OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada will challenge the legal recourse filed by Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages earlier this month “in the interest of protecting its programming independence”.
“The Commissioner of Official Languages should not have jurisdiction over the Corporation’s programming”, said Maryse Bertrand, CBC/Radio-Canada’s VP of real estate, legal services, and general counsel, in a statement. “It would be inappropriate for him, or another third party, to be able to dictate what kind of content CBC/Radio-Canada should air. It’s in the public interest that the Corporation’s editorial independence be protected. That independence is at the very heart of the public broadcaster’s…
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TORONTO – The CBC will expanding its hockey coverage to more than just the NHL this season.
The Corp. has signed a one-year broadcast agreement with the American Hockey League (AHL) that will see CBC broadcast 10 games throughout the upcoming 2010-11 season. All 10 games will feature AHL teams affiliated with one of the six Canadian NHL teams, and will air and be streamed live on Sunday afternoons.
“We’re looking forward to featuring the stars of hockey’s future with the AHL on CBC,” said Scott Moore, executive director, CBC Sports and general manager of CBC Media sales and marketing, in the…
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YELLOWKNIFE – Bell Mobility has been named in a class action lawsuit launched by two Yellowknife men who say the mobile carrier charges for locally non-existent 911 service.
Justice Ronald Veale certified the lawsuit as a class action for customers living in the Northwest Territories. James and Samuel Anderson are suing Bell Mobility for charging 75 cents a month in 911 emergency access fees, even though 911 service is not available in the in the territory.
According to a CBC report, a cellphone user who dials 911 in Yellowknife receives an automated message saying "There are no 911 services in…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has extended various Canadian broadcasting licenses in order to carry them through next year’s digital transition deadline.
CBC, Canwest, CTV, and Rogers received license extensions for their respective conventional, over-the-air stations from September 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011 so that they may be considered as trial markets for the upcoming transition.
Many category 1 and 2 specialty stations and radio networks were renewed through August 31, 2011, while others – such as The Score, ATN, Teletoon and some pay TV channels – received an extension through August 31, 2012.
“The Commission intends to administratively renew the…
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TORONTO – CBC president Hubert Lacroix tried to quell speculation and set the record straight after last week’s surprise departure of executive vice-president, English services Richard Stursberg.
In a post on the Corp’s blog, Lacroix scoffed at rumours that Stursberg was escorted from the building, and said that the creation of a new strategic plan was “a good time to review the leadership of CBC.”
"The decision to change leadership was not a sudden decision triggered by any specific incident”, Lacroix wrote. “It was, rather, the culmination of a very long reflection on the future of the Corporation,…
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WATERLOO and TORONTO – Corus Entertainment, CBC and TVO are some of the first Canadian content producers to have podcasts included in Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry Podcasts service.
Launched Wednesday, BlackBerry Podcasts is a free application that allows BlackBerry customers to discover and acquire podcasts from various content providers.
Users can access free audio and video content by searching the podcast catalog by keyword, category, channel or top downloads. Content can be downloaded over Wi-Fi or cellular networks and consumed through BlackBerry’s media player. BlackBerry Podcasts also uses the push technology of the BlackBerry platform to notify users when new…
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OTTAWA – Richard Stursberg’s last day at the CBC was Friday.
The executive vice-president, English services at CBC/Radio-Canada was let go, in order to bring in “new leadership”, according to the Corp.
Stursberg was appointed to the job on November 22, 2007 and was first appointed EVP of CBC Television on October 1, 2004. He oversaw all aspects of CBC/Radio-Canada’s English-language programming services, which includes, among other things, CBC Television, CBC Newsworld, The Documentary Channel, CBC Country Canada, CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, CBC Radio 3, and CBC.ca.
"When Richard was appointed executive vice-president of CBC Television six years ago, he…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada released the details of its plan for the transition to digital over-the-air television today.
The transition to digital television, whose deadline is 390 days away, is an industry wide issue requiring a concerted effort by all players – broadcasters, the CRTC, and government – to ensure that Canadians are properly informed of the changes coming and how to deal with them.
So far, the industry has produced little when it comes to ensuring Canadians are properly informed, so this plan is a welcome, if late and small, beginning.
CBC/Radio-Canada will be installing digital transmitters in all of the markets…
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GATINEAU – When it comes to the Canadian communications industry, the web is taking over, according to the CRTC’s annual Communications Monitoring Report.
Based on 2009 data, (end of August for broadcast, end of December for telecom) the report shows the communications industry accounted for 4.6% of Canada’s gross domestic product with overall revenues rising 2.1% to $55.4 billion, compared with revenues of $54.3 billion the previous year.
And, Canadians are increasingly using mobile and Internet services to communicate and access broadcasting content. By the end of the year, there were 23.8 million wireless subscribers and 8.3 million broadband Internet.
From…
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TORONTO – Rogers has lowered the GB limits on some of its Internet plans, a move that has sparked speculation about whether it may be linked to the pending arrival of U.S. on-line video service Netflix, or the rumours about Hulu coming to Canada this year.
The new lower limits, which came in to effect last week, apply to new customers only. Customers who signed up for the company’s ‘Extreme’ package after July 21 are allowed 80 gigabytes of monthly usage, down from 90 for those who were already customers. Those going for the ‘Lite’ service will now get 15 GB, versus…
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