Canadian Heritage has announced the appointment of Sylvain Lafrance as chairperson of Telefilm Canada. In addition, Deborah MacPherson and Claude Doucet have been appointed as members of Telefilm’s board of directors.
The five-year terms of all three appointees began May 9.
An expert in the fields of media management and communications, Lafrance worked at CBC/Radio-Canada for more than three decades. Before leaving the national public broadcaster in 2011, he held the position of executive vice president of French services, where he led the integration of the Crown corporation’s radio,…
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Following Meta’s decision last August to block Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, nearly three in 10 online Canadians (29 per cent) say they are using the websites or apps of Canadians news organizations more, according to a new report from the Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a product of CBC/Radio-Canada.
The most popular source among Canadians for online news are Canadian news broadcasters, the report says.
“While Canadians are mentioning traditional outlets like TV and radio as being used more for news content, 18 to 34 year olds are looking…
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Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge announced Monday the appointment of an advisory committee that will provide policy advice on the role, mission and governance of Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada.
The committee composed of seven experts and specialists will be tasked with providing advice “on how to strengthen and renew the public broadcaster so it can continue to fulfill its important social, cultural and democratic functions,” says a Heritage press release.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is a cornerstone of Canadian culture,” St-Onge said in a statement. “For almost 90 years, our public broadcaster has been a…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The head of CBC came to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on Tuesday proudly declaring that the public broadcaster’s “financial outlook has improved” since last December when it announced plans to cut 600 jobs to offset an estimated shortfall of $125 million, and had been reduced to about $20 million, resulting in no need for further payroll cuts to balance the books at CBC/Radio Canada.
But several members of the committee, which has been scrutinizing the employment reduction at the English-French broadcaster, were more focused on…
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Public broadcasters CBC/Radio-Canada, RTBF in Belgium, SRG SSR in Switzerland and ZDF in Germany, in collaboration with non-profit organization New_ Public, on Tuesday unveiled test concepts of possible solutions to transform how their websites, apps and other digital platforms are used for public conversation.
“By encouraging open and diverse conversations, public broadcasters aim to play a crucial role in stimulating informed public debate that is essential to democracy,” reads a CBC press release.
Tuesday’s announcement follows the launch last year of the broadcasters’ joint initiative, the Public Spaces…
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CBC on Thursday announced its spring and summer slate of original podcasts, featuring the new anthology series Split Screen as well as in-depth examinations of a curling scandal, the rise of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Bre-X goldmine fraud.
In its first season, Split Screen traces the true story behind Kid Nation, one of reality TV’s most controversial experiments, which was cancelled shortly after its 2007 debut. Borrowing its premise from William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, the show’s producers took 40 kids into a makeshift desert town to fend for themselves and create their own…
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By Catherine Tait, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada
In 2021, more than 7.7 million Canadians watched Julia Grosso put away the game-winning goal to clinch gold for the Canadian women’s soccer team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
It was an incredible moment that united Canadians from coast to coast to coast. But as any athlete can tell you, an Olympic or Paralympic medal comes only after years and years of less-than-glamorous effort that often goes unnoticed. What we don’t see makes these athletes who they are.
And that’s why the public broadcaster does sports differently. We show you today’s athletes but…
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By Connie Thiessen
A cross-section of Canadian media advocacy and culture groups are taking issue with what was “missing” from last week’s federal budget, ranging from a lack of AI protections to allocating a bigger share of the federal advertising spend to local broadcasters.
Earlier this year, Stingray and a coalition of 20 independent broadcasters that included Central Ontario Broadcasting, Dougall Media, Durham Radio, Evanov Communications, Golden West Broadcasting, Pattison Media, and Vista Radio, appealed for a greater share of the $86M federal advertising spend to go to local media. Right now, more than 70 per cent is spent with digital…
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By Connie Thiessen
The 2024 federal budget includes support for media and the cultural industries, with a focus on bolstering publicly-funded broadcasting, fortifying the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), and championing diverse storytelling in film and television.
Budget 2024, released Tuesday, proposes to provide an additional $42 million in 2024-25 for CBC/Radio-Canada news and entertainment programming, on top of its $1.4-billion public funding allocation.
CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait said in a statement that the one-time funding would help the corporation “manage its financial challenges in a more stable manner.”
“This is welcome news. This investment, together with the steps we have taken…
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CBC/Radio-Canada announced Monday highlights of its planned coverage of the upcoming Olympic Games being held in Paris this summer from July 26 to Aug. 11.
“CBC’s comprehensive coverage of Paris 2024 will feature live broadcasts from every venue and include every Canadian medal-winning moment, totalling more than 3000 hours of live content across the public broadcaster’s multiple platforms,” reads a CBC press release.
Team Canada will be among the approximately 10,500 athletes (5,250 women and 5,250 men) representing 206 countries taking part in these Olympic Games.
“As we mark our 24th Olympic Games as Canada’s official broadcaster, we look…
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