TORONTO – The Documentary Organization of Canada has asked the Sasketchewan government to reconsider its decision to shutter the provincial educational broadcaster SCN.
In a letter dated March 30th, the group said that it was “extremely disappointed” with the decision which it says "affects not only Saskatchewan but also the independent production community across the country”.
“In an era of multiple channels and large conglomerates, SCN stood out as the only channel actually representing the Saskatchewan public to itself”, the letter reads. “Its unique regional voice provides Saskatchewan citizens access to their culture and history while bringing Saskatchewan culture to the rest…
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TORONTO – With its official launch less than a week away, the new Canadian Media Fund will pay out over $350 million in funding support to Canadian content through two distinct streams.
An ‘Experimental Stream’ will invest in content and software applications for eventual integration into mainstream Canadian media platforms, while a ‘Convergent Stream’ will fund the creation of convergent television and digital media content.
Flanked by CMF board chair Louis Roquet, and president and CEO Valerie Creighton, Heritage Minister James Moore said that the CMF’s mandate is to champion the creation of successful, innovative, Canadian content and software applications for current and…
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OTTAWA – More than two dozen organizations representing creators, innovators, educators, scholars, students and consumers are calling on the government to make copyright fair.
Specifically, the groups have asked Industry Minister Tony Clement and Heritage Minister James Moore in an open letter to adopt a flexible approach to ‘fair dealing’ in order to “to better accommodate Canadians’ expressive and innovative values in a digital age”.
Fair dealing is a defense under copyright law that allows the use of copyright-protected content without permission of the copyright owner in certain circumstances. But not all fair dealings qualify under the defence as currently drafted.
“Right…
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IF YOU TALK TO ANYONE under 20 they will consider it quaint to hear tales of phones that were connected to walls; notes that were sent with a stamp; and televisions that were housed in large cabinets offering four channels, if you were lucky, accessible with the turn of a dial.
Online and offline; wired and wireless, the world is a dramatically different place than it was 19 years ago. Yet the Canadian media market is still governed by broadcasting legislation from 1991 at a time when urgent action is needed to bring regulation in line with technology to meet…
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GATINEAU – Despite the majority’s decision today to stick to the August 31, 2011 deadline where all over-the-air TV transmitters in Canada have to switch from analog to digital, commissioner Suzanne Lamarre echoed what many in the industry have been thinking for a long while:
We’re not going to make that date, despite close to six years of notice the industry was given by the CRTC and that the U.S., which made its switch in 2009, has given Canada a road map to follow.
“No one can be expected to achieve the impossible. Based on the evidence on the public…
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EDMONTON – Canada’s current broadcast legislation fosters anti-competitive behaviour among the dominant cable companies, says Allarco Entertainment, owners of Canadian pay-TV service Super Channel.
In a letter to the Heritage Committee on Wednesday, the Edmonton-based company called for “ways to enforce meaningful consequences to anti-competitive behaviour” such as including administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) in the Broadcasting Act, and adding “civil remedies” for licensees that have been “harmed by breaches of regulatory obligations by Broadcast Distribution Undertakings (BDUs)”.
It also asked that the Heritage Committee acknowledge “the ineffectiveness of the present regulatory system to enable the CRTC to achieve its mission of…
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GATINEAU – With a light dusting of snow outside and a grey beginning to yet another week of talking about paying for conventional television signals, you’ll hopefully forgive us for feeling just a little like this.
This is the fourth hearing inside of two years (and the second one in the past month!) whose focus is on compensating local TV broadcasters for their signals). This one, as CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein pointed out right at the start, will not set policy, but instead will inform a report to be filed in the new year with Canadian Heritage Minister…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – A new on-line consultation process will allow consumers a different way to express their opinions on the future of television to the CRTC.
The consultation tool, which launched Monday and will conclude on December 21 at midnight EST, is part of the Commission’s public hearing in to the matter that is scheduled to begin on December 7, 2009 in Gatineau. As previously reported by Cartt.ca, Heritage Minister James Moore issued an Order-in-Council in September requesting the Commission look into fee-for-carriage from the consumer’s point of view.
The CRTC is asking consumers and the industry to weigh in on the impact that…
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GATINEAU – Protect Canadian feature films and drama, expand the reach of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), and create a credit system for Canadian content were a few of the things advocated Friday during the CRTC hearings, which wrapped early.
The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters (CAFDE) urged the CRTC to ensure that more, not less, Canadian drama is commissioned under the new broadcast framework. Canada’s film industry is also in peril because not many homegrown movies are getting shown on the small screen, according to CAFDE president Ted East.
“Of all the sub-genres of drama, we believe…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian government has pledged $25 million over five years to TV5Monde and TV5 Quebec Canada.
The news came at the conclusion of the two day Conference of the Ministers responsible for TV5, held in Ottawa. Canada chaired the both the 2008 and 2009 editions of the conference, and its term as chair expires in January, 2010.
"Canada wanted to show the way by being the first partner government to announce an additional contribution of $25 million over five years to TV5Monde and TV5 Quebec Canada," said Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, in the announcement. "This investment addresses Prime Minister…
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