TORONTO — The Canada Media Fund (CMF) released Friday details of $13.3 million in Covid-19 emergency relief funding for underrepresented groups and to support regional diversity in the screen-based industry.
Fifteen per cent of the Government of Canada’s CMF allocation of the Covid-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations will be invested through targeted initiatives to ensure equity, including by region, language and for underrepresented groups, says the news release.
“We recognize many historically marginalized communities within the industry are disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 crisis and were not eligible for other CMF emergency relief funds,” said…
Continue Reading
By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Faced with an advertising market that has been cut in half in some cases, broadcasters are scrambling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic (to say nothing of the shifting media sands in general) and are seeking stronger lifelines from the federal government.
Earlier this month, during an appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, representatives of the Independent Broadcast Group (IBG) said while the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy has helped keep staff on the payroll, broadcasters need further relief.
On behalf of the IBG, a consortium of 10 independent Canadian television broadcasters, Luc Perreault…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — The two vacant commissioner spots at the CRTC have been filled, with the announcement Thursday by Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault that Ellen C. Desmond (pictured, left) has been appointed as commissioner for Atlantic Canada and Nunavut, and Nirmala Naidoo (right) as commissioner for Alberta and Northwest Territories.
Desmond is filling the vacancy left when former Atlantic Canada and Nunavut commissioner Christopher MacDonald’s five-year term ended June 16. Naidoo is taking over from former Alberta and Northwest Territories commissioner Linda Vennard, whose term expired in May. Each new commissioner will serve a five-year term.
Desmond, of New Brunswick,…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) has asked the federal government for targeted funding to convert 50% of temporary and precarious workers at CBC to full-time staff.
The funding request was made by CMG CBC/Radio-Canada branch president Kim Trynacity during a 40-minute meeting with Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, said the union in a release.
“Many of the temporary employees are Black, Indigenous and people of colour,” Trynacity told the minister, according to the news release. “Converting so many temps to full-time will make the corporation more reflective of Canada, and go a long way to repairing a damaged…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – While the TV industry was hoping to hear about more help from the $500 million Covid crisis aid funding from Canadian Heritage when it announced phase two of the plan, the federal government only announced limited components today.
Phase one funds are already being doled out to CMF, Telefilm and sports organizations.
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault today announced $25.7 million in new funding for national museums (the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada…
Continue Reading
Including two that won’t cost a cent
By Greg O’Brien
CAL MILLAR DOESN’T want to kick the federal government while it is scrambling hard to keep Canadians healthy and our economy upright. However, broadcasters need more help and Millar and his fellow broadcasters have some ideas.
The president of Channel Zero (owners of CHCH, Rewind and Silver Screen Classics) is genuinely thankful for what the federal government has already done for broadcasters, and the country, in trying to manage an unprecedented health crisis that has decimated the economy while we all tried, and try, to do the right things to make sure…
Continue Reading
By Doug Barrett
HERITAGE MINISTER STEVEN Guilbeault’s appearance at the virtual Banff World Media Festival Tuesday morning was a bit of a revelation to me, and in a surprisingly good way.
We usually show up to these things expecting the three Ps: politics, platitudes and postponement – and certainly the various industry and media appearances of one of Mr. Guilbeault’s Liberal predecessors met all three of those tests, sometimes in the case of her appearance on Toute le Monde en Parle in 2017, famously so.
However, Guilbeault’s time Tuesday was, I almost hate to say it, refreshingly different.
Why?
First, he was well…
Continue Reading
By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The next tranche of funding from the federal government’s $500-million emergency response fund for cultural, heritage and amateur sports organizations during the pandemic announced two months ago will be rolled out in the coming days, while legislation modernizing the Broadcasting Act will have to wait until Parliament resumes its normal sitting this fall, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Tuesday during a Covid-19-prompted virtual edition of the Banff World Media Festival.
The deadline for applications for the first phase of funding concluded on June 12, and was targeted to organizations which have already received…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and broadcast partner CBC today announced the 2020 Juno Award winners will be revealed in a virtual presentation on Monday, June 29 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on the free CBC Gem streaming service and CBC Music’s website and social media pages.
This follows the cancellation of the 49th annual Juno Awards event, which was set to take place in Saskatoon in March, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The virtual presentation will feature a lineup of guest presenters and special performances, with the award winners announced across all…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The PGA Tour is back and Bell Media’s TSN and CTV2 will be showing a dozen tournaments this summer, beginning this weekend with the final rounds of the Charles Schwab Challenge, airing Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14 on TSN and CTV2, from the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
As a part of this expanded coverage, RBC has partnered with TSN and CTV to sponsor the full season of PGA Tour coverage on both broadcast and digital platforms. French-language coverage is available on RDS.
With the Covid-19 pandemic altering golf’s schedule this summer, the sport’s major…
Continue Reading
