TORONTO — Juggling the daily demands of directing one of Canada’s major national news organizations, while also overseeing a structural migration to digital and maintaining journalistic integrity in the face of internal and external attempts to influence editorial decisions, is keeping the country’s top news executives on their toes.
The heads of the three major Canadian television news organizations (two of which are also the biggest radio operators) took part in a panel discussion Friday that kicked off RTDNA Canada’s annual conference in Toronto. The special “Bear Pit” panel, moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien, featured a lively…
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BANFF – While it has certainly morphed, like the media it celebrates, The Banff World Media Fest remains the only gathering of its kind dedicated to the global business of television – particularly in the broadband era – and this 36th chapter opened with a touch of déjà vu all over again.
The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters lamented that the six major U.S. studios controlled 72% of the Canadian market, leaving only mince for Canadian independent distributors – and there was the expected echo of Canadian Media Production Association, and others, bemoaning that change had inflicted unkind…
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TORONTO – Broadband and IPTV provider VMedia will launch its new basic TV package, TheSkinny on Thursday, June 4, becoming the first broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) to offer Canadians the skinny basic package which the CRTC has demanded, as part of the Let’s Talk TV policy hearing, that carriers launch by March, 2016.
TheSkinny costs $17.95, and has all the Canadian and U.S. over-the-air networks, such as CBC, CTV, Global, CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC and PBS, and other channels required to be included in basic packages.
"From our launch VMedia has been all about providing more choice and flexibility…
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TORONTO – To stretch its programming dollars, the CBC has acquired a raft of UK and Australian dramas and comedies and aims to profit from upcoming Toronto Pan-Am games coverage during the rest of 2015. Despite huge, well-documented challenges, the creative minds at the CBC aren't ready to wave the broadcast white flag just yet.
The CBC, previewing its fall 2015 season at its Toronto headquarters Thursday, unveiled 11 new original and acquired series and renewed another 14. That output comes in the face of the public broadcaster, already beset by budget cuts, this past season losing due…
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OTTAWA – With social networking now one of the most popular online activities among Canadians, it is vital that industry experts understand what sites are the most popular, who is using them, and the way that the sites are being accessed, says a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
Social Networking: Analysis of the English-Language Market examines the use of social networks amongst Anglophone Canadians, and delves into how they are being used to share content, meet new people, and to connect with brands.
Highlights from the report include:
– Canadians are hooked on social networking, with 82% of social networkers being avid daily users;
-…
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THIS MONTH’S CRTC DECISION TO regulate wholesale wireless roaming rates is just the latest in a long line of seminal processes and decisions which have come under the tenure of chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
Just about 60% the way through his five-year term, Blais has had to digest major developments in the industry, technology, and political environment—which is pushing for more competition and consumer rights – while dealing with an often-cranky TV and telecom executives trying to steer their ships through the same choppy waters.
Here are many of the key CRTC developments since Blais, a lawyer and lifelong bureaucrat, was named the…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s federal opposition parties have agreed to participate in two debates on the major television networks, but it is unknown at this time if the federal Conservative Party will also join in.
The Broadcast Consortium, made up of CBC News, ICI Radio-Canada Télé, CTV News and Global News, said Thursday that they reached agreement in principle with the New Democratic Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, the Green Party of Canada, and the Bloc Quebecois to stage two debates, one in English and one in French, at the height of the 2015 federal election campaign.
It also announced…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment has inked a program supply arrangement with Bell Media's CTV that will see three of Corus' local television channels in Eastern Ontario offer CTV programming starting this fall. The channels have long been CBC affiliates.
Beginning August 31st, Corus’ CHEX-TV in Peterborough, Channel 12 in Oshawa, and CKWS-TV in Kingston will launch new broadcast schedules featuring CTV hit series The Amazing Race Canada and MasterChef Canada. In addition, CTV's one-hour daily national news program, CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme, will be integrated into the programming lineup along with the current local daily Newswatch newscasts. More details…
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HAMILTON, ON – Cable 14 has been honoured with a Media Award of Distinction by the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) for its live broadcasts of a variety of McMaster University sports, as well as OUA postseason and Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship events.
The Hamilton-based community channel, co-owned by Cogeco Cable and Rogers (formerly Shaw and Source Cable), began airing McMaster sports on tape delay in the early 2000's. In 2008, with the addition of a fibre link to the Ron Joyce Stadium building project, Cable 14 began live broadcasts from the McMaster campus on a consistent basis.
Since then, Cable…
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OTTAWA – A group of the country’s major broadcast news organizations have reaffirmed their commitment to organizing debates for the upcoming 2015 Federal Election, despite a report that the federal Conservative Party is refusing to participate.
The Broadcast Consortium, made up of CBC News, ICI Radio-Canada Télé, CTV News and Global News, issued a statement Tuesday promising to once again work together to ensure that the debates are offered to as many Canadians as possible “in the best interest of democracy”.
The statement appears to come in response to a Globe and Mail report that says the federal Conservative Party is opting…
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