“IN A DIGITAL CONTENT world, all stakeholders must accept greater risk,” is a single line from the final reply to the CRTC by Telus to the Commission’s policy review of broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty services.
Final replies from stakeholders were due into the Commission last Thursday.
It’s a key line, because it lies at the heart of what’s at stake for every media company in Canada – heck, in the western world, really, and certainly for Canadian specialty channels, OTA broadcasters and BDUs. With the digital media world comes new opportunities, but also more risk than the tried…
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REGINA – The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. is asking the CRTC to force direct-to-home satellite TV distributor Star Choice to pick up the public broadcaster’s over-the-air TV signal that it dropped last week. “CBC/Radio-Canada files this complaint against Star Choice on the basis that Star Choice appears to be in breach of its condition of licence which specifies that the number of CBC English-language owned and operated television stations distributed by the licensee never falls below the number of English-language conventional stations distributed from any other individual broadcast group,” Bev Kirshenblatt, CBC senior director of regulatory affairs, writes in a…
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CALGARY – Global News dominated the best newscast section of the TV awards given out by the Association of Electronic Journalists for the best in electronic journalism in the Prairie region in 2007, it was announced Monday. Local Global News stations were awarded the Bert Cannings Award for best newscast in all three categories of small, medium and large market.
The winners are:
2007 TV awards
Bert Cannings Award (for best newscast) – Global News Lethbridge for News Hour – (Small Market) – Global News Regina for March 14, Evening News – (Medium Market) – Global News Calgary for Superstorm Impact…
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TORONTO – Looking to ensure certain levels of TV production is maintained across Canada, the Canadian Television Fund today announced the creation of a new production incentive.
The pilot program is designed to encourage production where volumes have declined significantly, said the press release.
The first production areas to benefit from this $5 million incentive include Atlantic Canada and Quebec, where production activity fell below the target level in 2007-2008, reads the statement. As such, two separate CTF allocations of $2.2 million and $2.8 million have been created for productions based in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, respectively, for 2008-2009….
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OTTAWA – New CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix today urged the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to push the Federal Government to implement the committee’s report CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in the Changing Media Landscape.
"The report highlights the importance of public broadcasting in Canada, and the belief, that I strongly share, that CBC/Radio-Canada should continue to play a pivotal role in the social, cultural, and democratic life of this country," Lacroix said in his opening remarks to the Committee Thursday afternoon.
Lacroix, along with Sylvain Lafrance and Richard Stursberg, the executive vice-presidents of French and English Services, respectively,…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada won’t be making public data to support its claim that over-the-air fee-for-carriage rate hikes will prompt subscribers to drop its ExpressVu service.
In a letter, dated April 25, to the CRTC, Bell’s regulatory affairs chief Mirko Bibic said it won’t file the data because of its “great commercial sensitivity’’ and “the Commission’s disinclination to accept it on a confidential basis,’’ even though the CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said Bell could file the data in confidence.
Bell noted that the “disaggregated monthly data’’ “could be of assistance’’ to the Commission, but refused to have information…
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KAMLOOPS – RTNDA Canada, The Association of Electronic Journalists has honoured its best in electronic journalism in the B.C. region in 2007.
RTNDA Canada presented the RTNDA Awards at the B.C. Region Pro Dev Seminar & Awards Banquet this weekend in Kamloops, B.C.
"Congratulations to all the winners" said RTNDA President Bob McLaughlin. "This is an incredible accomplishment and it shows that quality journalism is thriving in Canada." The B.C. Regional winners go on to compete for the RTNDA National Awards to be presented at the RTNDA National Conference in Ottawa on June 21, 2008.
The 2007 TELEVISION winners…
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TORONTO – New Canadians – South Asian and Chinese immigrants in particular – are connected to the Internet in above-average numbers, according to a new study by Toronto-based market research firm Solutions Research Group (SRG).
SRG research reveals 88% of South Asian and Chinese households in Canada have a PC, which is above the Canadian general population average of 83%.
In terms of Internet usage, 89% of Mandarin-speaking recent immigrants from Mainland China reported using the Internet on a weekly basis, with 2.6 hours per day dedicated to online use vs. only 1.6 hours of TV viewing and less…
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GATINEAU – They compete aggressively for U.S. programs, audience share, and advertisers, but in an exceptional show of unity, executives from CTVglobemedia Inc and CanWest Global Communications sat shoulder-to-shoulder Thursday to persuade the CRTC to open up new sources of funding.
Together, the two networks argued the economic viability of conventional television is “under threat”, because of lack of fair access and fair compensation. They attacked cable and satellite distributors, saying that if their vision were adopted, they and not consumers would control television programming.
“The outcome of this review will decide who will program the remote controls of…
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TORONTO – BMO Financial Group has acquired the title sponsor rights to all 30 Toronto FC Major League Soccer TV broadcasts during the 2008 season, on CBC, Rogers Sportsnet and The Score.
The one-year agreement marks the first broadcast sponsorship for Toronto FC, and a further extension of BMO’s relationship with Canada’s Major League Soccer team. BMO already holds the naming rights to BMO Field, home of Toronto FC, and is the sponsor of the team’s jerseys.
At the same time, BMO has also extended its agreement to be the official bank of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors,…
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