OTTAWA – New Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will join next week’s Prime Time in Ottawa conference, organizers confirmed Friday.
Minister Joly will appear ‘In Conversation’ with CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin at the luncheon on Thursday, February 4. This conversation will be livestreamed, and can be accessed by registering here.
“It is a great honour for our industry’s leaders to be able to hear first-hand from Minister Joly as we gather to discuss the future of the Canadian content-creation industry,” said Mastin, in the news release. “The CMPA believes it is crucial for the private sector…
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TORONTO – As Canadians mark the 35th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope this September, a new Heritage Minute about Terry Fox debuted Tuesday across Bell Media television properties.
Produced by Historica Canada and Calgary-based Corkscrew Media & Stir Films, CTV News’ Lloyd Robertson delivers the Minute’s classic end narration. Days after the Marathon of Hope ended in September 1980, Robertson hosted a star-studded telethon on CTV that raised $10 million, and later served as honorary chairperson of the Terry Fox Run.
"Of all the news stories I've covered, very few have touched me as deeply as the Terry Fox…
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“WHY IS OUR PM SHILLING for Netflix during the first week of our federal election campaign?” I wondered when I saw this video of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
We learned in the video tweeted early yesterday evening that one of his all-time favourite TV shows is Breaking Bad, reminding us it “is even available on some online streaming services, if you’ve never seen it.” Well, it’s only available for streaming online from Netflix (not some), unless you want to purchase individual episodes for download from Google Play or iTunes.
Oh, it’s also available on demand from our…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has decided to invite representatives from Rogers Media to explain recent cutbacks made to the news programming at its multicultural OMNI TV stations.
According to the minutes of Monday’s committee meeting which were made public today, the committee will “invite representatives from OMNI to discuss their recent programming changes, specifically as they relate to local news coverage in Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin and Italian; and that the meeting take place prior to Thursday, June 18, 2015, and that the meeting be scheduled for 2 hours.”
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OTTAWA – Film and television production in Canada experienced an overall increase in production volume of 2.1% to $5.86 billion between 2012/13 and 2013/14, according to a new report from the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) unveiled during the organization’s annual conference Prime Time in Ottawa.
The report, Profile 2014: An Economic Report on the Screen-Based Media Production Industry in Canada, provides a statistical overview of the three main screen-based production sectors in Canada: Canadian production (includes television and theatrical), foreign location and service production, and broadcaster in-house production. These sectors helped to sustain 125,400 fulltime jobs in 2013/14.
Foreign location…
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OTTAWA – A Senate committee turned to a former broadcast regulator for insight on how to address the challenges facing CBC/Radio-Canada in light of its loss of Hockey Night in Canada to Rogers Communications last year.
Appearing via video conference from Florida, former chair of the CRTC Konrad von Finckenstein told the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications what he believes could be done to improve the chances for success of Canada’s public broadcaster. He pointed to unloading the corporation’s vast over-the-air broadcast network, refocusing of the public broadcaster’s content as well as changing the governance structure and oversight…
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OTTAWA – A coalition of American border television stations is hoping that the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV policy initiative will help them in their quest for compensation for their over-the-air programs that are being imported and retransmitted in Canada.
The group, which includes ABC, CBS, NBC and CW affiliates in Detroit, Buffalo and Minneapolis, says it’s seeking equitable and non-discriminatory remuneration opportunities under Canada’s TV retransmission regime, as Cartt.ca has reported.
The group maintains that Canada's Broadcasting Distribution Regulations were amended in 2011 to provide retransmission consent and new remuneration rights for operators of distant Canadian TV…
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OTTAWA – The federal government has fully implemented the Audiovisual Treaty Coproduction treaty, providing a big boost to Canadian television and film co-productions, Paul Calandra, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced at the Canadian Media Production Association’s annual Prime Time event on Ottawa on Thursday.
“What this will ultimately mean, simply put, is more film and television productions overall in Canada. We are making Canada a more attractive place to do business,” Calandra said during a luncheon keynote, subbing for Heritage Minister James Moore.
“And how are we doing this? First we made it easier for Canada…
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MONTREAL – The SayNoToBell.ca campaigners claim that nearly 50,000 Canadians, both consumers and industry leaders, have signed their petition urging the CRTC and government to deny the Bell/Astral merger. CRTC hearings into the proposed deal are poised to begin next week.
SayNoToBell.ca says 42 of the 60 interveners to be heard have already publicly opposed the deal or questioned the transaction. Notable industry presentations include:
• Québécor – Monday, September 10
• Eastlink – Tuesday, September 11
• Cogeco Cable – Wednesday, September 12
• Rogers Communications – Wednesday, September 12
• Telus – Wednesday, September 12
• Canadian Cable Systems Alliance – Friday, September 14
Notable…
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VANCOUVER – Non-Canadians are purchasing so many common shares of Telus that the company is in danger of violating Canada’s foreign ownership restrictions.
The telco issued a notice Thursday reminding non-Canadian investors of its reservation procedures while warning that that its transfer agent may not be able to approve all pending or new applications. Non-Canadians wanting to buy Telus’ common shares must reserve the right to obtain transfers by contacting the company’s transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, and obtaining a reservation number after completing a reservation application.
Telus said that the catalyst for this announcement is “significant buying interest” by…
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