TORONTO – The Canadian Media Guild and Openmedia.ca have launched a campaign to save free local TV signals for Canadians living in small towns after the industry’s transition to digital.
The transition could impact 11 million Canadians living in smaller cities and rural areas, the group said in a statement on Tuesday. CRTC rules say OTA only has to stay on in communities larger than 300,000, plus provincial and territorial capitals.
“The Guild has presented research to the CRTC and to broadcasters on how they could use the new digital technology to improve TV service in smaller communities by sharing transmitters”, the…
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TORONTO – Members of the Local TV Matters campaign are encouraging radio stations across Canada to dedicate airtime to the fee-for-carriage debate to help consumers understand the issues.
In a press release on Thursday, the coalition, which consists of CTV, /A\, Global, CBC, and CHEK News, encouraged Canadians to “to call in and ask the tough questions”.
"The more Canadians talk and learn about the issues, the more support grows for local TV and our reasonable and practical solution," said Paul Sparkes, CTVgm’s EVP of corporate affairs, in the release. "Let’s talk about it because the solution is simple: let us…
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THE PUBLIC RELATIONS war between Canadian BDUs and broadcasters over fee-for-carriage got a little sillier yesterday.
Right away, I already know the broadcasters are reading that opening line and getting hot under the collar. “It’s not fee-for-carriage, it’s value-for-signal,” or “it’s about the right to negotiate for fair value for our signals,” they are muttering.
And now, the BDUs out there are thinking “screw that, it’s a fee, call it what it is.”
In an extreme nutshell, broadcasters are trying to re-frame the debate saying now they only want the ability to negotiate for a fee for their local TV signals, which…
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TORONTO – CBC Radio One maintained its top position in the lucrative markets of Toronto and Vancouver for the S3 period, but just barely.
According to BBM’s top-line results for July and August, CBLA FM achieved an 8.8% share of tuning in Toronto, which was down from its 10% share in the Spring, but still ahead of its closest competitor. Rogers-owned CHFI FM achieved an 8.4% rating for the period, which was also down from its Spring rating of 9.2%.
In Vancouver, CBU garnered an 11.6% share, a drop from its 12.4% share in S2, followed closely by Corus’ news talk CKNW which had a…
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TORONTO – A coalition of some of Canada’s biggest TV service providers have teamed up on a campaign to tell their side of the story on the contentious issue of fee for carriage.
Bell, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, EastLink, Rogers and Telus have joined forces on ‘Stop the TV Tax’ which they say is designed to ensure “that Canadians hear the whole story”.
"Cable and satellite subscribers have united to stop the broadcasters’ costly proposal because it amounts to a tax, pure and simple”, said Rogers vice chair Phil Lind, in a statement. “This tax will hit viewers for stations that have always…
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TORONTO – The CBC and the National Post have brokered an agreement allowing both organizations to share content across their respective media platforms.
Effective immediately, CBC.ca will run daily financial stories and podcasts from the Financial Post in CBC’s on-line ‘Money’ section, and The National Post will run daily sports stories in the sports section of nationalpost.com and periodically in the sports section of the newspaper. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"This is an attractive arrangement for both organizations," said Richard Stursberg, EVP of CBC English services, in the announcement. "As Canada’s national public broadcaster, we have an unsurpassed…
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CALGARY – MoboVivo is offering popular prime time hit The Tudors for iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry and laptop users simultaneously, marking the first time that a major TV series has been simultaneously released on the Apple and BlackBerry mobile platforms.
Canadians can download the show’s third season for $1.99 per episode, or $12.99 for the entire season. Each episode will become available as it is aired on the CBC.
"Bringing TV shows to computers, iPhone, iPod and BlackBerry takes the idea of anytime, anywhere video and makes it a reality," said founder and CEO Trevor Doerksen, in the announcement. "MoboVivo is…
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BRANDON – The final newscast of CKX-TV Brandon will happen tomorrow at 6 p.m., station owner CTVglobemedia told staff Thursday evening. Thirty-nine employees will lose their jobs.
The company that had announced in July that it was purchasing the station, Bluepoint Investments, has walked away from the $1 deal to buy it, a surprised CTVgm CEO Ivan Fecan told employees today, calling a letter he received from Bluepoint late Thursday an “unanticipated development”.
“Bottom line, they didn’t think there was a sustainable business without satellite coverage, which they cannot get,” said Fecan in a memo to staff.
“Brandon, like many of…
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THE BIG BROADCASTERS and BDUs fought this, but by September 14th, those companies had to file their aggregate financial data from their 2008 fiscal years with the Commission.
On the weekend, the CRTC posted the figures on its web site and since the industry it currently roiling over the continuing fee-for-carriage debate, we looked at the numbers largely through that prism.
After spending several hours examining a lot of the data, I can tell you the most lucrative place to work is Bell TV – which paid its 1,398 employees an average salary of $90,136 – or CTV, whose average…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada staged its first annual public meeting Wednesday morning, allowing Canadians to tune in on-line to hear about its financial highlights from last year and its strategic direction for the future.
Board chair Tim Casgrain, president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, and VP and CFO Suzanne Morris took part in the ‘pubcaster’s attempt to appear more transparent in its management of public funds.
"All CBC/Radio-Canada’s services, on television, radio and the Internet, in English and French, cost only $34 per year per Canadian – which translates into less than 10 cents a day”, Lacroix said in a statement. “Our annual public meeting has allowed…
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