SAINT JOHN – After more than 180 nominations and some 28,000 votes cast across the country, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) has announced the winners of the 2016 Tuned-in Canada: The CCSA Awards.
The annual contest bills itself as a national celebration of excellence in communications service delivery, community-mindedness, and community channel content development.
This year’s winners in each category were determined by the most votes received, and, by the most votes received per capita subscribers. With CCSA made up of various sized members, the organization said that this system levels the playing field for all. In the event that an entry won…
Continue Reading
BANFF – Okay, how do you know you've got a great tax accountant? Well, it's obvious – she's got a loophole named after her!
Yup, the title "Digital Content Taxation: Levelling the Playing Field with Foreign Competition" didn't announce well as a barn-burning session. However, I wasn't expecting jokes about tax lawyers deducting ExLax as a moving expense either.
There was a principle involved.
Bernard Lord, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (and former Premier of New Brunswick), has a bee in his bonnet: Foreign digital content providers are not required to register and collect Canadian GST/HST, and thus…
Continue Reading
BANFF – It is difficult to resist the evident charm and good intentions of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage.
However, here at the 2016 Banff World Media Festival, some of the old saws we've been hearing in her patterned speeches these last many months are getting old. Here was our Minister, at the prestigious kick-off Opening Keynote of our annual Banff mind-meld, simply churning out bromides.
Yes, she is threatening to change everything about the system – but the narrative has become more cautious, perhaps even bewildered, ever since.
Yes, again, her 10,000 replies to the initial consultation (a…
Continue Reading
Joly says 6,000 have responded to early culture consultation
TORONTO – Businesses should invest in the cultural sector – including hiring artists – in order to help the economy grow and open new markets, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly told a business audience Thursday in Toronto.
“Does that mean you need artists, writers and musicians in your business? Well, at the very least you need some people who think like artists, writers and musicians,” Joly told the Economic Club of Canada. Joly urged industry to invest in the cultural sector because not only do companies have the money but also because it…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER and MONTREAL – The heads of three private Québec broadcasters have taken exception to comments made by CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix this week that they claim “mischaracterized” their position on the role of the public broadcaster.
Speaking Tuesday at an event at the University of British Columbia about the Corp’s ongoing transformation, Lacroix all but accused some unnamed Canadian private broadcasters of trying to “undermine” public broadcasting to stave off competition.
“Some private broadcasters have suggested that the solution to their declining revenue is to limit what CBC does for Canadians to some sort of "status quo" or…
Continue Reading
Outlines fresh approach to local news
OTTAWA – The national public broadcaster got a relatively easy ride at the Heritage committee on Thursday. CBC/Radio-Canada was given the opportunity to explain how its recent $675 million increase in funding would affect local news and its operations in general.
During its appearance, the broadcaster noted it is transforming its newsrooms to a multiplatform environment where there will be a single assignment desk for TV, radio and digital. The expectation is that all journalists will have to file for all platforms.
Decisions to shift news operations based on digital first mantra and adopt…
Continue Reading
"Citizen journalists" don't follow same high standards as pros, says RTDNA
OTTAWA – The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) told the Heritage Committee Tuesday that there has to be a way to deliver more local news to communities, and one that doesn’t necessarily require the major broadcasters to fund the endeavour.
Speaking at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, RTDNA president Ian Koenigsfest said regardless of whether it’s media concentration or a shrinking diversity of voices that have led to less local news in communities, it’s imperative that more be delivered to them.
“Local news isn’t only about…
Continue Reading
No easy answers
TORONTO – Yes, there were a ton of regulatory lawyers and policy wonks there and probably not as many newfangled content creators and distributors as organizers hoped, but the two-day Discoverability Summit, which wrapped up Wednesday in Toronto, seemed to us a worthwhile exercise even if the problem of discoverability remains unsolved and looks to be a challenge for some time.
The summit will definitely have helped flesh out ideas for the federal government’s just-started review of all things Canadian content.
1. What goes viral? No one really can predict. During the Youth Summit portion held last week in…
Continue Reading
Heritage Minister says culture spending can lead to economic growth
TORONTO – The federal government is turning its attention to overhauling the laws and regulations governing the cultural sector in Canada because it sees creativity as the driving force behind innovation, which will drive the growth of the Canadian economy, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly told delegates at the CRTC and NFB’s Discoverability Summit in Toronto on Tuesday.
While noting that the government has promised a $1.9 billion investment in arts and culture over the next five years – the first G7 country to make such an investment,…
Continue Reading
SAINT JOHN, NB – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) has announced the shortlisted nominees for their Tuned-in Canada awards – a national celebration of excellence in communications service delivery, community-mindedness, and community channel content development.
“We received a record number of nominations this year, many from our member companies – but many others from their customers across the country,” said Alyson Townsend, CCSA president and CEO. “That level of support really shows that Canada’s local cable and telecommunications companies are a valued part of our country’s communications ecosystem.”
“The nominations this year highlighted amazing local television content, introduced us to…
Continue Reading
