By Connie Thiessen
Canada’s place in the global content industry and government oversight in the face of huge technological change, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), are just a few of the topics Prime Time will tackle this year, the annual media production summit hosted by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), slated to take place Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, in Ottawa.
Andrew Addison, CMPA’s vice president, communications, marketing and membership, says this year’s gathering of content industry professionals will be the biggest to date, with the most vast lineup of concurrent sessions the event has ever staged.
“I think we’re really looking…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Alicia Barin stepped down as the CRTC’s vice chair of broadcasting on Friday to focus on her personal life.
“After a period of deep reflection and consultation with those closest to me following the sudden passing of my husband this past summer, I have concluded that I am at a time in my life when I need to fully step away from my professional commitments and focus on my family, which includes our four children,” Barin told CRTC staff in a statement, which was forwarded to Cartt.
“My appointment to the CRTC and the opportunity to work with the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Governor in Council has rejected an application to force the CRTC to relook at a decision it made that automatically renewed the broadcasting licences of major broadcasters that have been clamouring for changes to their regulatory obligations due to worsening financial conditions.
The Governor in Council said in the decision dated December 8 that it “is not satisfied that the decision derogates from the attainment of the objectives of the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in subsection 3(1) of that Act,” and that it, on the recommendation of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, “declines to refer…
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Platforms have 180 days to notify CRTC if they are subject to law
By Ahmad Hathout
Canadian Heritage on Friday provided its final rules for the Online News Act ahead of its enforcement next week, including capping compensation for broadcasters and CBC/Radio-Canada on single agreements.
The legislation, which comes into force on December 19, will require web giants to compensate publishers for hosting news content on their platforms. Deals will be done on the basis of single group agreements or multiple agreements.
Under the single agreement, Heritage announced Friday that news products owned by broadcasting undertakings will have their compensation capped at 30…
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The Governor General in Council has reappointed Betsy Chaly as a member of the National Film Board of Canada’s board of trustees, on the recommendation of Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge.
Chaly’s new three-year term will begin Jan. 8, 2024.
Based in Ottawa, Chaly has been an NFB board member since January 2018 and currently serves as the board’s vice-chair.
Chaly is a bilingual marketing and communications professional with 20 years of experience in a variety of industries and sectors, including media, arts, telecom, government and education.
Photo of Betsy…
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By Connie Thiessen
CBC/Radio-Canada says it will consider “all possible measures” to manage its financial pressures, following criticism from current and former journalists that the public broadcaster wasn’t considering cuts to executive bonuses as it looks for $125 million in savings.
The public broadcaster announced last week that it would eliminate 800 positions as part of that cost-cutting, amounting to about 10% of its workforce, and reduce its English and French programming budgets, including $40 million in independent production commissions and program acquisitions.
An appearance by President & CEO Catherine Tait on The National fueled further outrage when she refused to clarify…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said it will not need additional financial resources to maintain a database of online services because the $10 million threshold to register for possible mandatory contributions to Canadian content will limit the number of services that need to sign up.
The regulator said in response to questions from Regina Conservative MP Andrew Scheer that it is expecting approximately 50 to 100 services to register basic information with it, including name, phone number, mailing and email addresses, what services they offer and out of where they are incorporated.
Scheer requested information related to the expected…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A representative from music and podcast streaming service Spotify told the CRTC Wednesday that the platform hopes the idea that online streamers should make a base financial contribution to Canadian content doesn’t spread to other jurisdictions.
“You are the only country in the world that is looking at those contributions, at least at this stage, and we actually hope that this is not going to spread to other countries because we will be in real difficulty,” Olivia Regnier, senior director of public policy for Spotify, told the commission.
“Now, we understand the situation, we understand the rationale…
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By Connie Thiessen
Google has reached an agreement with the federal government that will see the digital giant contribute $100 million in annual financial support to meet its obligations under the Online News Act.
By far the biggest digital advertising dominator in Canada with an estimated 50 per cent market share, Google had been preparing to exclude Canadian news sites from search engine results, starting Dec. 19 when Bill C-18 comes into force. Under the legislation, by government calculations, Google would have been required to pay an estimated $172 million per year to prop up the media sector, equivalent to about…
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Over $141M spent on production in Alberta, according to new data
TORONTO – New data commissioned by the Motion Picture Association – Canada (MPA-Canada), released Monday, reveals the economic impact of HBO’s The Last of Us in Alberta, with more than $141 million spent across the province — making it the largest series ever filmed in Canada, according to a press release.
An affiliate of the Motion Picture Association Inc., MPA-Canada advocates for the major international producers and distributors of movies, TV and streaming programming in Canada. HBO and its parent company Warner Bros….
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