OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada is keeping a low profile as it digests the impact of a 10% cut to its budget announced as part of Thursday’s federal budget.
The government committed to slashing the public broadcaster’s annual parliamentary appropriation by $115 million over three years as part of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan.
“CBC/Radio-Canada will review its approach for dealing with this reduction in a way that doesn't overly compromise its strategy for the future, 2015: Everyone, Every way”, the Corp said in a brief statement. “The measures that CBC/Radio-Canada intends to take over the next three years will be set out…
Continue Reading
I READ WITH INTEREST your commentary concerning the dispute between the independent BDUs (CIDG) and Bell Media.
Like Kevin Crull, the CEO of Bell Media, I too have “walked on both sides of the fence” (as noted in his letter of March 28). I was the president of the Canadian Cable Television Association and the CEO of Star Choice, Bell ExpressVu’s principal competitor, now known as Shaw Direct. More recently, I was the head of English services at the CBC, which, like Bell Media, includes a big conventional network and a number…
Continue Reading
LAST FALL, AROUND THE TIME of the CBC’s 75th anniversary, Edmonton MP Brent Rathgeber suggested the broadcaster become more commercially self-reliant. It couldn’t fulfill its mandate if “few people are watching and listening,” in his estimation.
In January, OpenMedia.ca and Leadnow.ca, two citizen engagement groups, launched a campaign to re-imagine the CBC by crowd-sourcing ideas using an online discussion forum. Then, recently, The Toronto Star launched The Network, a site devoted to what’s wrong with the CBC and how to fix it.
The CBC, however, is already “fixing” what it believes needs to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – It should come as little surprise Bell Media’s recent $3.4 billion bid for Astral Media was top-of-mind for radio industry executives at last week’s Radio Interactive conference, held as part of Slacker Canadian Music Week in Toronto.
Radio presidents from Bell Media Radio, Corus Radio and Rogers Radio took part in a super session moderated by Ross Davies, director of member engagement for the radio group at BBM Canada. Also represented on the panel were U.K. broadcaster Absolute Radio and U.S. radio station operator Cumulus Media.
Corus Radio president Chris Pandoff said the BCE-Astral Media…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Broadcasting is committed to the Saskatchewan production community, and believes that its yet-to-be-approved purchase of provincial broadcaster Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN) will help to keep that community “robust”.
Responding to criticism last week that its proposal to buy SCN seeks to spend less on local shows than the station’s previous owners, Rogers Media’s broadcasting president Scott Moore told Cartt.ca that the deal could actually prove to be a boon to local producers by opening up access to national audiences via its stable of stations and networks.
“We’ve asked the CRTC to allow us to do our Canadian programming…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – What would radio be without good, lively banter among radio personalities? And that’s exactly what attendees at the Radio Interactive conference on Thursday were treated to during a panel discussion called “Social Radio” that included execs from both terrestrial and pure-play digital radio companies. Radio Interactive was held as part of Slacker Canadian Music Week 2012 in Toronto last week.
A friendly but competitive vibe among the panellists could be felt early in the session, especially between Dave Farough, vice-president of brand, programming and new media for Corus Radio, and Rob Farina, executive vice-president of content for Astral…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada has united its English-French digital sales teams to make it easier for Canadian advertisers to reach its audiences.
For agency partners west of Quebec, the integrated team will bring new sales opportunities and provide a single point of contact that can deliver both English and French digital solutions, the Corp’s announcement reads. The team will be led by Michka Mancini, director of sales, digital media.
“This new initiative demonstrates our commitment to investing in digital media,” said Alan Dark, executive director of CBC Revenue Group, in the announcement. “It will enable us to scale meaningful digital solutions across…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Future success in the digital media world isn’t about the gadgets – it’s all about the content and user experience. That was the consensus among a group of industry experts who gathered Wednesday afternoon for a panel discussion during the Digital Media Summit, as part of Slacker Canadian Music Week in Toronto.
“There’s nothing clever technologically about the Apple iPhone, fundamentally,” said James Cridland, radio futurologist and managing director for MediaUK, a media industry information web site. “It’s the user experience that makes that product a brilliant product, in comparison to the old clunky things we used to have…
Continue Reading
CONVINCING SENIOR FOLKS in the broadcasting industry to talk – on the record – about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is no easy task. It’s not that no one has an opinion (quite the opposite, of course), it’s just that few are willing to be quoted.
Heap too much praise on the CBC and you’re some kind of apple-polisher, angling for a job or some other favour. Heaven forbid if you’re a private broadcaster who praises the CBC. That’s just not done. They are the enemy, after all! On the other hand, leveling criticism at the Corp. in a public forum…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CBC’s new digital music service seems to have struck a chord with Canadian music lovers.
Since its official launch just over a month ago, more than 650,000 Canadians have visited CBC Music. The service has also generated more than 3.5 million page views, with a cumulative listening total of 3 million hours of music.
Rock, Classical, Singer-Songwriter, Jazz, Pop and Country were the most popular of the service’s 14 genre-based music communities visited. CBC Music also offers 40 different web radio stations, live performance videos, and concerts on demand.
“We created CBC Music in order to better provide Canadians with…
Continue Reading
