TORONTO – After complaining loud and long for the better part of a week, Green Party leader Elizabeth May will be asked to join the televised leadership debates after all, announced the CTV, Canwest and CBC consortium putting them together.
“The Broadcasting Consortium representing Canada’s largest television networks today announced that the four major parties have agreed to its proposal to include the Green Party in the 2008 Election Debates. As a result, Elizabeth May is being invited to participate in the Debates on October 1 and 2,” reads the press release issued this afternoon.
“The Broadcasting Consortium has…
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VANCOUVER – S-VOX officially named the senior management team of Christian broadcast station Joytv 10, which launched Sept. 1 in Vancouver, B.C.
Before S-VOX bought it earlier this year, the broadcaster was a Rogers OMNI station and prior to that was an independent broadcaster called NowTV. Rogers had to commit to the CRTC to sell the Christian station when it acquired Citytv from CTVglobemedia in 2007. It’s always been a religious station.
And, since Rogers purchase of Vancouver’s Channel M last year, OMNI in Vancouver is now a multicultural station.
Amid the changes, Terry Mahoney remains. Mahoney,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will put off a review of its benefits policy until after the federal government renders its views on the Canadian Television Fund.
The Commission issued a public notice in July, asking for comments on altering its benefits policy so that some money could be directed to new media initiatives. Currently, when one broadcast company buys another, a certain percentage of the transaction (10% in the case of television companies) must be set aside for public benefits, which are mostly for the production of Canadian content.
However, a number of recent transactions (such as Goldman Sachs’…
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GATINEAU – The Ottawa radio market is already well-served musically and would have been better off adding another news/talk station, according to CRTC commissioner Michel Morin.
On Tuesday, the Commission granted licenses to Astral Media and to Frank Torres (Captain Frank of the Toronto-based Skywords Traffic service) for new English FM radio stations serving the Ottawa-Gatineau region. According to the applications, Astral’s station is to be a soft A/C format while the Torres station will be a blues/blues-rock station. The Ottawa application is one of several Torres has made in a number of Canadian centres for blues station licenses….
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TORONTO – CBC called the final Olympics it will broadcast for at least six years “one of the most successful Games in the network’s history.”
From August 8-24, CBC provided more access for Canadians to the Olympics than ever before, with eight platforms and more than 2,400 hours of total Games coverage.
CBC attracted an overall average audience of 1.294 million viewers to Olympic Prime; 544,000 viewers to Pacific Prime; and 675,000 viewers to Olympic Morning. In 2004, during the Athens Games, the average audiences were 1.118 million viewers for Olympic Prime; 212,000 viewers for Olympic Late; and 322,000…
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OTTAWA – With the very future of the Canadian Television Fund in question, the CBC along with the independent production community are urging the CRTC to postpone its plans to review funding for new media in September. The CRTC has put out a call for comments (Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-62) regarding its proposed changes to its public benefits policy that would create new funding streams for new media within the CTF.
In just the last few weeks, the Harper government has cut tens of millions in funding to arts program and has so far given no indication if…
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TORONTO – Jon Dube, director of digital media for CBCNews.ca, is leaving to become the new vice-president at ABCNews.com. He leaves the CBC effective Aug. 25.
"In his three years with CBC, Jon has overseen the growth of CBCNews.ca into one of the most respected news sites in the world," Todd Spencer, executive director of news content for CBC News, said in a memo to staff released Tuesday.
Under Dube’s leadership the amount of content and traffic on the CBC’s website has doubled. He also presided over developments such as the introduction of reader comments to news and sports stories.
As vice-president…
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TORONTO – The CBC has received the go ahead to launch an all-sports television channel despite a concerted effort from rival broadcasters to block the application. But it’s not a complete victory for the CBC as the CRTC responded to concerns by further restricting the amount of professional sports the channel can air.
SportsPlus, a national, English-language, Category 2 specialty service plans to offer programming dedicated primarily to the coverage and “celebration of Canadian athletes with a particular emphasis on amateur athletes,” says the CBC. "We feel this is great news for both CBC and the Canadian sports system,"…
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VANCOUVER – Canwest Broadcasting has named Kenton Boston to the position of vice-president of Global National News and Neill Fitzpatrick as Global National’s executive producer.
Boston’s new responsibilities as vice-president of Global National include providing strategic editorial direction to the Global National management team, developing the Global News network identity across Canada, and overseeing the launch of Global National’s four new foreign bureaus. Boston reports to the senior vice-president of news and current affairs, Troy Reeb, and was most recently Global National’s senior executive producer.
As Global National’s new executive producer, Fitzpatrick oversees the day-to-day operation of the national newscast, working…
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TORONTO – The CBC officially announced its controversial revamp of its Radio 2 network today with the introduction of more popular and cross cultural music and a de-emphasizing its classical content.
Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 2, Canadians will wake up to the sound of an all-new Canadian adult music network as CBC Radio 2 launches a revitalized schedule, including four new programs and four new genre-specific online music channels. “The new Radio 2 brings listeners what they won’t hear anywhere else on Canadian airwaves” claims the CBC. It will now feature Canadian and international music, from roots to urban and jazz…
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