HALIFAX and TORONTO – Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly hosted the second and third of six in-person discussions on Canada’s cultural and creative industries this week in Halifax on Tuesday and in Toronto Wednesday.
Dozens of professionals from the TV, radio, film, art and printed word industries gathered to talk about Canadian Content in a Digital World, as the federal government seeks input on how best to strengthen Canadian content creation, discovery and export in a digital world and to examine our current cultural policies and laws
Canadians are encouraged to join the conversation and take part in the discussions at any…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Mélanie Joly has officially launched the consultations in to Canada’s cultural and creative industries, a process dubbed Canadian Content in a Digital World.
This consultation process follows a pre-consultation questionnaire completed by nearly 10,000 Canadians earlier this year that resulted in a discussion paper designed to guide this phase of the process. Canadians are being urged to visit the website, read about the approach and provide their suggestions “on positioning Canada's cultural sector at the heart of Canada's creative economy”, now through November 25.
Minister Joly pledged to host in-person discussions…
Continue Reading
Without a major regulatory change, the traditional TV industry here faces a chilling future
IF THE CRTC DOESN’T, at long last, review the 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the Canadian TV industry as we know it may well perish in the next five years, at the cost of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs – all while production of Canadian content shrivels to whatever the CBC makes.
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission reached a compromise deal with the subscription TV titans in the States over the American regulator’s so-called push to “unlock the…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Concerns over “allegations of systemic and overt racism” within the CRTC have prompted two community organizations to petition Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to reinstate former Ontario CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan.
In a letter dated September 6 that was also copied to Governor General David Johnston and CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, the Community Media Advocacy Centre and Urban Alliance on Race Relations noted that in the Commission’s 48 year history, only two of 103 first-time appointments have been granted to visible minorities, and that no visible minority or Indigenous person has ever been appointed to serve…
Continue Reading
BANFF – It is difficult to resist the evident charm and good intentions of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage.
However, here at the 2016 Banff World Media Festival, some of the old saws we've been hearing in her patterned speeches these last many months are getting old. Here was our Minister, at the prestigious kick-off Opening Keynote of our annual Banff mind-meld, simply churning out bromides.
Yes, she is threatening to change everything about the system – but the narrative has become more cautious, perhaps even bewildered, ever since.
Yes, again, her 10,000 replies to the initial consultation (a…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Can Canada maintain a rights market of its own for cultural content in the face of rampant and rapid technological change? If so, how? Should we? At what costs? What would any new rules say?
These very difficult, complex questions, along with Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s recent announcement that our aged legislation covering Canadian content rules will soon be getting an overhaul, were front and centre during the first morning of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Biennial conference into new developments in communications law and policy at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.
For example,…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The local news business, while still attracting eyeballs, has ceased working from a financial perspective, Bell Canada told a Parliamentary committee on Tuesday. Echoing its appearance in front of the CRTC earlier this year, the company argued in front of MPs that creating a fund dedicated to local news programming would definitely help counteract falling advertising revenue.
Speaking at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Wendy Freeman, president at CTV News, noted that 2011 advertising revenue from private Canadian conventional TV stations has declined by $325 million, $91 million at Bell Media…
Continue Reading
HAMILTON and NEW YORK – Clearcable Networks has added One Caribbean Television (OCTV) to its Content Distribution Network (CDN).
OCTV carries daily news and weather, sports, travel, lifestyle and entertainment programming about the Caribbean and its people. Now in its tenth year, OCTV is currently available on cable systems throughout the Caribbean and in many major U.S. cities.
“Clearcable is pleased to be able to extend more diverse content to more consumers by bringing OCTV to the Canadian market,” said Clearcable president Rob McCann, in Wednesday’s news release. “Adding OCTV extends our commitment to delivering more choice to subscribers in Canada.”
“Our partnership…
Continue Reading
BANFF – Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Mélanie Joly will deliver a keynote presentation on Sunday June 12, 2016 to open the 37th annual Banff World Media Festival.
"I am pleased to be taking part in my first Banff World Media Festival as Minister of Canadian Heritage," said Minister Joly, in a statement. "I am eager to share my vision for the future of Canadian arts and culture with industry leaders. It will be a time for productive discussions about the new realities of Canada's content industry."
The Banff World Media Festival is recognized globally as a business market for…
Continue Reading
MP fumes his local anchors are now in Toronto
OTTAWA – The ongoing local television struggles were the topic of the day at the Heritage Committee this week as it kicked off its study on the media and local communities (just three short weeks after the CRTC did the exact same thing).
Officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Competition Bureau and the CRTC were at the inaugural meeting to provide MPs with background on the challenges facing the industry.
The nearly two-hour long session was mainly about giving and receiving information on the struggles of local TV, including…
Continue Reading
