OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has confirmed her attendance at Prime Time in Ottawa (PTiO) next month where she will sit down for a one-on-one conversation with CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin.
The conversation, which comes on the heels of Minister Joly’s sweeping ‘Canadian Content in a Digital World’ consultations, is scheduled as the afternoon keynote address on Thursday, February 2. The 22nd edition of PTiO will take place February 1 to 3 at The Westin.
“I very much look forward to the conversation with Minister Joly, to learn more about what she heard in her discussions with…
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OTTAWA – Two Liberal MPs, both committee chairs, are asking the CRTC to review its ruling that bans simultaneous substitution of the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast.
A Toronto Star report says Bob Nault (Kenora, ON) and Wayne Easter (Malpeque, PE) have written to several policy-makers, including Heritage Minister Joly, urging a policy change before the February 5 game. The two say that the decision is costing the Canadian economy tens of millions of dollars and that it will result in the airing of ads for some products that Canadians can’t even buy.
The report says that the duo is considering appealing to Health…
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TORONTO – TVO's first commissioned drama series, Hard Rock Medical, will return with nine new episodes in January.
The episodes will premiere on TVO starting on Sunday, January 8 at 8:00 PM, and for the first time, all of new the episodes will be available on demand on tvo.org following the January 8 broadcast. The series will also air on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
Loosely inspired by the world-renowned Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), Hard Rock Medical's students navigate their way through an offbeat medical training program in the North at Hard Rock U. …
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THROUGHOUT HERITAGE Minister Mélanie Joly’s consultations on Canadian content in a digital world, the Liberal government held true to what its predecessors in charge of the country had to say about making Netflix contribute to Canadian content, somehow.
Say it with me now: “No Netflix tax.” It’s a political hot potato, because Canadians don’t want an extra fee attached just to their Netflix subscription (even though there are Cancon fees built into their pay-TV subscriptions).
However, what about at least forcing Netflix to charge Canadian sales tax on its service – something which over-the-top competitor CraveTV must do, because it’s a…
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New TV specialty is serious about music
TORONTO — Launched in October as a place for “serious music fans”, the retro-focused Vintage TV Canada specialty channel is aimed at not only older music lovers but anyone who’s hungry for music information and good solid music, says Canadian radio veteran Alan Cross, the channel’s creative director.
In contrast to other music channels where celebrities and lifestyle programming figure prominently and music now takes a back seat, Vintage TV Canada is focused on artists making serious music (its logo is a guitar pick), Cross said last week in an interview with Cartt.ca. We…
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TORONTO – For the sake of Canada’s broadcast industry and content producers, Internet broadcasters like Netflix cannot be exempted from broadcast regulation any longer, says the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) in its submission for Heritage Minister Joly’s Canadian Content in a Digital World consultations.
“Our system of balanced regulation has created a world-class industry – if new Internet-based broadcasters don’t have to play by the same rules, this system won’t work in the future,” said national executive director Stephen Waddell, in a statement. “Netflix hauls $620 million out of the country every year without paying a…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix is striking back at the private media owners who he claims are trying to weaken the public broadcaster in order to better their own bottom lines.
In an open letter to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Lacroix disputed the notion that challenges facing media in Canada are caused by the public broadcaster, and defended the Corp’s decision to carry online advertising.
Lacroix reminded the Committee that in addition to its parliamentary appropriation, CBC/Radio-Canada is expected to generate revenue, and noted that last year CBC/Radio-Canada earned $600 million in self-generated revenue of…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) is hosting a number of events to help Canadians participate in the Canadian Content in a Digital World consultation (#DigiCanCon), culminating with a live TV and web program called Medi@cracy on November 20.
CACTUS member Tri-Cities Community Television will host an event on November 17 at the Vancouver Public Library at 7:00 PM PT. On November 20, CACTUS, in association with the Association des journalistes indépendants du Québec, Ricochet, and St. Andrews Community TV, will present a live stream and broadcast that will allow viewers to answer Minister…
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OTTAWA – According to sources close to the process, Judith A. LaRocque, a former long-serving deputy minister of Canadian Heritage, will very soon be announced as the new vice-chair broadcasting at the CRTC by the federal government.
(UPDATE: Since our original report Sunday, the CRTC has since confirmed LaRocque's appointment. See below. Update #2: Click here for the official order-in-council.)
Cartt.ca has learned that LaRocque has been appointed for an initial six-month term – and that she will begin immediately as her hiring was expedited due to the French-language TV license renewal hearing beginning November 22 in Laval….
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French broadcasters license renewal will carry on with just two Francophone commissioners
WE HAD THOUGHT IT was government policy which said in order to run any CRTC hearing about broadcasting in the province of Quebec, at least three commissioners must be Francophone.
When former CRTC vice-chair, broadcasting, Tom Pentefountas (Greek last name, but a Francophone Quebecker), announced a year ago last Wednesday that he was leaving the Commission, the Regulator immediately postponed a hearing into the framework for French-language vocal music applicable to French-language commercial radio. It’s not part of the official paperwork explaining the reason why…
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