OTTAWA – Various parties continued to question the level to which Rogers Media will use its recently acquired NHL hockey content as a component of its Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) commitments at the company’s licence renewal hearing before the CRTC while Rogers said they need not worry.
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), in its opening remarks on Wednesday fretted that Canadian content will suffer because Rogers will use the NHL to account for its CPE commitments, particularly if the Commission approves Rogers request to be treated under the group licensing framework (GLF).
“We have to wonder if hockey fans will…
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TORONTO – This is why big events like the Olympics are very important to mutliplatform media providers.
According to research conducted right after the Sochi Winter Olympics, 81% of Canadians who followed the Games were able to name at least one Olympic sponsor, with an average of 1.8 brands mentioned top-of-mind according to the independent survey of viewers by Solutions Research Group.
Among the key findings of the research:
TV was the leading source of coverage reaching 79% of those who followed on any platform, but digital made a very big showing: Online, mobile and social media reached 59%, combined.
17% of all…
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OTTAWA – One in seven Canadians live without a paid TV service and Anglophones are twice as likely to be thinking about cutting the cord as Francophones, according to two new reports from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The Off-Air and Tuned-Out Canadians report examines two unique groups, ‘Off-Air’ and ‘Tuned-Out, and looks at why they have chosen to live without paid TV service, how these groups compare to each other, and how they compare to those who do pay for TV service.
Highlights from the report include:
– Canadians without a paid TV service are less interested in television…
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BASED ON THE DOZENS of submissions from radio companies and other groups to the CRTC, the answer is a resounding… maybe.
Whether to bring the proprietary digital broadcasting format which has been deployed in most major markets Stateside to Canada was just one of many questions the CRTC put to the public about changes to radio policy. The questions were raised on Oct. 30, and the deadline for replies to comments was last Tuesday.
In general, broadcasters and interest groups supported the idea Canadian stations should be allowed to experiment with HD Radio, but most were against the idea that there…
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TORONTO – Independent ISP and IPTV service provider VMedia launched its brand new VCloudTV PVR on Wednesday which it said (and we’re pretty certain it’s true) is Canada's first cloud-based TV distribution technology. For the first time, Canadians will be able to record and enjoy their favourite TV shows without expensive hardware in their homes.
VMedia, whose services are available throughout Ontario, marked the first anniversary of the launch of its TV service at an event Wednesday afternoon at Brassaii Restaurant in Toronto with the introduction of the new cloud-based DVR, what the company is billing as a “solution which…
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OTTAWA – A lack of clear direction from the federal government is the biggest problem facing CBC/Radio-Canada, according to Richard Stursberg, the former head of English language TV services at the public broadcaster.
In an appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications on Tuesday, April 1, he argued that because there is no clarity on what the CBC should be to Canadians it has been pulled in multiple directions with often contradictory objectives. There have been a number of schools of thought about what the CBC should put on its network, ranging from elite programming, or as…
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OTTAWA – Three quarters of Anglophones in Canada now watch some type of video on the Internet, and more are watching on their mobile device, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The Streaming Video Fall 2013 report outlines trends in the use of Internet video and TV in Canada, while examining the overall impact on traditional TV viewing.
Highlights from the report include:
– Online TV is growing in popularity: over two in five Anglophones watch TV online;
– The main screen for online viewing is still the computer, but other screens are increasing in popularity. Three in 10…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has agreed to a request by CBC to amend the broadcasting licences for its Espace Musique and Radio 2 networks and stations, tweaking the conditions of licence pertaining to advertising.
CBC was given the green light to introduce advertising on its Radio 2 and Espace musique properties in May 2013, but only for three years.
In the current applications, the CBC proposed to amend the conditions related to sponsored programming and embedded advertising. The Commission approved those demands on Tuesday.
www.crtc.gc.ca
www.cbc.radio-canada.ca
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TORONTO – One in four Canadians tuned in to at least part of the English-language television coverage of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games provided by the CBC-led Canadian Paralympic Committee broadcast consortium.
During the 10 days of coverage, more than 8.8 million Canadians watched some of the televised broadcasts on CBC, Sportsnet, Sportsnet One and Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), CBC reported.
In addition, CBC’s dedicated Paralympic microsite garnered more than 850,000 page views over the course of the event, as well as more than 120,000 video views, including approximately 10,000 live video views of the Canada/USA sledge hockey semi-final game.
www.cbc.ca/paralympics
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THE EIGHT HOUR DIFFERENCE between the eastern time zone and Sochi, Russia meant many of us who wanted to see Winter Olympics action live had to tune in at work using our PCs, smartphones and tablets.
By most accounts, the CBC ran a splendid Olympics broadcast, on regular TV and digitally. While some quibbled with the ad load on its Apple, Android and Windows smartphone apps, for most viewers, the live streams and video highlights ran seamlessly. I watched many hours of the CBC’s coverage on my Android phone and it worked very well, every single time. Two taps and…
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