MONTREAL – More than 270 members of Canada’s film and television industry are demanding that U.S. web-based media giants like Google, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon play by the same rules as Canadian media.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland dated September 26, the groups ask that the multinational media companies be regulated and taxed like their Canadian competitors.
“Unlike regulated Canadian companies, these foreign companies do not provide any information on their activities in Canada as required by CRTC regulations. They do not pay taxes. They do not pay…
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ACCORDING TO REPORTS from France this week, the country will enact a new levy on all providers of online video, beginning January 1, 2018.
According to a story in French newspaper Le Monde, a tax of 2% on revenues earned in the country will be applied to any company providing free or paid videos on the Internet, which will include such heavyweights as Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. Such a tax has been applied for more than two decades on French broadcasters, pay-per-view and VOD companies.
The monies collected are meant to go to creators to…
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OTTAWA – Heritage Canada has kicked off a national search for two individuals to be nominated by Minister Mélanie Joly to the TV5 Québec Canada Board of Directors.
According to the appointment notice, the two part-time directors will serve for a four year period, renewable at the Minister’s discretion. The current structure of the TV5 Québec Canada Board consists of 11 directors, two of whom are designated by the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
TV5 Québec Canada reaches more than 10 million Canadian homes and operates two French-language channels, TV5 and Unis TV, which are included in the basic digital television services…
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Release date likely September 28th
I FEEL FOR HERITAGE MINISTER Mélanie Joly. Seventeen months ago when she kicked off her wide-ranging review into Canadian Content in a Digital World, she bravely put “everything” on the table. She said that a LOT and you know what, if you want to take a holistic look at Canadian content in the midst of a swirling media world that seems to evolve daily into something new, it’s a good idea.
However, it’s gone a bit off the rails.
The problem with everything on the table – is that it’s a damn crowded table, complete with stakeholders…
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TORONTO and NASHVILLE – Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. subsidiary Impact Wrestling will stage its annual pay-per-view event Bound For Glory from Ottawa’s historic Aberdeen Pavilion on November 5, 2017.
Built in 1898 and located in Lansdowne Park, the 33,000-square foot Aberdeen Pavilion has been home to many significant events throughout the city’s history, including Stanley Cup challenge matches in 1904. The venue was designated a national historic site of Canada because it is the only surviving large-scale exhibition building from the 19th century in Canada.
Bound for Glory will feature world champion Eli Drake, former champion Alberto el Patron…
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MONTREAL – A coalition of cultural organizations have banded together in “an urgent appeal” to press the federal government to shore up and protect Canada’s cultural and media industries in the digital era.
In a declaration entitled Continuity, Fairness, Support, the groups lay out three principles that they say should guide any new policy development, referencing Heritage Minister Joly’s pending CanCon policy review decisions as well as the Quebec government’s review of its cultural policy and digital strategy.
The emergence of Internet giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Spotify have further disrupted the culture and communications sectors that…
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RECENT MOVES BY GLOBAL MEDIA PLAYERS to go over-the-top (OTT) and direct-to-consumer (D2C) mark a tipping point for the media industry and could have profound, long-term implications for the Canadian media landscape, says a Bay St. analyst.
A research report by BMO Capital Markets telecom/media/cable financial analyst Tim Casey notes that Canada’s traditional television broadcasters, (whose business models rely on “reselling” content from Hollywood), are at a greater risk than television distributors (BDUs) who offer broadband service, which he describes as “a natural business hedge against changing viewing habits”.
“Television distribution is a lower-margin business compared with broadband given roughly half the revenue…
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Feds underscore support for CanCon ahead of fall’s ‘Canadian Content in a Digital World’ announcement
GATINEAU – Heeding the outcry from Canada’s creative community, the Governor in Council has ordered the CRTC to reconsider its group licence renewal decisions for large television broadcasters that, among other changes, lowered the amount that major broadcasters must spend on Programs of National Interest (PNI).
The rare move came late Monday, followed by a statement by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly who said that the federal government wants the Commission to review its May decisions to renew the licenses for the television services of…
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OTTAWA — The Government of Canada announced Wednesday it is seeking input into proposed legislative and regulatory changes to the Copyright Board of Canada’s decision-making processes.
The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), and the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, jointly with the Copyright Board of Canada, launched consultations to allow interested parties to share their views on proposed reforms to the Board.
The government has made available a discussion paper that presents 13 possible options for legislative and regulatory reforms. In addition, the government said it will consider any other reform options…
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Bidding starts at $1.54 billion
OTTAWA – The auction of 600 MHz wireless spectrum, when it happens, will favour the smaller newcomers like Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron and looks to offer no payments to TV broadcasters which will be forced off the band.
While the Canadian bandwidth plan is to be harmonized with the United States (something we’ve known for a while), our auction for the valuable low frequency spectrum sure won’t be the same. In its consultation paper released late Friday (Ed note: right before the long weekend, so no questions, media!) Innovation, Science and…
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