I’VE HEARD SOME CRITICIZE Richard Stursberg’s just-launched book, The Tower of Babble: Sins Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC, as “the gospel according to Richard.” After reading it I’d say well, yeah, it is his name on the cover, after all.
The book is an easy, entertaining read bound to inform, anger, confuse and confirm a lot about what folks in the industry have thought about both the author and his subject matter, our national public broadcaster.
Stursberg positions himself as something of a saviour of the 75-year-old public broadcaster who came in, raised English TV from the ashes and made…
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STOP US IF you’ve heard this before: “Psst, I hear (insert name here) is going to be the next CRTC chair.”
Today it’s Jean-Pierre Blais, a former executive director, broadcasting at the CRTC (during CRTC chair Francoise Bertrand’s tenure), former assistant deputy minister of international and intergovernmental affairs and former ADM of cultural affairs both at the Department of Canadian Heritage – and current assistant secretary of the government operations sector at the Treasury Board. He was the senior bureaucrat in charge of the federal government’s pre-budget strategic and operating review, so he is quite familiar now to the Conservative…
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TORONTO – CBC Music is planning to take its annual celebration of music education to new heights thanks to some help from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Hadfield, who is also an accomplished musician and songwriter, will team up with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies fame to write and premiere a brand new song in time for Music Monday 2013. Music Monday is celebrated on the first Monday of May each year as students and teachers take their music programs outdoors and into their communities, performing the same song at the exact same time.
Over the coming months, Hadfield and Robertson will…
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WATERLOO – Bell Media/CTV, Rogers Media and CBC are the latest Canadian broadcasters to sign on with Dejero to help expand their newsgathering capabilities.
The Dejero LIVE+ Platform is a line of centrally-managed products that enables both traditional and online broadcasters to transmit high quality HD or SD live video through cellular networks, using a variety of mobile devices from any location. Since its debut at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the three broadcasters have all integrated various products from the Dejero LIVE+ Platform into their production workflow.
“While all broadcasters are challenged by the immense complexities of live newsgathering,…
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TORONTO – Canada’s premier film and television awards are merging into one televised broadcast starting next year.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT) said that the united broadcast of the Genie Awards, which honours the best in film, and the Gemini Awards, which salutes homegrown television, will culminate in a two-hour live broadcast set for March 3, 2013 on CBC.
English and French-language films will continue to compete in the new awards show which will now also include English-language television and digital awards. The annual Gémeaux Awards, which celebrate French-language television and digital media, will air September 16 on…
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TORONTO – Women in Film & Television – Toronto (WIFT-T) has added three new directors to its board for the 2012-2013 term.
The newly elected directors, announced at the organization’s annual general meeting, include Pat DiVittorio, VP of program planning at Bell Media; Fiona Lee, CA, director of finance, programming, at Corus Entertainment; Kristine Murphy, director of industry development at OMDC; and Natalie Osborne, EVP of business development at 9 Story Entertainment.
Prentiss Fraser will continue as board chair. The board members re-elected for 2012-2013 include:
– Victoria Evans, partner and producer, Stitch Media; – Prentiss Fraser, SVP, worldwide sales and acquisitions, Entertainment…
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TORONTO – Former Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean has won the ‘people’s pick’ for the next chair of the CBC, according to an online poll sponsored by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
Jean (pictured), who is also a former journalist, garnered 32% of the 8,726 ballots cast, beating out seven other candidates nominated by the independent watchdog group.
The organization launched the poll late last week in response to “the antiquated practice of appointing all of the CBC’s leadership through political patronage”. Monday marked the deadline for responding to a notice of vacancy published by the federal government after the term of the…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada, Rogers Media and Shaw Media are teaming up on a new venture that allows advertisers to bid for space on their respective digital advertising inventory in real-time.
Called the Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX), the gateway allows access to over 100 domains in both English and French, reaching an audience of more than 15 million Canadians. Scheduled to launch on May 16, CPAX allows advertisers one-stop shopping to reach a targeted audience, while users receive advertisements that are most relevant and of interest to them.
The three media companies will direct a portion of their inventory into CPAX but…
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TORONTO – Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has launched an online voting system to help choose the next chair of the CBC.
The independent watchdog called the practice of appointing the CBC board and president “antiquated”, and that it be overhauled to “bring Canada in line with other developed countries which have removed political patronage from the process of appointing the leadership of their public broadcasters”. The term of current chair Timothy Casgrain expired this week.
The organization proposed eight candidates for the position, noting that none have neither asked nor agreed to stand for the CBC board chair position. Its nominees are:
– Herménégilde Chiasson,…
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LOS GATOS, CA – Despite adding almost 3 million new global customers, Netflix reported the first net loss in its seven year history for the first quarter of 2012, which it blamed on rising content costs.
In a note to shareholders on Monday, CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells said that Netflix ended the first quarter of 2012 with 26.6 million global streaming members and a $4.6 million loss.
In its sixth quarter since launching international operations, the streaming service reported 3.06 million international subscribers, which now account for nearly 12% of its total (and 10% of paid) customers (international…
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