IN NOVEMBER, THEN-MACLEAN’S magazine national columnist Andrew Coyne added his voice to the cacophony of critics carping about the CBC, saying the TV portion should become a pay channel, a-la HBO.
Oy, where to begin with that one? How about starting with the Broadcasting Act, a law which mandates the CBC’s existence, carriage and programming goals. According to the Part 1 of the Act, section 3(1)(l & m), the overall programming provided by the Corp. should be that which “informs, enlightens and entertains” and should:
(i) be predominantly and distinctively Canadian, (ii) reflect Canada and its regions…
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SLAMMING THE CBC has become a too-easy sport for many Canadians (second only, perhaps, to slamming the CRTC). That harsh, hot criticism should be expected, however.
The CBC gets more than a billion dollars a year from Canadians (an amount that is likely to take a hit, come the March 29th federal budget), has to be made available to all of us everywhere and serve a mandate written into law – to be all things to all Canadians. Satisfying that mandate has been nearly impossible to fulfill for most of the CBC’s lifetime. So coast-to-coast-criticism, as those who work at…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has received 22 applications for the coveted 88.1 FM slot in Toronto which vary from a $12 million CanCon promise from Newcap, to an all-business news station from Channel Zero, to a student-supported bid by Ryerson University to reclaim the frequency it lost last year when The school’s CKLN Radio was stripped of its licence.
CKLN Radio Inc had been broadcasting its community-based campus radio station at Ryerson University for 27 years until its licence was revoked in January, 2011 after it repeatedly failed to comply with federal broadcasting regulations over a number of years. But…
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TORONTO – CBC broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos is one of three Canadians named Young Global Leaders for 2012 on Tuesday by the World Economic Forum.
Stroumboulopoulos (pictured) is joined by fellow Canadians Kaliya Hamlin, executive director, Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium, and Tim Wu, senior advisor for the Federal Trade Commission.
"I would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to George on being selected as a Young Global Leader," said Kirstine Stewart, executive vice-president of English Services for CBC, in a statement. "George continues to inspire, educate and entertain Canadians on a…
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MONTREAL – Frosty relations between Quebecor Media and CBC/Radio-Canada may be thawing after the two companies finalized a number of agreements aimed at “re-establishing their commercial relationships over the years to come”.
In a statement on Monday, Quebecor Media said that the agreements include distribution deals with its Videotron subsidiary for “the specialized channels and the other broadcasting vehicles of Société Radio-Canada”, plus ad buys on Quebecor-owned Sun Media’s francophone digital and print platforms.
Quebecor's media outlets have been openly critical of the CBC for an alleged lack of transparency after submitting hundreds of requests under the Access To Information regulations, as Cartt.ca…
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OTTAWA – Establishing a carriage relationship with Netflix, YouTube, Google, Yahoo! and others as well as reworking how money is distributed to fund online entertainment are two ways to ensure Canadian content will secure a space for itself on the Internet, Canadian Media Production Association’s (CMPA) annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa, heard Friday.
Online entertainment is growing leaps and bounds with the help of some major players such as Google and Yahoo, but what can be done to ensure that Canadian productions have a place? Richard Stursberg, senior advisor on media and entertainment with Telus (and former head of…
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OTTAWA – The biggest challenge the Canadian broadcasting industry is facing is a subset of distributors who are seeking lower rates for specialty services, Kevin Crull, president of Bell Media, told the Canadian Media Production Association’s annual Prime Time 2012 conference in Ottawa on Friday morning.
Crull spoke about this issue and other challenges Bell Media is facing in a interview style session with former CTV president, former head of CBC News and current professor, MBA program in arts and media administration, Schulich School of Business, Trina McQueen. Crull said this issue is more important than the group licensing regime…
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OTTAWA – Last year’s transition to digital transmission helped to cut Canada’s over-the-air television penetration to an all-time low of just 5%, says a new report by the Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The report, entitled ‘Post-DTV Transition: Did Canadians Convert?’, found that there are now more Canadians who have opted out of television than there are those who use antennas. These “tuned-out” Canadians – people who choose to live without TV – increased from 4% to 7% of the population in just one year.
The conversion from analog to digital over-the-air TV broadcasting occurred in most markets in Canada on September…
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MONTREAL – One of the most influential figures in Canadian media history, Pierre Juneau, died yesterday in Montreal. He was 89.
A staunch backer of Canadian content on the airwaves, Juneau held three of the most important cultural positions in the country during his long and distinguished career. First, at the National Film Board, he created the French language arm of the organization and is recognized in Quebec as playing a central role in the development of French filmmaking in Canada. Back when TV didn’t exist much (let alone any other form of transmission) Juneau first toured Europe showcasing Canadian…
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GATINEAU – One thing the aggregate annual financial returns of Canadian broadcast and distribution companies showed is holding the rights to the Olympics, even a home one, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
(Last Friday, February 10th, the CRTC released the 2011 broadcast year aggregate annual returns of large distribution undertakings, multi-system operators and conventional television and radio ownership groups, a requirement under Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-560. The 2011 broadcast year ended on August 31st.)
The figures show that at Bell Media (which during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was still CTVglobemedia) 2011 national ad…
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