Part V in our series on rewriting the Broadcasting and Telecom Acts. An exclusive interview
BACK IN 1999, WHEN Pierre Karl Péladeau was the CEO of the world’s largest printer and a significant Canadian newspaper publisher, he didn’t know or care about the CRTC’s New Media Exemption Order, released that year. Why would he?
Back then, cell phones were still-new devices that primarily just made phone calls – which only about one in five of us owned.* Everyone got their TV off-air or via cable and just over a quarter of Canadians reported a home internet connection – upon which precious…
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OTTAWA – Hunter Communications has won a contract to provide CBC/Radio-Canada with satellite space segment services.
Using a powerful Ku-band beam that Hunter designed to service Canada and specifically the far north, Hunter said that it will provide the public broadcaster with more transmission throughput and the ability to use smaller antennas that are easier to move to remote transmission sites.
CBC/Radio-Canada broadcast signals and bi-directional IP communication services will be carried on the 54 MHz Ku-band and 36 MHz C-band capacity they have contracted, continues Hunter’s news release. The satellite service will complement CBC’s terrestrial fibre network and further support…
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TORONTO – Some 29 million Canadians (or 82% of the population) have watched some part of CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 across all English and French television networks and platforms during the first 10 days, says CBC.
Quoting Numeris data, the public broadcaster said that its English-language primetime coverage across all broadcast networks has garnered a 2+ average minute audience of more than 3 million viewers to date, with CBC alone delivering a 24% primetime audience share since the start of the Games. These numbers are sure to rise as the men's and women's hockey tournaments conclude.
The most-watched…
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Part IV in our series on rewriting the Broadcasting and Telecom Acts
THE CANADIAN TV INDUSTRY faces a growing crisis. Financial contributions from the broadcast distributors to support the production of Canadian stories are on the decline. This is combined with the fact that online TV providers, namely Netflix, aren’t required to pay into the Canadian system like their Canadian competitors.
Since Netflix has emerged as a major competitor to traditional broadcasting services, many have called for the U.S. company to being paying into the Canadian system. Some have suggested taxing internet service providers is the best approach. Others have simply…
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4e partie dans notre série sur la révision des Lois sur la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications
L'INDUSTRIE CANADIENNE DE LA télévision fait face à une crise aiguë. Les contributions financières qui supportent la production d’émissions canadiennes diminuent. Et cela est combiné au fait que les fournisseurs de service en ligne, comme Netflix, ne sont pas requis de contribuer au système canadien contrairement à leurs concurrents canadiens.
Depuis l’arrivée en scène de Netflix comme concurrent important des services de radiodiffusion traditionnels, plusieurs ont réclamé que la compagnie américaine contribue au système canadien de radiodiffusion. Certains ont suggéré que taxer les fournisseurs de…
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And why CPE should be reduced for traditional media companies
GATINEAU – Saying online content platforms have radically altered the Canadian broadcasting system is as undeniable as it is now cliché. Netflix itself, has an estimated six million subscribers in Canada, an amount greater than half of all cable TV subscriptions here.
With Amazon Prime growing and the arrival of other online services in the future (BritBox arrived this week and CBS All Access is coming), the Canadian system needs to evolve with this new reality in mind, several have told the CRTC…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC this week told consumer group Public interest Advocacy Centre that there are already ample ways for customers to lodge complaints over what they feel are unfair telco sales practices and that no new public hearing is needed.
After some 2017 CBC.ca stories levelled accusations of potentially unfair, high-pressure sales tactics against Bell Canada (the CBC in January then did a similar story about Rogers Communications), PIAC last month called on the CRTC to launch a formal inquiry into the matter.
Both Bell and Rogers have vehemently denied the claims which were made by…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada and Twitter Canada have struck a partnership that will see the first-ever live stream of select Olympic Games events on Twitter in Canada.
Canadians on Twitter can watch live coverage of the Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony and five additional events from PyeongChang 2018 still to be announced. The events are available via official handles @CBCOlympics in English and @RC_Sports in French.
Canadians will also be able to watch near-live video clips through the partnership.
Select Canadian brands are slated to join the live #PyeongChang2018 experience on Twitter with…
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TORONTO – A trio of Canadian broadcast industry veterans are behind a new venture known as The Podcast Exchange (TPX) that uses market research, advanced metrics, and geo-targeting to give advertisers better access to the Canadian podcast audience.
With backing from Slaight Communications, TPX is co-founded by Jean-Marie Heimrath, former president of Standard Broadcasting’s Sound Source Networks and Iceberg Radio; Jeff Ulster, co-publisher of The Canadian Podcast Listener report and former director of CBC’s Digital Talk Content; and Bob Kane who helped to grow CBC into a global podcast industry leader in both sales and content.
TPX said that it provides…
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OTTAWA – Canadians are well acquainted with voice activated assistants, and four in ten report using one in the last year, according to new research from the Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The hot topics covered this year in its free Sneak Peek Report include voice activated assistants, device priority in the household, interest in OTT services, smartphone apps, and the evolution of paid TV subscriptions. The MTM Sneak Peek Report is being offered as well as the English- and French-language Media and Technology Adoption Reports and the most recent Fall 2017 data set, available to subscribers on the MTM Portal.
Highlights…
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