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 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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MONTREAL – L’Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM), which represents more than 160 independent production companies in Quebec, said Tuesday evening it’s very disappointed the Canadian government’s fall economic statement earlier in the day did not include an announcement regarding the sustainability of Telefilm Canada’s budget at its current level.
During the 2019 election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada’s platform included a commitment to gradually increase Telefilm’s budget “to reach a sustainable increase of $50 million per year,” notes an English-translated press release from AQPM Tuesday.
After the election, the government…
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Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously said the CMPA does not believe there should be a mandatory base contribution. In reality, it is asking for a mandatory base of no less than five per cent.
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Monday that the stonewalling of the federal government by foreign platforms on legislation that would require them to pay to host news links will likely mean that they will also scoff at any requirement for them to pay a base contribution to Canadian content.
The CRTC is proposing a mandatory base…
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OTTAWA and PALO ALTO, Calif. – Canadian satellite operator Telesat announced Tuesday it has entered into a 10-plus-year agreement to use Palo Alto, Calif.-based Aalyria’s Spacetime network orchestration technology to organize the efficient flow of customer traffic over the Telesat Lightspeed low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.
Telesat’s Lightspeed satellites will contain leading-edge technologies including digital beamforming, integrated onboard data processing and optical inter-satellite links, “resulting in better link performance, increased network efficiency, and enhanced flexibility to focus and dynamically deliver reliable capacity to customers,” a Telesat press release says.
Telesat will leverage…
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By Doug Barrett, adjunct professor in the Arts, Media & Entertainment MBA Program at the Schulich School of Business. From 2004 to 2008 he was the chair of the Canadian Television Fund
Phil Lind was an unlikely hero, but a genuine one. Since his passing, much has been written about his decades’ – long service to Rogers Communications, his role as consiglieri to Ted Rogers, his determined recovery from a major stroke in his mid-fifties, his art collection, and his love of the Yukon.
However, scant attention has been paid to what I think is his greatest accomplishment: he was the…
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TORONTO – After a year-long research initiative on Canadian content — which included interviews, a survey, in-person and virtual workshops, and written submissions — the Canada Media Fund last week officially released New Futures for Canadian Content: What You Said, a landmark report by independent research firm La Société des demains that draws on viewpoints from more than 2,800 industry professionals and the public from across the country.
“Our industry stands at a pivotal juncture. After over 1,000 hours of feedback, the insights gathered in this report prove that Canadian content matters more than ever,” said Valerie Creighton,…
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The CRTC should adopt the British approach to certifying domestic content
By Konrad Von Finckenstein, former chair of the CRTC
The CRTC is now faced with the enormously complex task of implementing C-11, the new Online Streaming Act. Under the terms of that Act, streamers like Netflix (called online broadcasting undertakings) have to register with the CRTC and comply with CRTC-imposed conditions. The CRTC will have to make several difficult decisions, one of the most controversial will likely be:
Prescribing what constitutes a Canadian program for the purposes of the Act (s.10(1)(b)).
This should be a priority for the CRTC, as much follows…
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By Konrad von Finckenstein, former chair of the CRTC, and Philip Palmer, former general counsel at the Justice Department focused on communications law
The Online News Act, Bill C-18, states as its purpose “to regulate digital news intermediaries” in order to bring fairness to the Canadian news marketplace. Digital news intermediaries are simply any online social media or search platform that carries links to or produces search results for news items.
The language of the Act is couched neutrally, but the announced intent is to regulate digital news intermediaries such as Meta (Facebook) and Alphabet (Google) so as to force them…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Just over three months since the CRTC put in place guidance for its mandated mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime, the new chair wants providers to let the commission know about the status of negotiations.
“I would like to know where those negotiations are,” Vicky Eatrides, who took on the job just over two weeks ago, told Cartt as part of her rotation of media interviews on Friday. “We are going to follow up soon to figure out where those negotiations are between the larger players and the regional providers.”
The CRTC, under previous chair Ian Scott,…
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