Looks like Netflix is chilling with Ottawa
OTTAWA – The Canadian TV biz held a three-hour, industry-wide affair in Ottawa on Wednesday evening, where the Canada Media Fund showcased internationally competitive primetime broadcast TV series to local bureaucrats and politicians (and juuust before Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly outlined her vision to change a bunch of things.)
Netflix and other foreign Internet players, and their impact on local producers and broadcasters, loomed large at the National Press Center event and Joly only sent along her Parliamentary Secretary, Sean Casey, to address the industry gathering and praise Canadian TV producers.
In stage-side comments to…
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OTTAWA – In a speech today at an Economic Club of Canada event, Minister of Canadian Heritage Melanie Joly officially unveiled the federal government’s long awaited digital content strategy. Dubbed 'Creative Canada', the plan has angered some and sated others and calls for increased investments to support both domestic production as well as the promotion of Canadian content abroad.
The release of the strategy comes a day after news leaked that the federal government had inked an agreement with Netflix that would see the online broadcaster and distributor invest a minimum of $500 million in Canadian productions over the next…
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CBC/Radio-Canada explores credibility, democracy and public values at Annual General Meeting
OTTAWA – Despite “serious financial challenges, a fragmented ecosystem, the appearance of the global Facebooks and Netflixes of the world who have absolutely weakened the broadcasting model that used to support our industry,” CBC/Radio-Canada remains relevant and is thriving in a digital world, according to Hubert Lacroix, president and CEO.
In a presentation to the corporation’s Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, the chief executive, who’s nearing the end of his term, noted that when he took the reins in November 2007, digital mainstays like the iPad and Netflix didn’t exist,…
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TORONTO – The Canadian music industry has lost a major source of funding after Bell Media confirmed that it has pulled the plug on its MuchFACT program.
MuchFACT has supported the Canadian music community through funding and promotion of music videos and related music content for media platforms since 1984. The company has also dropped BravoFACT, a similar fund for short-form scripted projects.
A CBC report says that MuchFACT spent approximately $2 million a year, funding videos by Arcade Fire, Carly Rae Jepsen and emerging acts like Halifax psych rock band Walrus and Mississauga rapper John River. It also quotes Bell Media president…
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TORONTO – Comedian and political satirist Rick Mercer said Monday that his comedy series Rick Mercer Report will launch its 15th and final season Tuesday on CBC.
In a rant shared on Twitter, Mercer (pictured) said that he has “always known that I have the best job in the country” and that he has “no idea” what he’ll do next. He also promised that the upcoming season will be the best yet with highlights such as his time painting a grain elevator on the prairies and dangling off the Confederation Bridge to PEI.
When season 15 wraps next spring, 277 episodes of…
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OTTAWA – Registration is now open for the CMPA’s Prime Time In Ottawa conference scheduled for January 31- February 2, 2018 at the Westin Ottawa.
Prime Time in Ottawa (PTiO) is a national conference for some 600 of Canada’s most prominent business leaders from the feature film, television, interactive media, broadcasting and telecommunications industries.
The best and brightest thought-leaders in the business are teaming up with the CMPA to assemble a slate of keynotes, panels, debates and roundtables that matches the breadth and depth of their combined knowledge and expertise, say organizers.
The Prime Time 2018 Advisory Board includes Vince Commisso (9 Story Media Group),…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC told the CBC on Wednesday that it could not rent a multiplex of its Toronto radio signal to launch a Tamil-language radio station in that city.
In regulatory-speak, the CBC asked for “authority to use the subsidiary communications multiplex operations channel of CBL-FM Toronto” to launch the station, which would have been owned by TIME FM based out of Scarborough, whose plan was to leased the frequency (this is an update of an earlier version of this story which did not include the TIME FM plan). However, such a station would certainly have an impact on small, independent local…
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MONT-TREMBLANT – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance’s annual Connect 2017 conference kicks off next week with TVA Group as its presenting sponsor and Fox Sports Racing as its platinum sponsor. The deadline for online registrations is Wednesday.
Set for September 25-27 at the Fairmont Tremblant Resort in Mont-Tremblant, QC, the conference starts Sunday and Monday with several members-or-board-only meetings, but Monday concludes with The Social – a cocktail evening for all delegates starting at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday will feature keynote speakers Terry O’Reilly, marketing guru and host of CBC Radio’s Under the Influence, who will speak about The Power of Storytelling; and…
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TORONTO – CBC said Monday that it has ended the collection of both profit participation and retransmission royalties on all projects that it has pre-licensed from Canadian independent producers, regardless of its level of investment, effective immediately.
The brief statement says that the change comes as a result of the ongoing efforts by CBC and the Canadian Media Producers Association to ensure business terms better reflect the needs of creators and producers, balanced with the needs of the public broadcaster. CBC added that it will apply the change retroactively to all deals signed after April 1, 2017, and that confirmation…
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TORONTO and CALGARY – CBC Sports will continue to be the home of championship show jumping competitions through the 2020 season thanks to a renewal of the network’s agreement with renowned Calgary equestrian event venue Spruce Meadows.
The renewed agreement will see CBC Sports continue to offer coverage of Spruce Meadows-hosted events, including ‘The National,’ ‘The North American,’ and ‘The Masters’ – part of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping – over the next three years. In addition, CBC Sports will continue to provide broadcast and live-streaming coverage of the three other events from the Rolex Grand Slam of Show…
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