A BRIDGE IS A musical term meaning a bit of a song which gets you from the verse back to the chorus. We thought the term was a good one to characterize Peter Bissonnette, an accomplished musician, as well as the outgoing president of Shaw Communications (his official last day was yesterday).
Bissonnette has worked in cable for more than 30 years, the last 25 of which for Shaw Communications. He’s been president of the company since 2000, working under company founder JR, and then both his sons, Jim and Brad Shaw – and has much prior experience working for…
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TORONTO – Three of Corus' local television channels in Eastern Ontario looked a little different Monday after ditching their long time CBC affiliation in favour of programming from Bell Media’s CTV.
CHEX-TV in Peterborough, Channel 12 in Oshawa, and CKWS-TV in Kingston are now offering CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme, sports, and big series like The Amazing Race Canada and Saving Hope as part of a program supply arrangement between the broadcasters announced in May.
“We are thrilled that the new Bell Media agreement will give us the flexibility to expand our top-rated local programming and bolster it with…
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OTTAWA – Post it, tweet it, pin it, snap it or put it up on Reddit – Canadians are using all of these distinct social networks, though their users differ from the average social networker, says a new series of reports from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
MTM says that Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and Reddit each offers distinct features that attract, engage and retain networkers within their rapidly growing communities. Utilizing the large samples sizes of its combined 2014-2015 surveys, MTM says that its Social Networking Series released this week promises to provide insight into each network.
Highlights from the MTM’s Social Networking Series reports…
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VANCOUVER – Veteran broadcaster Bill Good is coming out of retirement and will join Rogers-owned News 1130 in Vancouver next month.
The editorial feature A Minute with Bill Good will air daily beginning September 8. The feature bills itself as “a no-holds-barred editorial commentary, focusing on current hot button issues, the inner workings of B.C. politics, and the influential movers and shakers who make the decisions that affect the public.”
During a television and radio career that has spanned 50 years, Good anchored primetime newscasts for more than 27 years at CBC, BCTV and CTV.
www.news1130.com
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OTTAWA – With more ways to connect to the Internet than ever, which screen do Canadians use to consume media when they have multiple screens?
According to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM), the answer is all of them, depending on what specifically it is they wish to do. 4-Screen Anglophones: A Glimpse into Multi-Screen Media Behaviour says that portable media devices like smartphones and tablets are used most often for streaming music and social networking, while the TV screen is a key device for watching online TV and Netflix. The computer remains the go-to device for online…
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OTTAWA – The five main federal political parties have agreed to take part in a French-language debate televised by Canada’s largest broadcasters next month, but plans for an English-language debate are still up in the air.
According to the Broadcast Consortium of Radio-Canada, Télé-Québec, CBC News, CTV News and Global News, in partnership with La Presse, the 2015 French-language Leaders Debate will take place on September 24 from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET in Radio-Canada's studios in Montreal, and be moderated by Quebec TV host Anne-Marie Dussault. The leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party…
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TORONTO – The CBC is refusing to air two advertisements sponsored by watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting which challenge the government’s budget cuts to the national public broadcaster, saying it could imply endorsement of the group’s campaign.
The ads "are intended to hold the Harper government to account for the damage it has done to the CBC”, claims Friends in a statement. The first ad features person-in-the-street comments from non-actors about why the CBC is important to them, and to Canada.
The second ad, according to Friends, relies on satire to make a point. In the ad, a…
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TORONTO — Evan Solomon is back hosting a political talk program with the announcement Wednesday by SiriusXM that the recently fired CBC personality will host its new Everything is Political: Campaign 2015 radio program.
The one-hour daily political talk program will cover all angles of Canada’s federal election campaign, and will break news as well as feature key players in the election, including members of Parliament, leaders, strategists and pollsters, SiriusXM said in a press release.
The show will premiere Thursday, August 6 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. (ET) on SiriusXM’s Canada Talks (channel 167), ahead of the first…
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TORONTO — CBC/Radio-Canada announced today that long-time executive producer Mark Starowicz is leaving the public broadcaster to launch a new career as an independent producer.
In an email circulated to CBC/Radio-Canada employees this morning, Heather Conway, executive vice-president of English services, said Starowicz had informed CBC of his decision several weeks ago but stayed on until the transition of CBC’s documentary unit was completed.
“Over almost five decades at CBC, Mark has become a giant on the Canadian documentary landscape. His vision and talent have guided generations of reporters and documentary producers to deliver award-winning shows,” Conway wrote.
“The programs Mark created…
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JOIN BILL ROBERTS (former president and CEO of VisionTV) in an exclusive Cartt.ca podcast with Conway as she talks about CBC host firings, the effect of the CRTC’s Let's Talk TV policies, staff cuts, the future of streaming content, CBC Radio 2, ad sales, NHL hockey and more. To get right to the 32-minute interview done at the CBC headquarters, click here.
(Ed note: As a busy executive, Conway doesn’t have a ton of free time for media, so our preamble you’ll read below is taken from a post-podcast interview Roberts did with her to finish…
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