OTTAWA – Federal Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion today announced new critics on the opposition side of the House of Commons, which is to resume sitting next week.
In as Canadian Heritage critic is Mauril Belanger, who replaces former actress Tina Keeper, who was dropped from the shadow cabinet altogether.
Belanger, the MP for Ottawa-Vanier, previously served as Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Minister responsible for Official Languages, Minister responsible for Democratic Reform and Associate Minister of National Defence. In May 2005, the Prime Minister asked him to assume additional duties as Minister for…
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OTTAWA – New technologies. New platforms. The new consumer. New business models.
Delegates to the annual Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention will have some meaty issues to tackle when they gather in Ottawa November 4th – 6th.
The theme is “Broadcasting, Redefined”, and CAB President and CEO Glenn O’Farrell says the two-plus days of workshops and informal discussions will focus on issues of fundamental importance to Canada’s private broadcasting sector.
On the agenda: • The impact of new technologies and platforms, including broadband, the Internet, high-definition television, and digital radio; • The new consumer, whose needs and expectations are…
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OTTAWA – The one thing most everyone agrees on is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be announcing a Cabinet shuffle early next week.
According to multiple reports, all ministers have been told to be in Ottawa this weekend and next week, meaning that the PM may have major changes in mind and not just some minor tweaking (Gordon O’Connor is certainly gone from National Defense, they say). But what will it mean for the two ministers overseeing the cable, radio, television and telecom industries?
Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, by any measure, has been a very successful minister who,…
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OTTAWA – Michel Morin, has been appointed as a CRTC commissioner, announced Bev Oda, minister of Canadian Heritage.
Morin has spent more than 34 years in broadcasting and has been a journalist, economic news editor, leader of a team of journalists, and, most recently, chief editor of television news for both Radio-Canada and the French language news network RDI.
"His career encompasses a broad range of assignments, including program anchor and research assistant in Ottawa; parliamentary correspondent in Québec City; foreign correspondent in Paris; and journalist, desk editor, and chief editor for the past 14 years in Montréal," reads…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – There will be a new way of doing things when it comes to funding home-grown television, if the recommendations from the Task Force Report on The Canadian Television Fund are followed.
Upon first read, the recommendations released today by task force chair Michel Arpin, vice-chair, broadcasting at the CRTC, largely address the complaints made by the primary funding organizations – Canadian cable and satellite companies – which were led by Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media.
While most of the BDUs have serious reservations about how the CTF has worked and is working, Shaw and Quebecor took action this…
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OTTAWA – If the level of radio today’s teenagers now listen to stays consistent as they age, the long-term future of radio appears a little bleak.
Numbers released today by Statistics Canada show that overall, Canadians devoted less time listening to their radios as a form of entertainment in 2006 than in previous years (see chart below), especially teenagers and young adults, many of whom appear to be switching to digital music players and online music services.
"On average, Canadians tuned in to their radios for 18.6 hours during ‘measurement week’ in fall 2006, down from 19.1 hours…
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CALGARY – In the face of a chipper AGM report from the Canadian Television Fund, Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw remains displeased over how the CTF is run.
Thanks to a serious amount of pressure put on the Minister for Canadian Heritage, Bev Oda, and the CRTC by Shaw – and then Videotron – when the two companies pulled their funding from the CTF early this year, the Commission created a special panel headed by broadcasting vice-chairman Michel Arpin.
The panel is examining everything about the CTF, top to bottom, front to back and will file its…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage minister Bev Oda said it would be “inappropriate to prejudge its review” of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) currently underway by the CRTC, in her response earlier this week to a Parliamentary committee’s report on the private-public fund.
The government’s response to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage’s “The Funding Crisis of the Canadian Television Fund,” offered no opinions on the report’s conclusions.
Oda’s response consisted of a summary of events surrounding the funding crisis resulting when Shaw and Quebecor decided to withdraw their monthly contributions to the CTF. Those payments have since been resumed….
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BANFF – The Canadian Television Fund, saying it was responding to “a concern” but declining to name whose concern, said it would put off any changes to its bylaws until the CRTC is finished its review of the fund.
Two weeks ago, Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw sent a blistering letter to the CTF saying the fact the organization was planning to alter its bylaws at the same time the CRTC is examining the fund and its operations “flies in the face of common sense.”
Today, buried in a press release of the CTF’s report to stakeholders, the…
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BANFF and TORONTO – While Canada’s telecommunications leaders debate the future of telecom in Toronto at the Canadian Telecom Summit next week, the world’s leaders in digital media and television will be making headlines at NextMedia and the Banff World Television Festival.
Cartt.ca will be on the ground at all three, of course, providing regular reports.
First out of the gate is NextMedia, beginning tomorrow in Banff. Organized by Achilles Media, the same company that puts on the BWTF (not to mention NATPE Mobile++ and the World Congress of History Producers), NextMedia features cutting-edge speakers and session topics.
For example,…
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