OTTAWA — Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (above) and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti announced today a new expert advisory group on online safety as the next step in developing federal legislation to address harmful online content.
The expert advisory group “will be mandated to provide advice on a legislative and regulatory framework that best addresses harmful content online,” reads a government press release.
The announcement comes after the Canadian government said in February it planned to engage a group of experts to help it revise its proposed framework after its public consultation…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced today Canadian television service providers can no longer distribute the Russian state-funded English-language channel RT (Russia Today) or RT France.
The Commission formally removed both channels from its list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada after determining their continued distribution “is not in the public interest,” according to a press release.
“RT’s programming is not consistent with the standards against which Canadian services are measured nor the policy objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act,” the release explains.
“The CRTC is also concerned with programming from a foreign country…
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TORONTO — Blue Ant Media announced today Cottage Life’s hit series Life Below Zero: Canada is returning for a second season beginning Tuesday, March 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT during the channel’s eight-week nationwide free preview event.
Based on the Life Below Zero format created and produced by BBC Studios’ Los Angeles production arm, the second installment of the Canadian adaptation is a co-production between Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company, and Quebecor Content in partnership with APTN.
“Filmed across the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Northern Ontario and Nunavik in Northern Quebec in bone-chilling -51° C weather conditions, Life Below Zero: Canada Season…
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Also severed business ties with Russia
OTTAWA – Ross Video announced earlier this week it is making a $100,000 donation to Ukraine humanitarian relief efforts.
The company also stopped its shipments to Russia last week and severed support for its products that are already there.
“As a company, we rarely comment on geopolitical affairs. However, we are compelled to support the Ukrainian people and their remarkable efforts to defend their homeland,” says David Ross, CEO of Ross Video, in the release. “Like hundreds of thousands of other Canadians, I am proud of my Ukrainian heritage. I simply cannot sit idly by…
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OTTAWA – Two representatives from Rogers Communications appeared (virtually) before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage today to reassure committee members local news will not be worse off after Rogers merges with Shaw.
As Cartt.ca previously reported, there were concerns expressed during the CRTC’s recent hearing on the proposed merger about Rogers’s plan to redirect funding Shaw has previously allocated to Corus’s Global stations to its own City TV stations.
Colette Watson (above), president of Rogers Sports and Media, told the committee the deal will enhance City TV’s local news services.
“Our City TV news stations are located in Winnipeg, Calgary,…
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By Mark Goldberg
ON TUESDAY EVENING, a Twitter thread by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez requesting a rushed CRTC review of Russia Today (RT) caught my eye:
That’s right. Two weeks.
The Heritage Minister, the Minister responsible for the CRTC, is asking the independent, quasi-judicial regulator to collect evidence and render a decision in two weeks on whether RT should be continue to be permitted as a broadcasting service option for Canadians.
Two weeks.
The Commission regularly takes two weeks just to have a decision translated. Please tell me how the CRTC can prepare a…
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TORONTO — Independent telecom and broadcasting company VMedia Inc. announced yesterday it has been selected as an official distributor in Canada for Ukraine24, the leading 24-hour TV news channel from the Ukraine.
This follows VMedia’s announcement yesterday it has added the Ukrainian news channel to all of its VMedia TV basic and premium packages as well as its live and on-demand streaming service RiverTV’s basic package at no extra charge to subscribers.
The announcement also comes after VMedia and several other TV providers announced they are dropping the Russian state-funded Russia Today (RT) channel from their offerings.
“VMedia is very…
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By Howard Law
HERITAGE MINISTER PABLO Rodriguez’s announcement last week that the federal Liberals are about to introduce an Online News Bill means a second rescue mission in four years to steady the finances of Canadian news journalism.
This time it’s not government money but industry money: a Canadian knock-off of Australia’s Media Bargaining Code will give publishers and broadcasters the leverage they need to obtain fair compensation from Google and Meta for using journalists’ news content to grow their audiences and make money on Search, YouTube and Facebook NewsFeed.
We’re long past debating whether the advertising-dependent business model for…
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PM wants CRTC to review channel’s presence in Canada
CANADIAN TELEVISION SERVICE providers are dropping Russia Today (RT) an English-language international news channel funded by Russia, from their channel lineups.
There has been growing concern about the channel’s presence in Canada specifically, and about Russian-funded international media around the world more generally. Many concerns relate to the dissemination of propaganda and disinformation.
On Feb. 26, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez posted on Twitter, saying, “I share the concerns of many Canadians about the presence of Russia Today in our broadcasting system. We’re looking at all options.”
Since then, several Canadian television service providers…
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OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez confirmed last week government legislation seeking to level the playing field between digital platforms and Canadian news outlets will include broadcasters.
The announcement was made at a Canada 2020 event on the future of news.
“News outlets support an informed citizenry and a healthy democracy. Canadians need access to news and information to fully benefit and participate in democratic society,” a spokesperson for Canadian Heritage said in an emailed statement to Cartt.ca.
The minister’s mandate calls on him to “Swiftly introduce legislation to require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication of news…
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