BANFF – Vertically integrated media companies in Canada are essential to the long term health and viability of the Canadian production industry, delegates at the 2011 Banff World Media Festival heard Sunday afternoon.
Speaking at a panel discussion called ‘Canadian Media Leaders: The State of the Nation’ here on opening day, it wasn’t a shock that representatives from Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media took that tack. But it was somewhat surprising that CBC and Astral, neither of whom is affiliated with a BDU, would agree so readily.
“There’s a lot to be said for how’s this industry has been working…
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WELL, THAT WAS predictable.
We awoke Wednesday morning to a new report on wireless – this time on data roaming charges – from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The press release bellowed: “More effective competition and better regulation needed to cut high mobile data roaming costs, says OECD”.
When an international body with an unwieldy membership and fuzzy, broad mandate such as the OECD says we need more regulation of this or that, my automatic bullshit antenna engages. I also wondered aloud right away where Canada would rank in the report and in the press release (the only bit…
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OTTAWA and TORONTO – Reaction to Monday’s federal budget was seemingly unanimous across the industry as stakeholders offered a resounding thumbs-up to the government’s renewed commitment to the Canada Media Fund and the country’s national broadcaster.
The government recommitted $100 million per year in on-going funding to the Canada Media Fund (CMF), plus a one-time injection of $60 million in funding to CBC/Radio-Canada for the production of Canadian programming. These two measures were originally introduced in the March 22nd budget, but died on the order paper when the election was called.
"This is great news for Canadian programming on all…
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TORONTO – CBC Sports has finalized a five-year deal with the International Skating Union (ISU) to show some of its biggest international events.
The deal includes more than 120 hours of coverage annually of figure skating and speed skating that will be carried on CBC, its specialty channel bold TV, streamed on-line and through a strategic partnership with VisionTV.
The schedule includes the 2011 ISU Grand Prix Final this December in Quebec City, the World Figure Skating Championships (including London, Ontario in 2013), the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, and all international Grand Prix events. It also encompasses all major…
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TORONTO – Re:Sound Music Licensing has asked the Copyright Board of Canada to extend the term of several of its current tariffs, which in turn could bump up costs at Canada’s radio broadcasters.
The not-for-profit music licensing company said Monday that its proposed tariff rates largely reflect changes sought in prior filings, update the rates assigned to various music users, and reflect “the most up-to-date understanding of the fair value of music”. The proposed renewals include Tariff 1A (Commercial Radio), Tariff 1C (CBC Radio), Tariff 2 (Pay Audio), Tariff 3 (Background Music), and Tariff 4 (Satellite Radio), and the organization has…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s television services are back in business. CRTC figures released Thursday in a press release, (based largely on data from individual companies which we actually broke down here and here way back in January), show that the return of the advertising market translated into some, albeit modest, profits at conventional broadcasters, though the country’s specialty and pay broadcasters fared better.
According to the Commission’s count, revenue at the country’s private conventional television climbed 9% to approximately $2.15 billion in 2010 broadcast year, while expenses increased 1.7%. This resulted in profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) rebounding from a deficit of $116.6 million in…
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TORONTO – With the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals underway, CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada is experimenting with social media in some unique ways.
Through a partnership with Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft and CBCSports.ca has been using Hockey Night Pulse to track fan reaction on Twitter throughout every playoff series. It also developed a partnership with entertainment social network GetGlue.com that allows fans to ‘check in’ with Hockey Night and chat with other fans as they watch the games.
Hockey Night Pulse tracks Twitter reaction to every goal, save and penalty in real time. To date, it has crunched more than 1.2 million tweets on…
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TORONTO – Bell Media ranked second in Canada for videos viewed in April, coming in only behind Google.
According to comScore’s April 2011 ranking, Bell Media was the only Canadian company in the top five highest-ranked companies by videos viewed. Video views to Bell Media sites were nearly 120 million, with more than 8.8 million hours of video consumed.
"Ranking up amongst the biggest on-line entities is a testament to the strength of Bell Media to compete not only as the #1 broadcaster in Canada, but as a powerful contender in the digital video marketplace," said Gary Anderson, head of Bell…
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TORONTO – Rogers-owned easy-listening pop music station CHFI-FM held on to top spot in the Toronto radio market with a 12.5% share, according to the Spring portable people meter (PPM) reports released by BBM Canada.
For the 13 week period from January 24 through April 24, 2011, Toronto’s second spot went to Bell Media’s CHUM-FM with a 10.5% share, which was up slightly from 10.1% last fall. CBC Radio One (CBLA-FM) held down third spot with a 8.6% share of the market.
Corus’ news talk format remained popular with listeners in B.C. and Alberta. CKNW continued to lead the Vancouver market…
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TORONTO – CBC will beef up local coverage in British Columbia this year, before rolling out new weekend news programming in Toronto and Calgary, the CBC said Thursday.
Specifically, all-new radio and on-line services will be established in Kamloops; CBC in Kelowna will expand its current service to include a new afternoon radio program focused on serving the B.C. interior; and CBC Victoria’s existing programming will be enhanced to better serve the specific needs of Vancouver Island audiences. Victoria and Kelowna’s new programming will begin this fall with Kamloops to follow in spring, 2012.
And that’s in addition to new TV weekend…
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