OTTAWA – In his first public appearance as chair of the CRTC where he was the one answering and not asking the questions, Jean-Pierre Blais gave the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage a brief look at the direction and the future he envisions for the Regulator so many Canadians (including some MPs) misunderstand.
Chairman Blais has already put his stamp on the CRTC by signalling rather overtly that under his watch the Commission will be consumer, or citizen-focused like never before. He has already hired a chief consumer officer, Barbara Motzney and during the hearing into…
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MONTRÉAL – A major contingent of Canadian talent will be descending upon MIPCOM, the world’s leading entertainment content market across all platforms, in Cannes, France from October 8 to 11.
The Canadian stars will be on hand to celebrate and support the promotion of Canadian productions featured in the Canada Country of Honour event, organized by Reed MIDEM in partnership with the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada. The industry’s dynamism and Canadian creativity will also be in the spotlight at programmed talks and events during both MIPJunior and MIPCOM. In addition, the Canada…
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PETER AND TONY VINER are a rare pair in the world of business, let alone broadcasting. The two brothers, separated by two years, each and on their own rose to the top of major, multi-billion dollar broadcasting businesses headed by two of Canada’s most celebrated entrepreneurs.
Peter, 67, helped the late Izzy Asper build Canwest Global into a multi-billion-dollar international media powerhouse before the company fell on hard, debt-burdened, times. Tony, 65, built Rogers Media from two Toronto radio stations (Ted Rogers’ famous first media asset, CHFI-FM, and CFTR-AM, now 680News) when he came on board in 1982 to a…
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TORONTO – Sportsnet has unveiled its 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling event schedule, which begins November 14 with The Masters in Brantford, ON and features events in Kelowna, B.C., Port Hawkesbury, N.S. and Toronto.
Owned and operated by Sportsnet, the Grand Slam of Curling is an elite series of men’s and women's curling events which are part of the World Curling Tour and feature the best teams from across Canada and around the world. Sportsnet’s 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling event schedule is as follows:
– The Masters, November 14-18, 2012, Wayne Gretzky…
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WHILE CONCEDING THAT THE various accusations and complaints levelled against it over the past weeks and months show a high level of “competitive and financial tension” evident in the Canadian TV business nowadays, Bell Canada told the CRTC Friday that this tension should not impact the approval of its purchase of Astral Media.
In its final written reply to the CRTC hearing into the purchase, Bell Canada insisted its decision to buy Astral Media and all of its radio stations, TV properties and other assets is in the public interest and that only by owning the…
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OTTAWA – The hundreds of communities impacted by the CBC`s move to shut down 623 analog transmitters on July 31, ending free over-the-air access to the CBC and Radio-Canada, have only until October 9th to bid on the transmitters and towers. The towers can be used to distribute not only the CBC or Radio-Canada but also community TV or radio, other distant TV or radio services or even wireless high-speed Internet says Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
"The community of Hay River, NWT has already obtained English CBC, Radio-Canada and APTN…
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TORONTO – More than a year in the works, Sirius and XM users can finally find out what the other is listening to for an extra $4 a month. But can SiriusXM’s new premier subscription service compete against free?
With the launch of “Best Of” SiriusXM Canada is following the lead of its U.S. counterpart and is now offering subscription packages allowing Canadian Sirius and XM subscribers to add a selection of channels from the other service.
"Our combined subscriber base has been waiting for this exciting benefit since the Sirius XM Canada merger and we're…
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ST. JOHN’S – Cutbacks, concentration of ownership, reimagining public media, and even the cable bill of president and CEO Hubert Lacroix were all up for discussion at CBC’s 4th annual public meeting. Ahead of its CRTC renewal hearing scheduled for November 19, executives also called for a regulatory framework that will enable the public broadcaster to maintain a presence “no matter what degree of industry consolidation may happen, or how fast technology and demographics might evolve.”
But before they got to the CBC’s numbers, Lacroix, whose future at the CBC remains unclear as…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX), a new online, real-time bidding exchange service is adding two new networks, V and Télé-Québec. The networks join recently announced Corus and founding partners Shaw Media, Rogers Media and CBC/Radio-Canada.
The participation of V and Télé-Québec further expands and strengthens CPAX's premium French-language opportunities for the advertising community, with Canadian digital advertising inventory now reaching across a wide network of top domains in French. CPAX says it now offers an efficient and cost-effective means of reaching targeted audiences with premium inventory across leading Canadian brands in both English and French.
"V is…
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GRANTING BELL THE RIGHT to buy Astral Media will make an already big company that acts badly, enormous, add incentive for it act even worse, which in the end will crush competition and choice in Canada. Therefore, the deal needs to be quashed altogether or tough new rules applied to constrain the biggest player in Canadian media, say final replies to the CRTC’s public proceeding into Bell Canada’s quest to buy Astral Media.
Those last written rejoinders to the Commission’s public proceeding into Bell Canada’s purchase of Astral Media (CRTC 2012-370) from intervenors were due into the Commission on Friday,…
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