AUSTRALIAN LAWMAKERS look set to force the likes of Netflix, Amazon and other foreign streamers to abide by similar rules as its own TV companies, according to reports, including this one in the Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, its communications minister said the government will ask the streaming platforms to make more original Australian content and that legislation to force them to do so is possible before the end of this year.
“The free-to-air networks have an obligation to show a certain amount of Australian content. They’ve got to pay to…
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GATINEAU – A program Shaw Communications offered a decade ago to grease the wheels of its acquisition of Canwest's television assets will end before the CRTC makes an official final decision on demands that it be renewed.
It's called the Local Television Satellite Solution, a free basic satellite subscription that was provided to people in areas that would have lost over-the-air TV service as a result of the digital television transition in 2011. It was funded with $15 million from the $180 million in tangible benefits Shaw proposed as part of its $2 billion acquisition of Canwest back in 2010.
The…
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TORONTO – Members of the Canadian creative industry members will shadow MPs and potential MPs this fall, asking federal election candidates to answer questions on the future of Canada’s $9 billion market in screen-based production.
Cast, crew and creators are banding together for what is being called the “Just Ask” campaign (“Je m’implique” in French), where three groups are calling on its members to pledge to attend at least one election-related event this fall and ask at least one question on key issues facing the industry.
The campaign includes the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the…
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TORONTO – TLN Media Group and its all Spanish-language children’s TV channel, Teleniños, announced today the premiere of original children’s language learning series, Mi Nombre Es Ripley (My Name is Ripley), exclusively on Teleniños TV, Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m.
The series follows the adventures of Ripley, a curious and fun-loving French bulldog who finds herself learning simple Spanish words as she interacts with characters she meets throughout her day.
“We are not only proud to launch our original Canadian Spanish language children’s series Mi Nombre Es Ripley, but also to do so on a channel we conceived and…
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Von Finckenstein rebuts Menzies
IN THE JULY 3 EDITION of the Report on Business, former vice-chair of telecom Peter Menzies wrote he believes Ottawa has given the CRTC conflicting directives which will result in a tough road for the current Commission chair, Ian Scott.
I see the issue differently. The federal government has actually issued two helpful directives.
First, the previous government under former Industry Minister Maxime Bernier issued a directive in 2006 putting the emphasis on competition and directing the CRTC, when regulating, to maximize competition in the telecom sector. Now, under ISED Minister Navdeep Bains, today’s…
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Lawyer Claire Anderson starts next month
GATINEAU – Yukon lawyer Claire Anderson has been hired as CRTC commissioner for British Columbia and Yukon, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced today.
She is the first Indigenous woman and first Yukon resident to be appointed as a CRTC commissioner and will fill a position which has been vacant since June 2018 when former commissioner Stephen Simpson left. While we don’t know her age, judging from her CV, she is likely one of the youngest ever hired, too. She starts August 26th.
Anderson (pictured in a photo from her LinkedIn profile) is a citizen of…
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OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez has mostly been silent on the Canadian TV business since being appointed last July.
We know he’s met with a number of stakeholders during his year on the job (the first anniversary is July 18) and he did make a short appearance on stage at the Canadian Media Producers Association Prime Time gathering in February, but Rodriguez has spent his first year well out of the spotlights which seemed constantly on his predecessor Mélanie Joly.
Wednesday however, Rodriguez issued a statement outlining his thoughts far more definitively on the…
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Heritage Minister offers an enlightening tweet
OTTAWA – They heard directly from from 150 stakeholders and read through more than 2,000 interventions and today the Broadcast an Telecom Legislative Review panel released their summary of all of that.
It’s not too exhaustive, nor does it tie any points of view back to specific stakeholders (that can be found in the individual submissions which are all now online) but the report highlights the areas of tension identified in their consultations – and really, the same tensions fought over in the industry for…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has added two new members to its Board of Directors following its recent AGM in Montreal.
Barry Chapman and Gary Pizante succeed outgoing directors Dave McLennan and Rob Scarth, joining current directors Alain Cousineau; Alison Clayton; Lori DeGraw; Guy Fournier; and Michael Schmalz.
Chapman has over 30 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry at the executive level, extensive knowledge in regulatory affairs, mergers and acquisitions, as well as strategic and financial planning. He also brings extensive corporate governance experience, having sat on numerous boards. Chapman held the role of vice-president, regulatory affairs at Bell Canada…
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OTTAWA – Corriere Canadese has formally appealed to federal Cabinet the CRTC decision to grant a multilingual national multi-ethnic discretionary service with mandatory 9(1)(h) distribution to Rogers, as Cartt.ca had previously reported.
“In the Decision’s relegation and monopoly granted to a single corporate entity, to purportedly speak for all other linguistic and ‘ethnic’ Canadians, who are non-Anglo and non-Franco, the Decision violates the very essence of sections 2,7,15 and 27 of the Charter, as well as the underlying constitutional imperative to Federalism and Respect for Minorities as enunciated by the SCC, in…
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