By Steven James May
MP CHARLIE ANGUS WAS bang on when he dubbed Canada’s digital television transition a “hodgepodge” during a Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in March 2011. Trying to figure out if, when and where a particular over-the-air (OTA) television broadcaster will be going digital (or not) requires significant digging.
With just over two months to go before Canada’s digital television transition (70 days according to the Cartt.ca countdown clock), many viewers in cities such as Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are already enjoying digital over-the-air (OTA) television. (For many, it is a viable, enjoyable, alternative to paying a TV…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today asked Canadians what they think about “online broadcasting services,” and to provide it with data and information on the impact of the various over-the-top video options available to online Canadians.
(We bet many Canadians will obsess over what’s not available to them.)
“The digital environment is providing Canadians with more programming choices than ever before,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC, in the press release. “Canadians have access to libraries of online content that can originate from anywhere in the world, and which can be watched on different screens. This fact-finding exercise will give us…
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TORONTO – Canada’s professional performers union said that it is hopeful that the new Conservative cabinet will “seize on the potential of Canadian cultural industries” as they focus on building the digital economy.
“We congratulate Minister Moore on his reappointment as Minister of Heritage and welcome Minister Paradis to his new Industry portfolio,” said ACTRA national president Ferne Downey, in a statement. “It’s a new day, we’ve got a new government and we’re keen to start working with both Ministers on the shared files that directly impact our cultural industries.”
ACTRA called on both Ministers to work together on delivering new copyright legislation…
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IT’S ALL ABOUT ENSURING Canadians have access to an open and affordable Internet. This is how Steve Anderson, founder and executive director of OpenMedia.ca, describes the mission of the consumer advocacy organization with respect to the ongoing battle over usage-based billing.
He spoke at length with Cartt.ca last week about UBB, the organization, its creation, its financial backing and other issues.
He says he got involved in Internet policy matters when net neutrality sparked considerable debate in the United States. It was for purely personal reasons at first, but once he realized that this issue would rear its head north of…
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ONE THING BECAME CLEAR pretty quick when I sat down to with Phil Lind a not long ago. He wanted to talk about fee-for-carriage.
The vice-chairman and executive vice-president, regulatory, at Rogers Communications gets a little animated and agitated when it comes to fee-for-carriage(or the renamed value-for-signal). Over four years ago, when we said (wrongly at the time) that it seemed inevitable the CRTC would grant OTA broadcasters the right to charge a fee for their signal, he called me up out of the blue to tell me in no uncertain terms how wrong I was.
For that particular proceeding,…
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HAMILTON – The tribute evening for Mountain Cable founder, the late Owen Boris, will take place this Thursday, May 5 at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton from 4-7 p.m.
Boris died of a heart attack at his home on April 9 and the family wanted to plan a celebration of his life in a place that could accommodate the number of people sure to want to pay tribute, as well as celebrate one of Owen’s great loves, flying.
Also this week, the family will be confirming a sizable donation to a Hamilton hospital to launch new research into alcoholism,…
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IF YOU THOUGHT THE “usage-based billing” debate was loud, just wait until the “regulate Netflix” debate.
(Both of those arguments are inextricably linked, of course, but we’ll tackle that part another time.)
In talking to many regulatory folks over the past number of days, it seems a virtual certainty that the CRTC will hold some sort of proceeding to look at the non-Canadian, unregulated video sector, otherwise known as over-the-top video (OTT). This rapidly growing segment (in terms of usage) encompasses Netflix, AppleTV, GoogleTV, Hulu, whatever video portal or digital locker service Amazon might bring to Canada, YouTube, movies rented via…
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OTTAWA – With the federal election just around the corner, the Canadian Conference of the Arts convinced the major federal parties (except for the ruling Conservatives) to offer up their thoughts on the arts, culture, and heritage sector with a series of thought-provoking questions.
Below are a few excerpts from some of their most interesting answers. Click here for the parties’ full responses on the CCA blog.
On foreign ownership in broadcasting and telecommunications:
– Liberal Party: The Liberal party believes that none of the elements of the Canadian broadcasting system should be sold to foreign interests. We are willing to consider some foreign investments…
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OTTAWA – The country’s television broadcasters may be a little more worried about the threat from foreign over-the-top (OTT) services than they have let on.
A group of some 35 senior private sector executives from the country’s distribution, telecommunications, broadcasting, production and creative sectors have formed a loose coalition called Over-The-Top Services Working Group to counter, or at least mitigate, the impact that these services could have on their traditional media businesses.
Founded by Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), the group counts industry heavyweights like Bell and Rogers amongst its members. And it has been meeting quietly over the last few…
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HAMILTON – Cable industry veteran Owen Boris died Saturday night at his home in Hamilton after suffering a heart attack. He was 79.
Boris founded Hamilton’s Mountain Cablevision in 1959 and remained principal owner of the successful cableco for half a century before selling the business to Shaw Communications in July 2009. At that time, Boris told Cartt.ca that he felt that the time was right to retire and to “pass this great history on to someone with more financial muscle.”
Fellow industry veteran JR Shaw described Boris as “truly one of a kind”.
“There’s no one else in the…
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