MONTREAL – Astral Media urged the government to proceed with “caution” before amending any broadcast industry regulations, and encouraged a thorough examination of “the broader matrix of rules that serve to produce a carefully regulated balance between the various sectors of the industry”.
"The Canadian television industry has developed because of a careful balance in benefits, rights and obligations," said André Bureau, Astral’s chairman of the board, in a company statement. "It may well be that we have reached a point where a rethink is required. However, it has taken 40 years to establish this balance and we should be careful…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications doesn’t take long to act.
In fact, says company president Peter Bissonnette, the decision to go after three CTV-owned stations made available to purchase for the low-low price of a dollar each was made on Wednesday, with an offer executed via a newspaper ad slated for today’s Globe and Mail, but scooped yesterday by Cartt.ca instead.
Within hours of hearing of the ad from Cartt.ca, CTV accepted and Shaw – after some due diligence and contracts we suppose – will own CKNX-TV in Wingham, Ont., CHWI-TV Windsor, Ont. And CKX-TV Brandon, Man., for three…
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TORONTO – About two hours after having been informed by Cartt.ca that an offer to buy three troubled TV stations was coming from Shaw Communications, CTV said it will accept the $3 offer.
An exclusive story broken by Cartt.ca this afternoon revealed that Shaw Communications was placing a full page newspaper ad in tomorrow and Saturday’s Globe and Mail, as well as The Hill Times on Monday morning.
The ad, signed by CEO Jim Shaw, warns Canadians their broadcasters are seeking a bailout worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “They call this Fee for Carriage. Without mincing words, this…
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OTTAWA – Six in ten Canadian voters believe that Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative government are “hostile” to the CBC/SRC, and would like to “diminish public broadcasting in Canada”, says a survey conducted on behalf of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
The survey, which was conducted by public opinion research firm Pollara, was released Wednesday in advance of Canadian Heritage Minister Moore’s appearance before the Heritage Committee.
The online survey of 3,361 voting age Canadians was conducted to gauge the attitudes of Canadians when it comes to their public broadcaster. According to the press release, it found an electorate…
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OTTAWA – Peter Menzies has been appointed as a full-time member of the CRTC, representing the Alberta/Northwest Territories region.
"Mr. Menzies’ talent and experience in leading teams and managing high levels of performance make him an ideal candidate for the responsibilities entrusted to him," said James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, in the announcement.
Menzies is the president of Menzies Strategies, a company specializing in media consulting and strategic planning, and has been a part-time member of the CRTC since 2007. He spent his career in the newspaper business, serving as general manager of the Calgary…
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OTTAWA – In its appearance Wednesday before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, CTV called for “swift federal action” to address “the crisis” in local Canadian television, and offered a few ideas of its own.
CTV outlined a three point reform plan that it said will “provide a viable new framework for local television”.
Not surprisingly, the first point in the presentation called for the immediate implementation of fee-for-carriage.
"Fee-for-carriage does not need to impact the consumer nor will it invoke undue harm to the cable and satellite industry," said CTVglobemedia president and CEO Ivan Fecan,…
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MONTREAL – In its appearance Monday at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearings, Quebecor Media took the opportunity to pat itself on the back for spending over $370 million on “cultural content” in 2008.
Calling the impact of its investment in cultural industries “substantial”, the Quebec media giant said that in fiscal 2008, it spent more than $373 million on developing, creating, producing, broadcasting and promoting Canadian content, making it the largest private producer of original content in Canada. The figure includes $123 million spent by its TVA Group on original television content for the Quebec market.
Describing…
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OK, SO INCLUDE ME in as one of the drones buzzing about Twitter (even our headline here, I’m sure, has been used already, somewhere). We like it so much actually, that Cartt.ca added a Twitter widget to the home page this week as a way to provide additional quick bursts of teeny tiny opinionated news bites.
Like many, I questioned the value of the micro-blogging site, when I first learned about it some months ago at a conference. Twitter, which seems to have no discernable way yet to earn a living, by the way, gives users 140 characters…
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PETIT-DE-GRAT, NS – The federal government has thrown its support behind a French-language minority community radio station called Cooperative Radio Richmond, located in Petit-de-Grat, Nova Scotia, population 454.
The $223,734 in funding was announced Thursday by Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore, and Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway Peter MacKay, under the Community Life component of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Development of Official-Language Communities Program. This program aims to foster projects that improve the environment for official-language minority communities.
"The Cooperative Radio Richmond truly appreciates this funding from the Government…
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CANADIAN HERITAGE MINISTER James Moore told reporters at the Canada Media Fund announcement that CBC will receive "record" funding from the government this year, something his parliamentary secretary – Dean Del Mastro – later repeated in the House of Commons.
Sort of true.
In 1990-91, the CBC received $1,078 billion from the government. In today’s dollars, that would be $1.5 billion. Those were the days when the public broadcaster still had a very strong presence in local markets across the country. And because of the apparent lack of flexibility from the government this year, the CBC will likely have…
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