By Monica Auer
ONE OF THE MAIN arguments offered by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez (above) in support of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, is that it will “update Canada’s broadcasting rules to include online streaming services and will require them to contribute in an equitable way to our culture.” Yet if passed as presented to the House of Commons in February 2022, exceptions and gaps in Bill C-11 mean that it may deliver much less than promised.
To begin, Bill C-11 specifically excludes some broadcasters from all or some aspects of Canada’s broadcasting legislation. Take, for instance,…
Continue Reading
By Christopher Guly
GATINEAU – Telecom regulation should be carved out of the CRTC’s mandate, said a former commissioner on a panel looking at “what’s next in telecom” at the 10th annual Canadian Association of Wireless Internet Service Providers (CanWISP) conference at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec today.
“We should have a Canadian communications commission based around the idea that the internet is the basic communication method going forward,” said former journalist Peter Menzies (pictured below), a senior fellow of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute who served as vice-chair of telecommunications at the CRTC.
In its final report on Canada’s communications future,…
Continue Reading
Also severed business ties with Russia
OTTAWA – Ross Video announced earlier this week it is making a $100,000 donation to Ukraine humanitarian relief efforts.
The company also stopped its shipments to Russia last week and severed support for its products that are already there.
“As a company, we rarely comment on geopolitical affairs. However, we are compelled to support the Ukrainian people and their remarkable efforts to defend their homeland,” says David Ross, CEO of Ross Video, in the release. “Like hundreds of thousands of other Canadians, I am proud of my Ukrainian heritage. I simply cannot sit idly by…
Continue Reading
By Mark Goldberg
ON TUESDAY EVENING, a Twitter thread by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez requesting a rushed CRTC review of Russia Today (RT) caught my eye:
That’s right. Two weeks.
The Heritage Minister, the Minister responsible for the CRTC, is asking the independent, quasi-judicial regulator to collect evidence and render a decision in two weeks on whether RT should be continue to be permitted as a broadcasting service option for Canadians.
Two weeks.
The Commission regularly takes two weeks just to have a decision translated. Please tell me how the CRTC can prepare a…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Independent telecom and broadcasting company VMedia Inc. announced yesterday it has been selected as an official distributor in Canada for Ukraine24, the leading 24-hour TV news channel from the Ukraine.
This follows VMedia’s announcement yesterday it has added the Ukrainian news channel to all of its VMedia TV basic and premium packages as well as its live and on-demand streaming service RiverTV’s basic package at no extra charge to subscribers.
The announcement also comes after VMedia and several other TV providers announced they are dropping the Russian state-funded Russia Today (RT) channel from their offerings.
“VMedia is very…
Continue Reading
By Howard Law
HERITAGE MINISTER PABLO Rodriguez’s announcement last week that the federal Liberals are about to introduce an Online News Bill means a second rescue mission in four years to steady the finances of Canadian news journalism.
This time it’s not government money but industry money: a Canadian knock-off of Australia’s Media Bargaining Code will give publishers and broadcasters the leverage they need to obtain fair compensation from Google and Meta for using journalists’ news content to grow their audiences and make money on Search, YouTube and Facebook NewsFeed.
We’re long past debating whether the advertising-dependent business model for…
Continue Reading
PM wants CRTC to review channel’s presence in Canada
CANADIAN TELEVISION SERVICE providers are dropping Russia Today (RT) an English-language international news channel funded by Russia, from their channel lineups.
There has been growing concern about the channel’s presence in Canada specifically, and about Russian-funded international media around the world more generally. Many concerns relate to the dissemination of propaganda and disinformation.
On Feb. 26, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez posted on Twitter, saying, “I share the concerns of many Canadians about the presence of Russia Today in our broadcasting system. We’re looking at all options.”
Since then, several Canadian television service providers…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER — Ahead of Pink Shirt Day tomorrow, Telus Communications today announced the premiere of its first short animated children’s film, Skookum and Chums, which explores the importance of inclusivity and anti-bullying.
Produced with the support of Telus, the 11-minute animated film (pictured above) features Skookum, a flying turtle, who takes their animal friends on a trip into a magical forest.
“As a proud member of the Huron-Wendake Nation, filmmaker Fred Di Blasio took inspiration from his Indigenous heritage and identifies with the turtle as a bringer of insight and wisdom to children,” explains a Telus press release.
This short film “is…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Crave and production company New Metric Media announced today Hulu will be the exclusive streaming home of the debut season of the new Letterkenny spin-off series Shoresy in the United States.
The six-episode, half-hour comedy is created and written by Jared Keeso (above, standing), who stars in the title role and is also an executive producer for the series.
As previously announced, Shoresy “sees the foul-mouthed, chirp-serving, mother-loving, fan favourite character, Shoresy, join a senior AAA hockey team in Sudbury on a quest to never lose again,” reads a Bell Media press release.
Shoresy is set to premiere this…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and COPENHAGEN — Canadian satellite operator Telesat and Denmark’s Cobham SATCOM announced today an agreement to deploy Cobham SATCOM 3-axis TRACKER 4000 terminals for Telesat’s Lightspeed low-Earth orbit (LEO) landing station network.
Under the terms of the agreement, “Cobham SATCOM will manufacture, integrate, and install advanced Ka-band tracking antennas at Telesat’s sites throughout the world, and provide long-term logistics and maintenance support,” reads a press release.
Cobham SATCOM’s radome-protected antennas “will provide accurate tracking in the most adverse weather conditions, ensuring high availability and throughput for carrier-grade performance,” the release says.
“Cobham SATCOM’s innovative antenna technology delivers robust, resilient and…
Continue Reading
