OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is apparently going to call for a 5% levy on ISPs in order to pay for Canadian content in a new report to be published Thursday, says a story in the Globe and Mail.
The committee has been studying the Canadian media landscape for a year and the report, dubbed Change and Churning in Canadian Media calls for the new money to be directed towards the paying for Canadian media creation.
This is where it’s worth noting the Supreme Court already said no to this in 2012, that broadband…
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WELL, GIVEN THAT WE'RE celebrating media in Alberta, let's just start by saying that CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais demurred from simply mumbling "adios" and riding quietly into a western sunset.
This was his final Banff rodeo as CRTC chair and he went out with hot guns a blazing. (At right is an artist’s conception of the CRTC chair and his speechwriter leaving Banff for the Calgary airport Tuesday…)
To put it mildly, some of the delegate chattering classes were upset with the bullets, many of which – they winced – were dipped in venom.
In my view, there was nothing conceptual in…
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“I will be presenting my vision for the creative sector in September”
OKAY, FULL TRANSPARENCY, I wasn't going to scribble about this.
I went to the advertised keynote partly to hear the Minister of Canadian Heritage "discuss how digital technology is transforming our world, and explore the role of government in supporting innovation and creativity to create new opportunities to bring the best of Canada to the world.”
Yikes there's a mouthful.
Also partly because the smart money at Banff was betting that she wouldn't have anything new to say, that we would get the same old drone we've been hearing for…
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THE ANNUAL CANADIAN MEDIA LEADERS panel at the 2017 Banff World Media Festival pivoted from the future of production, development, and broadcast screen-based content to the onslaught of streaming opportunities commanding the increased attention of domestic advertisers and viewers.
Those leaders included: Rick Brace, president of Rogers Media; Randy Lennox, president, Bell Media; John Brunton, chair and CEO of Insight Productions; Sally Catto, general manager, programming, CBC; and Barbara Williams, EVP and COO, Corus Entertainment.
Running throughout the discussion was a strong sentiment that non-Canadian OTT services should be paying their fair share of domestic taxes and other tithings for the…
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BANFF – Canada’s Indigenous screen-based sector received a boost Monday with the announcement of a dedicated Indigenous Screen Office tasked with supporting the development, production and marketing of Indigenous content.
Speaking at the Banff World Media Festival, Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly said that the move is the result of collaboration between the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada (CBC/SRC), the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Telefilm Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Associated partners include Bell Media, the Harold Greenberg Fund and Vice Studio Canada.
“Too often, Indigenous creators have…
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TORONTO – ACTRA and its recording artists’ collecting society, known as ACTRA RACS, have joined a coalition of Canadian writers, performers and songwriters aiming to draw government attention to the challenges facing cultural creators in the digital age.
The coalition, known as Focus On Creators, is seeking signatures on a call to action asking Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to put creators at the centre of cultural policy decisions.
“ACTRA is proud to join other members of Canada’s creative class to ensure the government hears the voice of creators when it comes to federal policy,” said ACTRA National president David…
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QUEBEC – Quebec’s culture minister Luc Fortin is calling on the federal government to review, and perhaps override, parts of the CRTC's recent licence renewals for large French language TV groups.
In a statement earlier this week, Fortin said that the Commission’s decision to remove certain conditions of license, citing the example of Corus-owned Series+, allows that broadcaster to opt out of its obligation to spend $1.5 million annually on original French-language dramas.
Fortin added that the new policies may also encourage ownership groups to simply dub English-Canadian programs for their French-language specialty channels, rather than invest in the production of original French-language Canadian…
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MONTREAL – An impressive billing of Canadian film directors and producers are banding together to oppose a move that would merge Telefilm Canada, the Canadian Media Fund and other unnamed crown corporations to form a "super agency”.
In a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and Heritage Minister Joly, heavyweights including Denys Arcand, David Cronenberg, Xavier Dolan, Atom Egoyan, Paul Gross and Sarah Polley say that such a proposal, yet to be made public, would “deal a devastating blow to Canadian cinema”, and urged that Telefilm Canada remain as a standalone funding agency.
The letter, dated April 19, 2017, credits Telefilm as the “keystone”…
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MONTREAL – The Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) is accusing the CRTC of “systemic and overt racism and a colonial mentality” and wants the Governor General, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage to investigate.
CMAC describes itself as a non-profit organization comprised of academics, legal advisors, policy consultants and community media practitioners working towards equitable representation and access for underrepresented communities within the broadcasting system, including the CRTC.
In a letter dated April 24, CMAC called for action “to ensure the CRTC supports racial equity and the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples”. It referenced its recent…
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OTTAWA – CBC executives will be called on the carpet at some point soon to explain “mistakes” some say it made in its recent show The Story of Us to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
Since this group of politicians have apparently little else better to do than quibble publicly about artistic, editorial decisions made by writers and directors, CBC leaders will be called to appear, soon. The series raised some complaints from certain quarters by people who were offended by portions of the docu-drama which was never intended to be a literal, factual, historical…
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