By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA — The federal government might have scored a win by getting agreement from the world’s most popular search engine to compensate news publishers and broadcasters for posting their online content, but it now has to address the impact of artificial intelligence on what Canadians read, see and hear, according to panelists discussing the balancing act of safeguarding national interests while promoting growth amid the challenges of digital and AI technology at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s (CMPA’s) annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Feb. 1.
As Meta blocked Canadian news from Canadian users of its Facebook…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA — Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge expects that a “growing sector” will emerge from the regulatory broadcasting framework the CRTC plans to release later this year in implementing the federal Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11.
“The reason why we created the CRTC and legislation around the Broadcasting Act was to make sure that Canadian content was easily found and accessible to Canadians, so could tell and watch their own stories,” she said Thursday at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) annual conference in Ottawa.
“The other part was making sure that…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA-The federal government will provide Telefilm Canada with $100 million in funding for two years, beginning in the upcoming fiscal year 2024-25, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced on Parliament Hill on Wednesday.
Telefilm previously received $105 million over three years from the 2021 federal budget that St-Onge said resulted in such feature films as BlackBerry, about Research in Motion’s signature mobile device, and Bones of Crows, about Canada’s residential school system.
The new funding, she added, would support between 40 and 60 productions annually and “put food in our minds – in our thoughts and in our hearts…
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The Canada Media Fund (CMF) on Wednesday published a new report detailing the results of the federal government’s $60-million investment in 2021 in the CMF for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives.
The CMF’s Creating Change report demonstrates the funding — announced as part of the 2021 federal budget and allocated in $20-million installments over the past three years — “has been a key driver in advancing EDI across Canada’s audiovisual sector,” according to a CMF press release, which notes “this pivotal funding, which has underpinned significant sectoral growth, will come…
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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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