GATINEAU – It will surprise no one that the cost of sports television are front and centre for so many of the submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review
Telus, for example, called the amount of cash being sent to various leagues and teams for the rights to live games “irrational” and has requested the CRTC address the soaring price of sports services and eliminate penetration-based rate cards in sports packaging.
Lined up on the side of Telus, are Shaw Communications, Cogeco and Canadian Cable Systems Alliance members, distributors who own no sports channels. While vertically integrated companies like Rogers and…
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GATINEAU – Broadcast distributors and programmers are divided over rules governing television service provision in Quebec and official minority language communities across the country. Some say current rules are doing a fine job, while others argue changes are needed to ensure a diversity of programming for these two markets in their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review.
In the official notice (BNC 2014-190), the Commission noted market forces alone won’t ensure the provision of “an adequate number of services to OLMCs,” and that it has instituted several measures, including minority language programming access rights and genre protection, to address…
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TORONTO – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil on CBC/Radio-Canada was the most-watched FIFA World Cup ever with 30.7 million Canadians tuning in overall, the national broadcaster said.
Nearly 89% of the population (30.7 million Canadians) tuned in to at least some coverage of the tournament between June 12 – July 13 on CBC/Radio-Canada or its broadcast partners across all platforms, compared to 86% in 2010. Of those 30.7 million people, 6.6 million (or one-in-five Canadians) tuned in to watch a live game online.
Sunday’s thrilling Final match that saw Germany defeat Argentina 1-0 in the second half of extra time was…
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GATINEAU – The quest of both the CRTC and the federal government to ensure consumers have more choice in their TV packages is running into some difficult headwinds. Vertically integrated broadcast distributors as well as content developers acknowledge that Canadians do say they want more channel flexibility, but they don’t want a so-called “skinny basic” tier of TV channels.
In the official TV Policy Review Notice of Consultation (2014-190), the Commission has proposed a basic cable package that only includes local Canadian TV stations, the 9(1)(h) must-carry channels, provincial educational services if they exist, and in some cases, the community…
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TORONTO – All four of Canada's English-language network broadcasters have pledged to simultaneously air, for the first time ever, a Canadian-inclusive Stand Up To Cancer special this September.
CBC, City, CTV and Global will join ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and dozens of U.S. cable channels simultaneously airing a star-studded special from Hollywood, and for the first time, Toronto. The live, one-hour fundraising event, which draws on the entertainment community to rally the public around ending cancer's reign as a leading cause of death, will air commercial-free simultaneously on Friday, September 5 at 8:00 PM ET/PT.
The 2014 SU2C telecast will be…
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TORONTO – CBC has acquired a new six-episode, Canadian-produced original drama that will transport viewers to 1963 as the U.S. government launches a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage to populate a new world.
A co-production of Lionsgate and Sea to Sky Studios, in association with Quebec-based Lift Off Productions and Blumhouse Productions, Ascension began production this week in Montreal, with an official premiere on CBC scheduled for November 2014. The sci-fi drama was originally commissioned by by American television network Syfy.
The series stars Brian Van Holt (Cougar Town, The Bridge) and…
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TORONTO – As Canadians continue to consume CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil online and on-the-go, the national broadcaster says that its free English-language app and its French-language counterpart have been downloaded more than 1 million times combined.
The CBC FIFA World Cup App brought to you by Bell provides users with live streaming coverage of each match, including six live feeds allowing the viewer to select the angle from which they want to watch. Other features include near-live highlights, and multiple social media feeds allowing users to share clips, photos and news along with their own thoughts through Twitter, Facebook…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – The Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX) is re-launching and is adding three new partners.
Quebecor Media, Channel Zero and Reader's Digest have joined existing partners CBC/Radio-Canada, Rogers Media, Shaw Communications, Corus Entertainment, Cineplex, V and Télé-Québec. The bilingual real-time bidding exchange service allows each media company to maintain their unique, direct sales operations with a portion of their inventory flowing directly into CPAX for bidding by private access buyers. Inventory is pooled amongst the companies' digital assets, enabling buyers to bid specifically on inventory targeted to their demographic, and agency partners have first access to bid on the inventory.
According…
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GATINEAU – Among the 2,704 official filings to the CRTC for its Let’s Talk TV formal policy review coming in September is an 11-page warning from over-the-top video behemoth Netflix which said, essentially: Don’t slap any new regs on us, thanks.
While the CBC, Canadian Media Producers Association and others want the CRTC to tap Netflix’s Canadian revenue for contributions to Canadian content, the U.S.-based online video provider says the Commission has no right, and besides, it already has a ton of Canadian content, produces some things here and is merely complementary to the regulated system.
The CBC, however, says it’s…
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GATINEAU – The press release headlines sound pretty good, but it’s in the conditions, the details, where all this talk of consumer choice and flexibility gets bogged down.
The three largest Canadian vertically integrated media and carriage companies (Bell, Shaw and Rogers) each issued press releases Friday – the day their submissions to the CRTC on its TV Policy Review were due – saying, and we’re paraphrasing here: “boy oh boy, are we consumer friendly and choice leaders!” The big three each said they support more pick and pay, or a-la-carte channel selection, so that Canadians…
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