Shortliffe to become ED, broadcasting
GATINEAU – CRTC chair Ian Scott announced today it has filled a newly created position with Scott Hutton, who will leave his long-time post as executive director, broadcasting, to become the Commission’s new chief of consumer, research and communications.
Hutton “brings to the role 27 years of experience at the CRTC and has extensive experience in both the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. He is a seasoned expert of the communications industry and the regulatory environment,” reads the chair’s memo.
“Scott will lead the CRTC’s work as we engage in a conversation with Canadians, key stakeholders and industry…
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CEO says he feels alone fighting for our culture
IT WAS A PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU in fine form with whom we had a phone conversation on Tuesday after a speech he gave at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relation. That speech was part of public relations campaign he is leading on the future of the Canadian broadcasting system.
This time the Quebecor CEO is attacking Netflix, the specialty channel affiliation regime, the CRTC, the CBC, Bell and the apathy he feels from so many. While the system is crumbling nobody is being spared, and not enough Canadians…
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Our specialty channels are in danger
TVA GROUP’S SPECIALTY CHANNELS, which include amongst others TVA Sports, LCN, addikTV and CASA, are enormously popular with Québec television viewers. We are proud to carry content made by Quebecers for Quebecers, shows that reflect their tastes and expectations. However, as everywhere in the world, the digital revolution and globalization have disrupted an already precarious business model that also suffers from patently unequal treatment of industry players under increasingly obsolete regulations. Today, the survival of our channels is at risk.
All specialty channels depend on subscription revenues from the cable and satellite carriers (such as…
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TORONTO – Bell Fibe TV subscribers may now tune in for a taste of the tropics with the launch of One Caribbean Television, a destination channel devoted to all things Caribbean.
One Caribbean Television offers daily news, weather, sports and entertainment programming about the Caribbean and its people, plus boasts the most Caribbean carnival coverage anywhere.
The service is available now in free preview on Bell Fibe’s channel 2481 until early April.
“We are excited about accomplishing our goal to bring One Caribbean Television to the millions of Canadians who are connected to the Caribbean through culture, heritage or travel,” said network GM…
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THE START OF GOOGLE’S submission to the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review panel may be just be a boilerplate presentation of what they do (“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”), but when it gets to the subject at hand, boing!
The digital giant’s submission calls out the discrepancy between the Creative Canada Policy Framework (former Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s pet project) and the policy objectives in Broadcasting Act (the Principles).
“Most of the policy objectives articulated in the Broadcasting Act are primarily focussed on cultural policy, namely the protection and preservation of…
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CASSELMAN, ON – Christmas came early for non-profit community radio broadcaster Radio communautaire Cornwall-Alexandria which received $253,104 in government funding to expand the reach of its antenna.
The funding is part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023: Investing in our Future that was unveiled in March by Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie Minister Mélanie Joly. The plan supports official-language minority communities and promotes Canada’s two official languages.
"I am proud of our government's support for Francophone communities in this country”, said Glengarry–Prescott–Russell MP Francis Drouin, on behalf of Minister Joly, in Tuesday’s news release. “By…
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Claiming racism, harassment, wrongful dismissal and punitive damages
TORONTO – Former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan has filed a motion against the attorney general of Canada, the CRTC, Minister Mélanie Joly, the Governor-in-Council and various individuals, including former Commission chair Jean-Pierre Blais, for the sum of $8.4 million.
The 65-page statement of claim, filed with the Ontario Superior Court October 31st, retells much of the conflict between Shoan, who was hired as the CRTC’s Ontario Commissioner in June 2013, and various others including Blais, the chairman of the CRTC at the time, and former Heritage Ministers Shelly Glover and Joly.
Shoan was accused…
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OTTAWA – A consensus may be emerging which says while we need to change the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts, that can be done only as long as those changes don’t involve any playing in my sandbox.
We had this feeling when the Privacy Commissioner appeared and said, essentially: We’re doing fine but please give us more enforcement powers inside the communications business
Then today (Tuesday) when the CRTC appeared in front of the Senate Committee studying change into the two Acts on Tuesday morning, the same thing happened. Senator Rosa Galvez asked “If your situation is the…
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CANNES – Newly-installed CBC/Radio Canada chief Catherine Tait by now has gotten used to people congratulating her on being the first woman to run the public broadcaster.
"But most importantly, I'm the first producer to run the CBC," a fact underlined this week as Tait attends the MIPCOM TV conference in Cannes, where she sat down with Cartt.ca for an interview.
Walking up and down the Croisette and around the bunker-like Palais des Festivals is meant to signal the CBC is open for business as it looks internationally for content and commercial opportunities, Tait said Sunday. She argued the CBC or…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications started to examine how the three federal communications statutes (the Telecommunications Act, the Broadcasting Act, and the Radiocommunication Act) can be modernized In light of the evolution of the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors in the last decades.
Last week they heard from university professors and today, Konrad von Finckenstein, former chair of the CRTC, and the Commissioner of Competition met the committee.
Von Finckenstein submitted six points for the Committee to examine. “First, in the reform of our communication legislation, examine everything from an Internet-centric point of view. To borrow a…
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