liberals’ cabinet retreat in Regina suggest that Heritage Minister Liza Frulla is hoping to get her fellow cabinet ministers on-side to ask the CRTC to review or rescind its June 16th decision to license a pair of satellite radio companies.
Both companies are taking the reports seriously, executives told www.cartt.ca on Monday. Cabinet has until September 14th to decide what it may do.
“From the outset Madame Frulla has been worried about the overall number of French stations. No surprise,” said SIRIUS Canada president Kevin Shea. “In fairness, she…
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OTTAWA – The job of chair of the CBC has been open since past chair Carole Taylor decided to get into politics in British Columbia. CBC CEO Robert Rabinovitch has been filling in but the federal government has decided now’s the time for a new chair.
So, if you’re interested… the posting is out today. Time for the speculating on who’ll get the post to begin.
CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
Chairperson (part-time position)
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Canada’s national public broadcaster, was created by an Act of Parliament on November 2, 1936, and now operates under the 1991 Broadcasting…
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GATINEAU – Using SAP for CPAC is not good enough for the federal government.
Earlier this year, the feds directed the CRTC to change its exemption policy when it came to the Cable Public Affairs Channel so that most systems will now be forced to carry both the English and French channels.
Friday, the Commission issued a Public Notice, calling for comments on the revised distribution order for CPAC (which carries House of Commons and Senate proceedings as well as other public affairs programming), reflecting the government’s order.
Currently, most cable systems carry one video feed of CPAC, with…
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OTTAWA – Some of the greatest achievements over the long and illustrious history of the Canadian telecommunications industry will be honoured and celebrated on October 17th, 2005 at the inaugural ceremonies of Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame.
Organizers of the gala event announced this week that Canada’s telecommunications industry will pay homage to eight of its pioneers and leaders at the inaugural laureate induction ceremonies and gala dinner to be staged on Monday, October 17, 2005 in Room 107 of Constitution Hall at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre North Building.
Laureates will be inducted in four categories: Inventors and…
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OTTAWA – There are just under 40 independent telephone companies left in Canada – little telcos that for one reason or another, were never swallowed up by Bell Canada.
All of them, save one, are in Bell’s Ontario or Quebec territory. Of those, there are six which are owned by municipalities: Bruce Municipal Telephone System, Cochrane Public Utilities Commission, Dryden Municipal Telephone System, Kenora Municipal Telephone System, The Corporation of the City of Thunder Bay – Telephone Division, all in Ontario, and Prince Rupert City Telephone, in British Columbia.
This week, the Department of Canadian Heritage closed a comments…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable must be juiced about its next new TV channel because ads touting it are already in rotation among its parent company’s Toronto radio stations, despite the fact it doesn’t launch for another 12 days.
The channel is RETV, a brand new digital real estate channel platform for cable operators, from Capital Networks. Officially, Rogers will launch it on July 19th in York Region, with the rest of the company’s Ontario systems adding it later this year.
Customers of Aurora Cable already know RETV since the company has been offering the service to its 14,000 customers…
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TORONTO – Virgin Mobile today launched its Top Ten Ringtones chart featuring the ten most popular downloaded ringtones downloaded.
The Virgin Mobile Top Ten Ringtones list is the first of its kind available in Canada and debuts this week in 18 major urban dailies and weeklies across Canada.
The premier Virgin Mobile Top 10 Ringtones chart will list the top 10 ringtones and musictones sold each week, including song title, artist and position number. The launch chart features:
1. Don’t Phunk With My Heart – Black Eyed Peas 2. Candy Shop – 50 Cent 3. Hollaback Girl – Gwen…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian-content-advocate side of the creative industry issued a press release this morning saying they are appealing the CRTC’s satellite radio decision to federal cabinet.
“The coalition is seeking an early opportunity to brief the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the opposition critics. A similar initiative is being announced today in Montreal by a coalition of francophone cultural organizations,” said the release.
The organizations who make up the appealing coalition are: ACTRA, the Canadian Independent Record Production Association, the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union of Canada, the Directors Guild of Canada, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the National…
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OTTAWA – Amendments to the Copyright Act, tabled in Parliament today, say in part that Internet service providers are not liable for copyright violating acts done over their networks on the Internet.
This is good news for cable ISPs, says the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
"The cable industry is pleased that the Government of Canada recognizes that as intermediaries, ISPs have no control over the copyright material that passes over their networks," said Michael Hennessy, CCTA president. "The Internet is fundamental to business today and the Copyright Act needs to support and encourage technological advancements."
Minister of Canadian Heritage Liza…
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