OTTAWA – Facing intense international scrutiny of late, Huawei Canada president Sean Yang addressed the International Institute of Communications Canadian conference on Wednesday to insist the Chinese telco technology manufacturer would never do anything to damage the business it has built in Canada over the past number of years.
Earlier this month the head of the U.S. Intelligence Committee urged Canadian companies to stop doing business with Huawei, now the world’s second largest telco equipment manufacturer, due to security concerns. Huawei does little business in the States as the government there believes its gear could be used by the Chinese…
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OTTAWA – Jean-Pierre Blais wasted little time during his keynote at IIC Canada’s annual conference Monday in restating that the interests of Canadians as consumers, creators and citizens will be of utmost importance to the CRTC during his mandate as chairman.
An example of how he will make sure individual Canadians are front and centre will be when the CBC/Radio-Canada appears before the Commission next month for its licence renewal hearing. “I don’t think our proceedings should be attended only by people who are paid to be there in their official capacity. Let’s level the playing field,” he said. “We’ve offered evening sessions…
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GATINEAU – Arguments from radio broadcasters that placing advertising on Radio 2 and Espace Musique will harm their businesses are wrong, CBC/Radio-Canada says in its licence renewal reply comments to the CRTC.
Small radio station owners and the radio council of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) had argued in their inventions filed a few weeks ago that allowing national advertising on these two radio properties would result in decreased advertising revenue for commercial operators. They also warned of the slippery slope where CBC would have to cater to its advertisers and begin playing more mainstream…
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DENIED. We’re still surprised (and most anyone who tells you they feel otherwise is pretty much full of it).
I mean, many of us had suggested a full-on denial could happen – and the overall tone of the public hearing last month surely had some believing it was a possibility, but it was pretty difficult to find anyone who would actually say with any certainty before Thursday afternoon this deal would be nixed. The CRTC hasn’t really fully said “No” to a significant deal since Vidéotron tried to buy CFCF in the 1990s and Power Corporation wanted to buy Quebec…
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TORONTO – With the airing of this Friday’s episode, MuchMusic’s Degrassi will surpass The Beachcombers as the longest-running English language drama in Canadian history. The 300th episode airs Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. ET and also marks the 400th episode of the entire franchise since it debuted in 1980 on CBC. Until now, The Beachcombers’ 387 episodes which ran from October 1, 1972 to December 12, 1990 had held the title of longest-running Canadian series.
“Very few television series have had an impact on multiple generations the way Degrassi has,” said Catherine MacLeod, Vice-President,…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada claims the CRTC, in its decision to kill the company's $3.4 billion takeover of Astral Media, ignored its own rules, created a bunch of new ones, was based on incorrect market share calculations and because of that it has asked the federal government to directly step in.
Calling the CRTC decision “absurd,” on Monday, BCE Inc. submitted a request to the federal Cabinet that it issue a policy direction under Section 7 of the Broadcasting Act that directs the CRTC to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting,…
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TORONTO – CBC Revenue Group has named Jim Kozak its new Director of Sales, Olympics and Sports Partnerships.
Kozak brings more than 15 years of sponsorship experience to role and will be responsible for overseeing CBC’s sales for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games, the Pan-Am Games, and the FIFA World Cup among other major CBC sports properties. Kozak joins CBC on October 29 and will report to Alan Dark, General Manager of the CBC Revenue Group.
"We are pleased to welcome Jim to CBC," said Alan Dark, General Manager, CBC Revenue Group. "He…
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TORONTO – A new strategic alliance with Microsoft will enable Rogers subscribers to connect their Windows Phone 8 devices to a growing ecosystem where they can readily communicate with all the screens in their household says Rob Bruce, President, Rogers Communications. He believes the alliance will enable Rogers to “attract more high-valued customers” by leveraging the features of Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform.
The announcement today makes Rogers the exclusive Canadian provider of the Nokia Lumia 920, Windows Phone 8X by HTC (8GB) and the Samsung ATIV Smart PC tablet. Rogers will also retail the…
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TORONTO – In a battle of research consulting firms, Nordicity has fired back at Canadian Media Research Inc.'s Barry Kiefl for his recent blog that was critical of its ad research for CBC. The blog was written last month by Kiefl who was formerly research director at CBC for nearly 20 years until he left in 2001.
In November of 2011, international consulting firm Nordicity released an assessment on the impact of removing advertising from CBC/Radio-Canada. The report, entitled Why Advertising on CBC/Radio-Canada is Good Public Policy and commissioned by the CBC, concluded that “Removing ads from CBC/Radio-Canada’s services would…
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TORONTO – A new poll conducted by Ipsos Reid concludes that despite digital alternatives, a majority of Canadian still prefer to “consult” the more traditional outlets to get their daily news fix. The study was commissioned on behalf of The Canadian Journalism Foundation. The report however does not attempt to measure what “consult” means when it comes to the actual time spent using traditional news outlets.
The list below ranks these sources from always daily consulted to least consulted in helping Canadians get their daily news fill.
In ranked order:
40% of Canadians…
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