TORONTO – Calling it “a closely guarded secret plan,” Friends of Canadian Broadcasting says the CBC wants to relocate The National from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weeknights.
According to the watchdog group, “(t)his would reduce the reach and influence of Canada’s most important news program and compromise the CBC’s mandate,” reads a press release.
FCB says the Corp “may fill the 10 o’clock slot “with entertainment programming, possibly of non-Canadian origin,” adds the release.
"Funding cuts may have left the CBC struggling to make ends meet, but only someone who does not understand or care about the CBC’s public broadcasting…
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TORONTO – CBC News is bumping up its local supper-hour newscasts to 90 minutes starting next month.
Beginning August 31, the newscasts will also move up to an earlier timeslot, from 5-6:30 p.m. (local time) which the pubcaster says will “better serve Canadians”.
“Canadians want more local news and want more options of when to get it,” said Kirstine Layfield, CBC Television’s executive director of programming, in the announcement. “So we are extending CBC News against a larger local footprint.”
In related news, business journalist Amanda Lang, host is joining CBC News this Fall. In addition to hosting a new business program…
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OTTAWA – The CBC has formerly applied to amend the broadcast licence of its specialty channel ‘bold’, formerly known as ‘Country Canada’.
The pubcaster re-launched its category 1 specialty Country Canada as bold on March 27 2008, after telling the CRTC that the change could be done without amending the nature of service of Country Canada. But the Commission disagreed, and scheduled a hearing to determine whether the way that CBC re-branded the channel had negatively impacted “the integrity of the licensing process”. The CRTC suspended the hearing after CBC agreed to make a formal application.
In Broadcasting Notice…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has announced plans to make telecommunications and broadcasting services more accessible to disabled Canadians.
On the telecom side, the CRTC has pledged to:
– require that telephone companies offer a new service that will allow an operator to convert text messages sent over the Internet into voice calls, and vice versa. Known as Internet Protocol relay, this service is used by persons who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate;
– require that telecom companies, including cable and satellite companies, improve the accessibility of their customer service;
– request that wireless companies offer at least one type of cell phone…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – CBC Newsworld is cancelling its award-winning documentary program The Lens after 16 years.
Previously known as Rough Cuts, the program has showcased approximately 175 Canadian documentaries from independent filmmakers.
Norm Bolen, president and CEO of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) called the news “a very disturbing signal from Canada’s public broadcaster.”
“We understand the financial constraints all broadcasters are under but the documentary genre should be better represented and funded by the broadcasting sector,” Bolen said in a statement. “Cancelling this outlet for one-off, point-of-view documentaries by independent producers will further reduce the…
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TORONTO – CTV has sold CKX-TV Brandon to Canadian investment firm Bluepoint Investment Corporation for one dollar.
Bluepoint assumes all of CKX-TV’s broadcast assets, liabilities and commitments with the purchase, including the station’s 39 employees, the announcement read.
"This is good news for the employees that work at CKX-TV Brandon and the surrounding communities who depend everyday on the local programming that the station provides," said Paul Sparkes, CTVglobemedia’s EVP of corporate affairs, in the announcement. "Being an independent operator, Bluepoint will be able to access the Small Market Local Programming Fund. This is something that neither CTV nor Canwest have…
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OTTAWA – CBC is beefing up its political coverage in Ottawa and the U.S. starting this Fall.
Evan Solomon will host a daily political show on CBC Newsworld, while veteran reporter Terry Milewski will move to Ottawa as CBC News’ new senior correspondent in the political bureau.
CBC News said that it will also seek to strengthen its presence in the United States with more ‘on-the-ground’ reporting and in-depth reports from that country’s most influential cities. Keith Boag becomes CBC News’ American West Coast correspondent based in Los Angeles covering the California region, following five years as CBC News chief political…
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TORONTO – Thanks to the beefed up local programming improvement fund (LPIF), CTV will keep its ‘A’ Channel in Windsor open for at least for another year.
The broadcaster committed to continuing to operate the station through August 31, 2010, the full license renewal term that all of CTV’s conventional stations have received.
"Today’s announcement about saving Windsor’s only local private television station for one year is a direct result of the CRTC’s one year LPIF enhancement," said Paul Sparkes, EVP of corporate affairs for CTVglobemedia, in the announcement.
CTV also said that it will apply to convert CKNX-TV Wingham…
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GATINEAU – The most immediate impact of the CRTC’s Monday announcements? It looks like A Channel Windsor will get a reprieve.
The Commission today finalized the new $102-million fund that is meant to tide broadcasters over until it figures out how to completely reset the scales of power of the industry it regulates with yet another hearing on the TV business come September.
"Canadians have made it abundantly clear that they value local programming," said CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, in the press release. "We have taken steps to ensure that broadcasters, and particularly those in smaller markets, continue…
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TORONTO – The Radio Television News Directors’ foundation has awarded over $12,000 in scholarships to five broadcast journalism students across Canada.
More than 40 applications were received from across the country as students submitted samples of their work in one of five categories.
The 2009 scholarship recipients are:
– Stefanie Masotti of Fanshawe College in London, ON who won two scholarships – the $2,000 Marketwire scholarship for the top first year student, and the $2,500 RTNDA George Clark scholarship for the overall winning entry;
– Russ Courtney, also of Fanshawe College, won the $2,000 BNN/Jim O’Connell scholarship for a student interested…
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