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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OTTAWA – The Department of Canadian Heritage said Tuesday it is beginning a Canada-wide search for two new members of the Canada Media Fund Corporation’s board of directors.
This “open, transparent and merit-based selection process will result in the recommendation of high-quality candidates and will strive for gender parity and to truly reflect Canada’s diversity,” the department said in a release. CMF board members are chosen by Heritage and will be nominated by Minister Mélanie Joly.
The CMF, of course, fosters, promotes, develops and finances the production of Canadian content and relevant applications for all audiovisual media platforms. It is…
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THE SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION industry likes to say that outright cord-cutting (defined as when a consumer abandons a TV subscription altogether) is still a pretty small phenomenon.
So far, overall, that remains technically true. The latest numbers show about two percent of Canadian households with a TV subscription have chosen to cut the cord and stop subscribing to traditional TV. Generally, it’s been a story of “flat is the new up”, while inside of the likes of Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Bell and others, hardworking employees are doing their best to swallow hard every day and manage substantial…
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New FUN portal aims to revive its spirit
TORONTO – Ed the Sock creator Steven Kerzner and former MuchMusic staffers have created a new online channel aimed at reviving the energy of the old MuchMusic, which they say has been murdered.
(Ed note: Hmmm… That hilarious video to which the above link was supposed to take you was live earlier Wednesday but has now been taken down due to "a copyright claim by CTVglobemedia Inc.", which is odd because that company no longer exists, having long ago been replaced by Bell Media. In that video's place is a…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has set its 2017-2018 program budget at $349.7 million, some $21 million less than last year’s budget.
The CMF program budget is supported by revenue estimates for the coming year based on contributions from the Government of Canada; Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors; and recoupment and repayment revenues from funded productions. The program budget reflects a stable contribution from the Government of Canada and an expected decline in Broadcast Distribution Undertakings’ contributions to the CMF for the year to come.
“We understand that a program budget decrease of 5.8 per cent will have…
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FIRE UP THE LOBBYISTS, lawyers and regulatory experts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has opened up a once-in-a-generation chance to change everything about the cable, radio, television and telecom (CaRTT) business in Canada.
You think the new “Let’s Talk TV” rules are challenging, or the new Basic Service Objectives might hurt or Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s Cancon review was perplexing? Wait until the feds begin the overhaul of the Broadcasting Act (last updated in 1991) and Telecommunications Act (1993) later this year – as the 2017 Budget said is going to happen. Everyone with skin in…
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Perhaps co-operation is the key
GATINEAU – Arguments that the British Columbia market isn’t big enough to support two distinct radio broadcasters don’t hold water, according to First Peoples Radio.
Debra McLaughlin of Strategic Inc., a firm that did work for FPR on its application, noted under questioning during the company’s reply to the CRTC’s Aboriginal radio licence hearing on Wednesday, the last day of the proceeding, that advertisers, in fact, are likely to spend more money in the smaller markets than the big cities. (Cartt.ca covered the first two days of the hearing here and Continue Reading
GATINEAU – On the first day of the CRTC’s hearing into new licences for Aboriginal radio stations in several large Canadian markets, it heard there are a number of ways urban Indigenous people can be served. Some of the applicants advocated for a largely spoken word and news format while others suggested a combination of music, news and spoken word would be best.
The CRTC is looking to license radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa after it revoked the licences from Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR) following multiple instances of non-compliance with its license…
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OTTAWA – While some might say that a review of the Broadcasting Act and Telecom Act has more or less already begun with Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s “everything is on the table” consultations on Canadian Content in a Digital World, the federal government’s 2017 budget, released Wednesday, confirmed that a more formal review will begin this year.
While Minister Joly and the federal government have not given any formal indications on where her consultation will lead when it comes to new law or policies (so far, just a detailed summary of her cross-country consultations has been released), the budget…
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