MONTREAL – Coming just three days after a protest just outside the building, the Annual Public Meeting of CBC/Radio-Canada held Wednesday at its Montreal HQ was expected to be difficult.
Though there were hecklers and tough questions for president and CEO Hubert Lacroix — one member of the crowd even handed him a pre-written resignation letter and asked him to sign it — the event did not degenerate into complete chaos.
In his speech, Lacroix took pains to explain that he wasn’t a secret agent of the Conservative Party put in place to dismantle the public broadcaster,…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CBC has launched testing of a new pilot project for its series Let’s Get Hitched, allowing Canadians to offer their input on elements of the program’s content that will help to shape the future television pilot.
The online project signifies a new version of dial testing and is the first of its kind for the public broadcaster. Viewers may visit cbc.ca/canadacreateshere/ now through November 28 to review content options and provide feedback for the wedding-themed program. Responses will be analyzed and used to help determine how the pilot will be crafted, which will then…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CBC recently appointed Jenna Bourdeau as its new senior director, acquisitions.
Reporting to programming GM Sally Catto, Bourdeau will oversee the acquisition of distinct, bold and engaging Canadian and international content that will find its way on to CBC’s platforms, reads the announcement.
She brings over 15 years of experience navigating the international film and television content market, most recently as VP of Distribution at Proper Rights. Prior to that, Bourdeau co-founded and served as co-president of Buzz Taxi Communications (acquired by Proper Rights in 2013), during which time she built a catalogue that boasted over 500 hours of…
Continue Reading
TORONTO and OAKVILLE – Facing a cloudy future, the public broadcaster is paring back its weather department in favour of a new content sharing agreement with The Weather Network that will see national weather forecasts on select CBC News television properties provided by The Weather Network’s team of meteorologists and on-air personalities.
The agreement, which begins December 8, will see The Weather Network provide weather updates on CBC News Network throughout the day and at the end of The National on CBC-TV and CBC News Network, including expanded weather reports on CBC Toronto on weekends, the two companies announced Monday.
From…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers has hired another sales exec away from CBC after announcing that Janice Smith will become its vice president, national media sales, effective December 1st.
Smith comes to Rogers with more than 19 years of experience in media sales, strategic planning, and business development. Prior to joining Rogers, she worked at CBC for six years, most recently as executive director of multiplatform sales for CBC’s Revenue Group where she oversaw all of CBC’s English-language revenue sales including CBC Network, CBC News Network, Radio 2, and sports sales. Smith has also held various sales roles at CanWest MediaWorks, TSN,…
Continue Reading
I FINALLY HAVE A RESPONSE to something CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais asked we reporters – in absentia, mind you – during day eight of September’s Talk TV hearing, the day set aside for accessibility issues.
“I asked others beforehand – now they may be listening elsewhere – but the media table, which was chock-a-block last week, seems to be completely empty now,” chairman Blais said on September 17th. “And I'm struck, because members of the community you serve presumably buy goods and services – goods and services that are made by people that advertise in newspapers and other electronic media.
“Why…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The CBC workforce will officially be 392 positions smaller very soon.
A memo circulated Thursday at the public broadcaster says that the “first phase” of the cuts announced in June will see those positions eliminated before the end of the broadcaster’s fiscal year, March 31, 2015. However, most affected will receive notices mid-November.
“It is estimated that 115 of these positions will be in corporate services, 154 in English services, and 123 in French services,” reads the memo. “Of these, over a quarter are existing vacancies created through normal departures or retirement, and…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The CBC announced Wednesday it has purchased the broadcast and multiplatform rights to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang Korea and the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. However, it won’t be working alone.
The public broadcaster also announced a broad partnership with both Bell Media and Rogers Media to bring “unprecedented” coverage of the Games to Canadians on all platforms.
While financial details of the rights purchase were not announced, the deal was termed an “extension” of the existing deal the CBC signed for the 2014 and 2016 Games. “We gave an offer…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – With many sources of media at their fingertips, Canadians are spending increasing amounts of time consuming news, from local to national and international, as well as politics and business news, according to the Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
Profile of News Enthusiasts’ Media Technology Adoption and Use profiles Anglophones who are heavy consumers of news, defined as those who consume all types of news on a daily or near daily basis.
Highlights from the report include:
– Three in ten Anglophones and one third of Francophones are considered “News Enthusiasts” accessing all types of news on a daily basis;
– Both…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada has been awarded the Canadian broadcast rights for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As lead broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada pledged to work with broadcast partners Bell Media and Rogers Media to provide Canadians with “full access to all the excitement of the Olympic Games”. The three partnered on coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics earlier this year.
“This is clear recognition of the exceptional coverage CBC/Radio-Canada provided for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games – the most watched in history”, said…
Continue Reading
