GATINEAU – The CRTC will make public its recommendations for the future of the Canadian Television Fund at 2 p.m. today.
It’s a story Cartt.ca has been following closely for about 18 months and the release should be a sensation at the Banff World TV Fest beginning this weekend in the Alberta town (Cartt.ca will be there, of course, covering that gathering).
In December of 2006, cable companies Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media decided to withhold their contributions to the fund, citing numerous issues the companies had with the fund, from its corporate governance to the types of programming being…
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TORONTO – Canadian actor R.H. Thomson joined union members to demand government action on cultural issues at the Canadian Labour Congress Convention (CLC) that began in Toronto Monday.
"We’re turning up the volume on culture at the house of labour today," said Thomson. "Canadian workers agree that government censorship of the film and television industry as proposed in Bill C-10 is bad news for culture, bad news for jobs, and bad news for the economy."
A policy resolution on cultural issues was on the floor for CLC debate today, the first day of the five-day CLC convention being held…
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OTTAWA – John Hutton has been named a member of the board of trustees of the National Film Board.
Hutton has been involved in cultural industries for 35 years as an entertainer, manager, spokesperson, agent, and entrepreneur. He has served on numerous provincial and national boards and committees in Atlantic Canada.
Currently, he’s working as a realtor with Reardon Construction and Development and Prudential Reardon Realty.
The appointment was announced last week by Canadian Heritage.
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OTTAWA – The House of Commons decided last week that Bill C-327 should not proceed further. On May 13, it adopted the April 9, 2008 Report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which made such a recommendation.
As a result, the legislative process on Bill C-327 will go no further in this session of Parliament. The bill proposed to alter the Broadcasting Act so that the CRTC would have to come up with new rules to curb violence on television. The Commission would also be required to police TV programming for any content that crossed those standards on…
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OTTAWA – Timothy Denton, a specialist in legal and policy issues related to the Internet and communications, has been appointed as CRTC commissioner, Canadian Heritage announced Friday.
He was involved with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the governance of the domain name industry and helped introduce long-distance voice competition in Canada as counsel to the Canadian Consumers’ Association.
From 1985 to 1987, Denton was involved with the creation of the Broadcasting Act and later took part in the creation of the Telecommunications Act while working as a policy advisor to the Minister of Communications from 1985…
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OTTAWA – George Cooper and the Honourable Joseph Handley have been named to the board of directors of the CBC/Radio-Canada, it was announced Friday by Canadian Heritage.
Handley is the retired Premier of the Northwest Territories, a position he occupied from 2003 to 2007. Throughout his political career in the Northwest Territories, he held many positions, including Minister of Finance; Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development; and Minister of Aboriginal and Intergovernmental Affairs and Housing.
Before entering politics, Handley was Deputy Minister for the Government of Northwest Territories. A teacher by profession, he also helped shape public and…
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OTTAWA – G. Grant Machum has been appointed to the board of Telefilm Canada, it was announced Friday by Canadian Heritage.
Machum is a partner in the law firm of Stewart McKelvey, with a specialization in employment law, alternative dispute resolution, human rights, and labour relations. He serves on the board of directors of several arts and education organizations, including the Atlantic Theatre Festival, the Halifax Adult Learning Society, and the Nova Scotia Art Gallery.
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OTTAWA – A fund aimed at supporting not-for-profit, local radio that launched Thursday will dole out $1.4 million over seven years. Seed money for the fund, called the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC), is coming from Astral Media Inc.
“Canadians may have more media choices than ever, but there has been a clear decline in the amount of programming that reflects local communities and their concerns, from both commercial and public media,” said Charles-Eugene Cyr, president of Alliance des radios communautaires (ARC) du Canada. “The Community Radio Fund will help community broadcasting reach its full potential as an…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will launch a public consultation on new media on Thursday – the same day on which it will release a document entitled Perspectives on Canadian Broadcasting in New Media.
CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 13 that the Commission is looking to the public to confirm the CRTC has correctly identified the issues (in the document) and to help it structure a framework for a public hearing to be held in early 2009.
“I would like to be clear on one point. Our interest primarily lies in…
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TORONTO – Looking to ensure certain levels of TV production is maintained across Canada, the Canadian Television Fund today announced the creation of a new production incentive.
The pilot program is designed to encourage production where volumes have declined significantly, said the press release.
The first production areas to benefit from this $5 million incentive include Atlantic Canada and Quebec, where production activity fell below the target level in 2007-2008, reads the statement. As such, two separate CTF allocations of $2.2 million and $2.8 million have been created for productions based in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, respectively, for 2008-2009….
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