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…
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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,…
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TORONTO – Blue Ant Media announced Thursday a series of greenlights for its lifestyle and factual TV channels: Cottage Life, T+E, Love Nature and Smithsonian Channel Canada. The new original slate adds seven new docuseries and specials to Blue Ant Media’s channels in 2021 and 2022.
Overseen by Sam Linton, head of original content (Canada), the lineup includes four world broadcast premieres with several series available for licensing globally by Blue Ant International, says the press release.
“We’re committed to growing Blue Ant’s television platforms with new, original series from some of the best producers in Canada,” says Jamie Schouela, president,…
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By Denis Carmel
GOOGLE HAS AGREED to pay for the news it helps circulate online in France.
On January 21st, Google France and The Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale announced an agreement about neighbouring rights under French law. This is a major step forward in Europe as it is the culmination of months of negotiations within the framework set by the French Competition Authority.
The Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale represents some 300 publishers from France and this agreement establishes a framework within which Google will negotiate individual licensing agreements with IPG certified publishers within APIG’s membership, while reflecting the…
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Show journalists some respect, too
By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Three days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau massaged his cabinet with a mini-shuffle, he released on Friday “supplementary” mandate letters to several ministers, including François-Philippe Champagne, who moved from heading up Global Affairs Canada as foreign affairs minister to succeeding Navdeep Bains as minister of innovation, science and industry.
The letters contain commitments drawn from both last year’s throne speech and the fall economic statement, and for Champagne, means that he is to continue building on Bains’ work with Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef to ensure that Canadians have access to…
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TORONTO — ACTRA Toronto announced yesterday it has hired Jenn Paul (above) in the newly created role of industry relations specialist: anti-Black racism, diversity, equity and inclusion.
Paul comes to ACTRA Toronto with a variety of industry experience, including producing, distributing and marketing ACTRA productions. She is a producer of Sharon Lewis’s CSA-nominated Brown Girl Begins, and also a producer of four short films and a commercial under her production shingle Token Creative, which has two anthology series in development, including one on mental health.
Most recently, Paul was an integrated producer with Livewire Communications. Previously, she was with Bell Media…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In our last story about Bill C-10, the long-awaited Act to amend the Broadcasting Act, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault wanted to proceed quickly to and through second reading. Passage from second reading is normally a prerequisite before a bill goes to the Heritage Committee for study.
That was two weeks ago. Word is that debate could resume Friday, December 4, along with Bill C-11 on Privacy Protection.
Considering the House will break for the Holidays on December 11, there is slight chance the Committee will start sitting this year, possibly with government presenting the bill to…
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OTTAWA – While tomorrow’s news will be utterly dominated by the U.S. election, November 3, 2020 will be the launch day of a new Broadcasting Act as Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is expected to table the long-awaited amendments (and some other Acts, too, apparently) to the law.
While things could change at the last minute, the Heritage Ministry has scheduled technical briefings for the new proposed amendments with the both the press and the industry – and the federal government doesn’t do that unless and until it has first tabled the bill in the House of Commons.
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Applications for pre-eligibility open October 30
MONTREAL — Telefilm Canada today issued an industry advisory announcing the details and criteria for applying to the government of Canada’s Short-Term Compensation Fund (STCF) for Canadian audiovisual productions are now online.
The STCF was created as a temporary measure to fill the void left by the lack of insurance coverage for filming interruptions and production shutdowns due to Covid-19 in the Canadian audiovisual production sector. As we reported here, the fund will make up to $50 million available to the industry.
“Through the Fund, Telefilm Canada will indemnify eligible producers for Canadian…
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By Catherine Tait
IN ANOTHER CRUEL TWIST of this pandemic, just when trusted local news has never been so important, its survival is in peril.
If there’s one thing this COVID crisis has shown us, it’s that accurate information can literally be a matter of life and death. And the most critical information is often the news that is closest to home: Is my child’s school safe? What businesses are open or closed in my community? Where can I get a COVID test? What can I do, safely, to support my parents in their retirement home?
Since this pandemic officially began in…
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