OTTAWA – The federal government should update the rules regarding first ownership of cinematographic works; maintain the definition of “sound recording” in the Copyright Act; and amend the legislation to ensure that the radio-royalty exemption only applies to “small, independent broadcasters,” according to a House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology report on the statutory review of the Copyright Act presented to Parliament on Monday.
Last month’s report by the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on remuneration models for Canadian artists and creative industries took a different approach to the three issues,…
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OTTAWA – Speaking before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait said public and private broadcasters in Canada are seeing their territory invaded by multinational foreign giants that have disrupted the very nature of the country’s media landscape.
“We know that our industry is facing real challenges,” Tait said during the meeting where the committee is studying the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada as it relates to the Broadcasting Act. “We want to work with Canadian partners, both public and private because today our competition is not with each other. Our competition is Google, Facebook,…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s creative community applauded the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for hitting the right notes in calling for better pay for Canadian artists in its Shifting Paradigms report presented to Parliament on May 15.
Now, however, groups representing artists want the federal government to produce a symphony of legislative change from the committee’s 22 recommendations, which include a call to both support creators and creative industries adapt to new digital markets, and review safe-harbour exceptions and laws to ensure that Internet service providers (ISPs) are “accountable for their role in the distribution of content.”
“As technology…
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GATINEAU – Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has tapped eight Canadian news organizations to make recommendations for a panel that will help determine the eligibility criteria for tax measures designed to support legacy print media companies.
News Media Canada, the Association de la presse francophone, the Quebec Community Newspaper Association, the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, Unifor and the Fédération nationale des communications will now select candidates for an independent panel that will decide which media organizations are eligible for the Feds’ $595 million journalism…
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OTTAWA – The federal government should revive the department of communications as part of its review of broadcasting, telecommunications and radiocommunication legislation, a University of Calgary expert on the relationship between communications systems and governments told a conference on Canada’s electronic communications law at the University of Ottawa last week.
Rather than having the minister for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada responsible for the Telecommunications Act and Radiocommunication Act, and the Canadian Heritage minister responsible for the Broadcasting Act, “we need a ministry whose sole purpose is the oversight of the Canadian communication system,” said Gregory Taylor, an assistant…
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HALIFAX – The inaugural recipients of Canada’s new export funding program were unveiled Wednesday in Halifax by Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism and Halifax MP.
The Creative Export Canada program, launched last June by then Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, provides companies and organizations that are ready to export and work in a creative industry, or in support of one, with funding to make it easier for buyers and audiences abroad to discover Canadian content.
The first 20 projects will share a total of nearly $7.8 million in funding. The projects, in alphabetical order, are:
Apollo Boutique Musicale…
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OTTAWA – NDP Official Languages Critic François Choquette wants Canadian Heritage to prove that its $500 million production agreement with Netflix will include the production of French-language content.
Choquette says that the agreement, which promised to produce original Canadian content in both official languages, committed only 5% through a $25 million envelope to French-language content but without any guarantee that content will actually be produced. And that, the Quebec MP maintains, runs counter to the Official Languages Act.
"Where is the equality among Canada's official languages in this case? This is a real shame in a country where 22% of the population’s…
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Shortliffe to become ED, broadcasting
GATINEAU – CRTC chair Ian Scott announced today it has filled a newly created position with Scott Hutton, who will leave his long-time post as executive director, broadcasting, to become the Commission’s new chief of consumer, research and communications.
Hutton “brings to the role 27 years of experience at the CRTC and has extensive experience in both the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. He is a seasoned expert of the communications industry and the regulatory environment,” reads the chair’s memo.
“Scott will lead the CRTC’s work as we engage in a conversation with Canadians, key stakeholders and industry…
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CEO says he feels alone fighting for our culture
IT WAS A PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU in fine form with whom we had a phone conversation on Tuesday after a speech he gave at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relation. That speech was part of public relations campaign he is leading on the future of the Canadian broadcasting system.
This time the Quebecor CEO is attacking Netflix, the specialty channel affiliation regime, the CRTC, the CBC, Bell and the apathy he feels from so many. While the system is crumbling nobody is being spared, and not enough Canadians…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) is adding new programs and tweaking others to keep pace with market developments, it said Friday while laying out its $353 million program budget for 2019-2020.
The CMF said that the changes to its program guidelines include revisions to its Convergent Stream and Experimental Stream, which were influenced by policy direction from the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Creative Canada Policy Framework as well as feedback received from stakeholders during its consultation.
“The CMF is aware of the impact program changes have on the industry and strives to offer some stability in the…
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