NUNAVIK, QUEBEC – Retired broadcasting executive Bill Roberts begins his epic 250-km wilderness trek for literacy today, as he starts his climb up Mount Caubvick to raise awareness for Frontier College and its mission to improve literacy rates across Canada.
Situated on the border between Labrador and Quebec and an impressive 1,652 metres in height, Mount Caubvick (or Mont D’Iberville as it’s known in Quebec) is the tallest peak in mainland Eastern Canada; but it’s not the tallest peak Roberts has ever climbed. The avid mountaineer has already reached…
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OTTAWA – The talk of Ottawa this summer is the impending shuffle of the federal cabinet. With the resignation of a number of ministers, the latest of which is public safety minister Vic Toews on Monday, everyone with a political interest who work in telecom and TV in Ottawa and beyond is guessing who might be going where.
Of course, the fates of the ministers who oversee the cable, radio, television and telecom industries, Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Christian Paradis, are also being bandied about as two men about to face new port…
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ELEVEN MONTHS AGO, the CRTC announced it would get rid of the Local Programming Improvement Fund, a line item applied to the monthly bill of every cable, satellite and telco TV subscriber in the country which was dreamed up and made part of the 2008 Broadcast Distribution Undertaking policy as a stop-gap measure to aid local, non-major-market broadcasters.
It has brought in just over $100 million a year for local private and CBC broadcasters since 2010 ($112 million in 2012), roughly split 60-40 in favour of the privates. Former Commission vice-chair telecom…
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WINDSOR, ON – CBC announced today that its CBC News: Windsor at 6 newscast will be expanding to 90 minutes in September 2013, however it is cancelling the station’s nightly 10-minute news format at 11 p.m. in order to support the expanded news show.
“We’re pleased to offer an expanded news format as part of our commitment to CBC’s 2015 strategic plan,” said Shawna Kelly, managing editor of CBC Windsor, in a release. “CBC Windsor is looking forward to providing more local services aimed at deepening our community connections.”
CBC says the expanded newscast, in addition…
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LOS ANGELES, CALIF – The Bell Media Agency has been recognized with a Global Excellence Award for marketing team of the year at the PromaxBDA Awards held last Thursday.
Bell Media Agency also won 20 global excellence and 26 North American medals in various categories for its CTV, Much Music, TSN, Space, BNN, Bravo, CP24, and Discovery networks and specialty channels at this year’s awards, in addition to its first-ever win of the marketing team of the year award.
With this year’s wins, Bell Media Agency has garnered more than 300 Promax awards, which recognize…
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WINNIPEG, TORONTO, MONTREAL, CALGARY – As residents of Calgary and other communities in southern Alberta struggle to clean up in the wake of last week’s extreme flooding, several national and regional broadcasters and telecoms have donated resources to help residents and flood response efforts.
MTS Allstream today announced that it will be supporting disaster relief efforts with a $25,000 to the Canadian Red Cross. The national communications provider is also sending one of its Toronto-based employees, Ella West, to help lead the relief effort in the role of director of relief operations for the Red Cross.
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OTTAWA – Nearly a third of Canadians own a tablet computer, and two-thirds of Anglophone Canadians own an HD screen TV, according to two new reports from Media Technology Monitor.
Income is the driving force behind adoption of tablets, reads MTM’s report, “The Rise of Tablet Computers,” as close to 60% of high-income earners own a tablet. In terms of brands, tablets are still dominated by Apple, however other manufacturers have carved out some market share.
The second report, “High Definition, 3D & Smart TVs,” examines key trends in Canada’s TV market and their…
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TORONTO – CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada is putting the call out to all Canadian songwriters to come up with the next great Canadian hockey song.
HNIC has joined up with CBCMusic.ca for this year’s edition of the Song Quest contest in the search for an anthem to get the nation’s hockey fans’ hearts pounding.
Beginning October 2, interested songwriters can submit their songs; the competition will be open to the public in an online vote at CBCMusic.ca/SongQuest. The winning song will be professionally produced, and cut into a video…
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MONTREAL – Creative agency Turbulent Media and second screen software company Mobovivo announced today they have partnered together to distribute and market branded digital content from media companies to smartphones and tablets.
“We’re very excited to partner with Mobovivo to better serve the broadcast TV industry,” said Turbulent president and CEO Marc Beaudet in a release. “Mobovivo’s second screen platform is industry-leading and will bring quality creative and advertising revenue opportunities to our TV channel customers.”
“Together, Turbulent and Mobovivo will work with TV networks to turn the threat of second screens that pull audiences away,…
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MONTREAL – CBC/Radio-Canada is calling for proposals to design a new building for its French-language headquarters to replace the Corporation’s current French-language headquarters and redevelop the surrounding property to accommodate future residential and commercial projects.
The Corporation says the Maison de Radio-Canada (MRC) building is more than 40 years old and in need of major renovation work that would involve substantial expenditures for the Corporation. It says the project will be completed without any additional government funding. Instead, CBC/Radio-Canada will sell its land and buildings to the company selected through the RFP process and become a…
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