Search Results for: Canadian Heritage

Radio / Television News

Employable Me returns for season four on AMI-tv next month

TORONTO — The fourth season of the award-winning series Employable Me, which features job seekers determined to show that having a physical disability or neurological condition shouldn’t make them unemployable, will premiere June 9 on AMI-tv, the broadcaster announced today. Seasons one, two and three of the series previously captured Rockie Awards for best lifestyle program at the Banff World Media Festival. In addition, season three won a Diversify TV Excellence Award at MIPCOM in the representation of disability, non-scripted category in 2020. Produced by Thomas Howe Associates, season four of Employable Me (six episodes x 60 minutes) provides “an honest… Continue Reading

OTT, Radio / Television News

ANALYSIS: Reining-in web giants, or cozying up?

Siphoning hundreds of millions from them for Cancon will give streamers leverage over government and regulators By Len St-Aubin THE GOVERNMENT SAYS Bill C-10 is part of a plan to rein in web giants by making them pay their “fair share” when it comes to Canadian culture. That’s their story, and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is sticking to it. But you have to wonder, at what cost? Extracting up to 30% of revenues generated in Canada from the likes of YouTube (Google), Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Spotify et al, and subjecting them to outdated, unnecessarily intrusive CRTC regulation, what’s the “quid-pro-quo”? There’s… Continue Reading

OTT, Radio / Television News

TFO appoints new digital platform producer

TORONTO — Ontario’s French-language public broadcaster Groupe Média TFO announced today Sébastien Pierroz (above) has been appointed as producer of Francophone community content for ONFR+, the broadcaster’s digital platform. “Having joined the TFO team in Ottawa at the inception of #ONfr in 2015, Sébastien is one of the pioneers of the franchise, whose future activities he will now lead with a vision of continuity, sustainability and openness to new audiences and content,” reads the press release announcing his appointment. Focused on the development of the platform, Pierroz and the ONFR+ team, based in Toronto, Ottawa and Sudbury, will produce new content… Continue Reading

Investigates, Radio / Television News

The Future of Radio (part VI): Managing the decline of AM

By Steve Faguy IT WAS SUPPOSED to be to FM radio what FM was to AM: Better audio quality, a way to expand to more channels, and a future replacement with some cool bells and whistles. In the 1990s, Canada’s radio broadcasters spent millions of dollars on new transmitters and devoted a lot of airtime to marketing the new technology: DAB, or digital audio broadcasting. “The radio industry is primed to reinvent itself for the digital age and 1997 will be the first year of the revolution,” read a 1996 article from the Vancouver Sun. “Within a generation, AM and FM radio… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

CBC Licence Renewals: Long process wraps with some acrimony

“French to follow” By Denis Carmel GATINEAU – This what you could read in an indignant tweet from the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF) when the group saw the CBC had filed its final reply to the CRTC in English only. And they added facetiously that they will stop “following” the public broadcaster. This is the culmination of CBC’s licences renewal process that lasted way too long, but we should have a decision before the end of the licence extension, on August 31, 2021. The initial renewal application by the CBC was filed with the CRTC on August 23, 2019. That tweet… Continue Reading

Investigates, Radio / Television News

The Future of Radio (Part I): The good, and the bad, of the generic brand trend

By Steve Faguy Kiss. Boom. Jack. Fresh. Jewel. Virgin. Country. Real Country. Pure Country. Hit Country. K-Rock. B. Q. O. X. Mix. Moose. Drive. Énergie. Rythme. Rouge. Plaisir. They’re all brands used by Canada’s largest broadcasting companies for multiple radio stations in their groups. Some are generic enough they’re even used by multiple stations of different companies. But these days, rather than some common brands being coincidental, they’re being planned. Bit by bit, national brands are replacing what had been individual stations’ identities. In January, Bell Media turned 10 of its adult contemporary stations, including heritage brands like Majic 100 in Ottawa… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Telefilm shows how Covid-19 relief funds were distributed

53% of funds went to companies owned by diverse groups MONTREAL — Telefilm Canada revealed today almost $30 million was disbursed through the Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund – Telefilm Allocation, with more than half of funding going to companies that are majority-owned by an underrepresented group. Telefilm’s relief funding for the audiovisual industry was included as part of the federal government’s Covid-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations. Overall, Telefilm disbursed $29,654,492 in emergency funding to 549 companies in total, with 471 organizations allocated funding in Phase 1 of the program and an additional 81 in Phase 2. Companies that… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Conservative Senator tables bill for news payment from web giants

By Denis Carmel OTTAWA – Last week, Conservative Senator Claude Carignan introduced Bill S-225, an Act to amend the Copyright Act (remuneration for journalistic works) to deal with the issue of the web giants like Facebook and Google sharing news stories without compensation for the journalists. This would be done by amending the Act to include journalistic works under the realm of works covered by the Act – meaning compensation would have to be paid to a collective to be created, like the music business has with SOCAN. This comes on the heels of Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault saying the federal… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

ANALYSIS: The radio industry seems invisible to government

By Doug Bingley AS A RADIO BROADCASTER, I’ve seen governments and their policies to support Canadian culture come and go. The formation of the CRTC in 1968 ushered in an era where a key goal was to ensure Canadian artists and Canadian content creators receive the exposure they deserve. Creating and supporting Canadian content remains an important part of the work I do today, through the three stations I own in Ontario. I am proud of the creative output of our talented staff; I see how important our stations have become to the communities we serve, and equally important, how we… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

ANALYSIS: Bill C-10 doesn’t “get” the internet

But captures much of it anyway, and that’s a big problem By Len St-Aubin BILL C-10’s GOAL IS TO engage online streamers with Canadian creators in the production of Canadian stories for Canadian and global audiences. To do that, Bill C-10 proposes to modernize the Broadcasting Act by sweeping-in online (internet) audio and video. The rationale is the impact of growing competition from unregulated internet audio and video on the regulated ‘broadcasting system’, as outlined in the report of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Policy Review (BTLR) Panel. The first article in this series showed how Bill C-10 is problematic for Canadian broadcasting,… Continue Reading