OK, SO INCLUDE ME in as one of the drones buzzing about Twitter (even our headline here, I’m sure, has been used already, somewhere). We like it so much actually, that Cartt.ca added a Twitter widget to the home page this week as a way to provide additional quick bursts of teeny tiny opinionated news bites.
Like many, I questioned the value of the micro-blogging site, when I first learned about it some months ago at a conference. Twitter, which seems to have no discernable way yet to earn a living, by the way, gives users 140 characters…
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PETIT-DE-GRAT, NS – The federal government has thrown its support behind a French-language minority community radio station called Cooperative Radio Richmond, located in Petit-de-Grat, Nova Scotia, population 454.
The $223,734 in funding was announced Thursday by Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore, and Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway Peter MacKay, under the Community Life component of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Development of Official-Language Communities Program. This program aims to foster projects that improve the environment for official-language minority communities.
"The Cooperative Radio Richmond truly appreciates this funding from the Government…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage passed a motion at an in-camera (i.e.: not public) meeting late Wednesday afternoon to study the impact of the economic crisis on Canadian television, with a focus on local programming.
The first witnesses the committee plans to call before it – on March 25 – are CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein, CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting Michel Arpin, and CRTC director general of television policy and applications Peter Foster.
A committee clerk told Cartt.ca they have not yet been told if the briefing will be open to the public, but that further…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – CTV has laid off at least 24 employees at its ‘Canada AM’ morning show, and cut its last early morning local newscast in the country.
Sources say that the broadcaster was laying off Canada AM staff members who produce local news segments exclusively for single-markets, rather than on the show’s national broadcast. The job cuts will impact operations across the country, with the exception of the Toronto and Halifax studios.
Responding to the move, Canada’s largest media union, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP), called on Heritage Minister James Moore to step in and “demand that…
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CANADIAN HERITAGE MINISTER James Moore told reporters at the Canada Media Fund announcement that CBC will receive "record" funding from the government this year, something his parliamentary secretary – Dean Del Mastro – later repeated in the House of Commons.
Sort of true.
In 1990-91, the CBC received $1,078 billion from the government. In today’s dollars, that would be $1.5 billion. Those were the days when the public broadcaster still had a very strong presence in local markets across the country. And because of the apparent lack of flexibility from the government this year, the CBC will likely have…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) will hand out approximately $285 million to Canadian television producers this year through the broadcaster performance envelope stream.
The funds are earmarked to support English and French programming in the genres of drama, children and youth, variety and performing arts, and documentary. English-language broadcaster envelopes will total $194 million, while $91 million will be allocated to French-language broadcaster envelopes.
The CTF supports the development of Canadian talent, programs, and audiences through financial investment and industry research, and is funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage and Canada’s broadcasting distribution undertakings.
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – Television industry stakeholders continue to weigh in on the new Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced Monday.
CTV said in a statement that they “welcomed” the Fund, and “applauded the proposal (for) striking down antiquated rules that prevented broadcaster investment in the creation of high-quality Canadian programs for both broadcast and digital platforms.”
"Congratulations to Minister Moore for recognizing the importance of audience success and for putting the audience first in the creation of this fund. All of us in media exist to serve the audience," said Ivan Fecan, president and CEO…
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TORONTO – Getting funding to make television in Canada is about to get a whole lot different.
Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced today the Canadian Media Fund, a combination of the existing Canadian Television Fund and the Canadian New Media Fund.
The new fund, according to the Minister will be “reformed and rebranded” through a radically different partnership with the groups who provide the funding (government, DTH, cable and telco TV providers) and those who spend it (the production community). Its mandate will be to ensure the production of quality content and to make it available on multiple…
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TORONTO – As we reported Thursday, the federal government will release its decision on the fate of Canadian Television Fund on Monday.
Heritage Minister James Moore has scheduled a press conference for 10:00 Monday morning in Toronto, where he will “make an announcement concerning the Canadian broadcasting industry”.
What else could it be? Cartt.ca will be there and bring you whole the story.
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OTTAWA – We’d almost forgotten about it, but the federal government just might release its decision on the Canadian Television Fund next week.
A source with knowledge of the decision’s timing told Cartt.ca this week that Heritage Minister James Moore may have an announcement as early as Monday.
The fund has spent a lot of the past 24 months defending itself and making a few changes in the way it does things. This impending release and any potential changes in how the $250 million in annual TV production money is collected and doled out was spurred on by the…
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