By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The much-anticipated report by the federal Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel has so far drawn praise from some of the industries it affects, but mainly criticism from the official opposition Conservatives.
At a National Press Theatre news conference following the release of the report on Wednesday, Michelle Rempel Garner, the Conservative shadow minister for industry and economic development (pictured in a cpac.ca screen cap), said that while the 235-page document, entitled Canada’s Communications Future: A Time to Act, is “well-intentioned, was written in one of the most heavily lobbied and regulated spaces in Canadian industry…
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TORONTO — The Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) Panel report released today contains a number of recommendations which Canadian content producers will consider good news — namely that all media content undertakings, including international digital giants not currently covered by legislation, should have obligations to support Canadian content.
As part of its review, the BTLR panel looked at the possibility of creating new financing models and other initiatives to support the creation, production and discoverability of Canadian content. Among its recommendations related to Canadian content are that the functions of the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada be…
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GATINEAU — Canadians will have an additional week to submit their opinions on CBC/Radio-Canada’s programming as the CRTC announced Tuesday it is extending the consultation period that is part of the public broadcaster’s licence renewal process.
The Commission says it wants to hear from Canadians across the country to ensure the content produced and distributed by the public broadcaster reflects the diversity of Canada’s population, while meeting its needs in both official languages.
The deadline extension comes after the Commission posted online Tuesday a recently completed study by Cullen International which examined public broadcasters in other jurisdictions around the world….
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By Lenore Gibson
ON WEDNESDAY, THE BROADCASTING and Telecom Legislative Review panel will deliver its long-awaited final report. Canada’s private broadcasters await that report with interest. The panel’s recommendations will set the stage for new legislation, which the government has promised to introduce by the end of 2020.
As many private broadcasters expressed to the panel, the stakes of this process are monumental. Change is needed more than ever with the arrival of new foreign streaming services in Canada. Canadian broadcasting policy was developed for a closed system. It never contemplated that massive foreign platforms would enter the market “over the…
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By Irene Berkowitz
THE LONG-AWAITED announcement from the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) review panel is upon us.
Charles Falzon, among his many firsts, is founding chair of the CMPA. He also served on the Expert Advisory Group for our last federal media inquiry, the 2016-2017 Department of Canadian Heritage Canadian Content in a Digital World/Creative Canada Policy Framework. Falzon is Dean of Ryerson University Faculty of Communication and Design (FCAD) and former Chair of RTA School of Media. He’s produced more than 2000 hours of TV with Gemini awards and Emmy nominations to his credit.
As…
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OTTAWA – The federal government’s expert panel which has spent 18 months building recommendations on how the various Acts which govern television, radio, broadband and telecom in Canada should, or should not, change, will make its report public early Wednesday afternoon.
Legislation coming from those recommendations will drive the various policies created over the years for the connectivity and cultural sectors and could alter the way Canadians receive electronic media, how Canadian content is made and funded, deliver increased broadband accessibility, change wireless policy, rework the way the federal government treats wireless spectrum and so forth.
Cartt.ca has confirmed with the…
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OTTAWA — The federal government announced Monday it is launching a creative industries trade mission to Europe this spring, with the aim of facilitating trade opportunities and strengthening collaboration between Canada and creative industries in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The trade mission will take place from May 25 to June 2, with the creative industries delegation travelling to Berlin, Amsterdam and Stockholm to work on creating new business opportunities in both established and emerging markets. The mission will be a key initiative to build momentum before Canada’s role as the Guest of Honour country at the Frankfurt Book Fair…
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OTTAWA – The Department of Canadian Heritage is asking a select group of consultants to submit bids for a research contract that will do a deep dive into how the CBC impacts the country.
The contract will “assess the social, cultural and economic impacts of CBC/Radio-Canada on the Canadian media and production sectors, and on Canadian audiences more generally,” a Heritage spokesperson confirmed to Cartt.ca.
“This research is part of the department’s ongoing work to ensure our policies and programs keep pace with societal and technological changes,” the spokesperson added. “Other countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, have conducted similar…
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MONTREAL – Francois Choquette (above), the former NDP MP who sued Canadian Heritage and the Official Languages commissioner over the Liberal government’s 2017 $500 million Netflix deal, said he has been pursuing his legal action as a private citizen.
“I’m taking this case as a private citizen since the beginning,” the former Official Languages critic for the party told Cartt.ca on Tuesday. “Nobody has funded me, I’m doing it on my own and I’m representing myself.”
That appears to run counter to a press release on the NDP website from April — when the legal challenge was filed and when…
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OTTAWA — In what will be their first public appearance following the impending release of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review report (we still don’t yet know exactly when the report itself is being released), the chair of the government-appointed expert panel, Janet Yale, and panel member Monique Simard will be speaking at Prime Time in Ottawa next week.
Scheduled to speak during lunch on Thursday, January 30, Yale and Simard will discuss their recommendations to the government in a keynote session called “The Legislative Path Forward for Cultural Policy in Canada.”
Prime Time organizers CMPA previously announced Minister of Canadian…
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