OTTAWA – Six in ten Canadian voters believe that Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative government are “hostile” to the CBC/SRC, and would like to “diminish public broadcasting in Canada”, says a survey conducted on behalf of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
The survey, which was conducted by public opinion research firm Pollara, was released Wednesday in advance of Canadian Heritage Minister Moore’s appearance before the Heritage Committee.
The online survey of 3,361 voting age Canadians was conducted to gauge the attitudes of Canadians when it comes to their public broadcaster. According to the press release, it found an electorate…
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OTTAWA – Peter Menzies has been appointed as a full-time member of the CRTC, representing the Alberta/Northwest Territories region.
"Mr. Menzies’ talent and experience in leading teams and managing high levels of performance make him an ideal candidate for the responsibilities entrusted to him," said James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, in the announcement.
Menzies is the president of Menzies Strategies, a company specializing in media consulting and strategic planning, and has been a part-time member of the CRTC since 2007. He spent his career in the newspaper business, serving as general manager of the Calgary…
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THERE IS SO MUCH left to do in order to make the transition to digital television happen in Canada that it’s impossible to see how we’re going to make the deadline despite the fact there’s still 28 months to go before the August 31, 2011 date set by the CRTC.
That thought struck me yet again, but harder, during the DTV transition session the National Association of Broadcasters held for international broadcasters here in Las Vegas. The association helpfully hosted the session, complete with panel representation from the FCC, cable, consumer electronics, the telecom industry and a social group representative….
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WINNIPEG and TORONTO – Canwest Global Communications said this morning that its subsidiary, Canwest Media Inc. and its senior lenders have agreed to extend the waiver of certain borrowing conditions until May 5, 2009.
The members of an ad hoc committee of 8% noteholders, which collectively hold approximately 70% of the outstanding notes, have also agreed not to demand payment of their notes for a period ending May 5, 2009 to coincide with the expiry date of CMI’s waiver agreement with its senior lenders.
This is the latest in a series of extensions as the giant media company struggles…
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OTTAWA – In its appearance Wednesday before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, CTV called for “swift federal action” to address “the crisis” in local Canadian television, and offered a few ideas of its own.
CTV outlined a three point reform plan that it said will “provide a viable new framework for local television”.
Not surprisingly, the first point in the presentation called for the immediate implementation of fee-for-carriage.
"Fee-for-carriage does not need to impact the consumer nor will it invoke undue harm to the cable and satellite industry," said CTVglobemedia president and CEO Ivan Fecan,…
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MONTREAL – In its appearance Monday at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearings, Quebecor Media took the opportunity to pat itself on the back for spending over $370 million on “cultural content” in 2008.
Calling the impact of its investment in cultural industries “substantial”, the Quebec media giant said that in fiscal 2008, it spent more than $373 million on developing, creating, producing, broadcasting and promoting Canadian content, making it the largest private producer of original content in Canada. The figure includes $123 million spent by its TVA Group on original television content for the Quebec market.
Describing…
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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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