By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC’s commissioner for Manitoba and Saskatchewan has been extended for a five-year term starting in July, according to an order in council dated Friday.
Joanne Levy, whose term was set to expire July 2, has already served one full term starting in 2018.
Levy, of Warman, Saskatchewan, was a television reporter for the CBC in a past life and was director of programming for the Aboriginal People’s Television Network. She was also the owner of television program producer Scorpio Productions.
Barring any early exits, Levy’s extension means the CRTC’s leadership is secured until next August, when the…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA — Despite its recent test to limit news for some users in response to its objections to bill C-18, “Google is deeply committed to Canada” and is “one of the world’s biggest supporters of journalism,” Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer of the search-engine giant and its parent company, Alphabet Inc.
“We believe that the legislation could be amended to support journalism and to provide consumers with a more diverse range of perspectives delivered in innovative and accessible formats, without undercutting core principles that allow the internet to benefit Canadians and people around…
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By Christopher Guly
The federal government has formally responded to amendments the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications made to bill C-11 that passed the upper house on Feb. 2 and which has been under consideration in the House of Commons.
In a notice sent to the Senate on Tuesday, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who sponsored the bill when it was introduced in the House on Feb. 2, 2022, highlighted several changes the government would like the Senate to make before the Online Streaming Act is granted royal assent.
The Senate defined “community element” as “includ the participation of…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his displeasure Friday with actions by Google to take its opposition to bill C-18, the Online News Act, to users of its search engine.
This week, The Canadian Press broke the story that Google would limit access to news content – including from Canadian broadcasters and newspapers – for under four percent of its Canadian users over about a five-week period.
“It really surprises me that Google has decided that would rather prevent Canadians from accessing news than actually paying journalists for the work they do,” Trudeau said…
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By Len St-Aubin, pictured above, an independent internet and telecoms consultant whose clients have included streamers, carriers, government, and not-for-profits. Formerly he was director general of telecommunications policy at Industry Canada and a member of the policy teams that developed both the 1991 Broadcasting Act and the 1993 Telecommunications Act. The opinions expressed in the following are his alone.
On February 14, Quebec’s National Assembly unanimously passed a motion demanding 11th hour amendments to bill C-11, the federal government’s proposed update of the Broadcasting Act, called the Online Streaming Act. Yet in May 2021, the assembly had unanimously passed a…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 faces a final vote in the House of Commons this week, “it’s unclear as to how it will work in practice” and whether streaming giants will be able to “simply repurpose” already made Canadian programming to qualify as Canadian content and how they would pay their fair share toward broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) that require private broadcasters to make a contribution of at least 5% of their broadcast revenues to CanCon and production, according to CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Catherine Tait.
The Senate’s passing of the Online Streaming Act last week was…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 returns to the House of Commons after passing the Senate late Thursday, the industry affected by the online streaming legislation has called on the federal government to ensure the establishment of equal treatment between foreign and Canadian companies toward Canadian content requirements.
“We are very concerned that a provision, which remains in the bill, creates a two-tier system that will hold foreign streamers to a lower standard than Canadian companies,” said the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) in a statement today. “This will result in foreign streamers using fewer Canadian creators in the…
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By Richard Stursberg, pictured above, ex-head of Telefilm, English services at the CBC, and Chair of the Canadian Television Fund.
The debate about how to define Canadian content in the future has begun. The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has launched a consultation on the subject. The passage of bill C-11 will require the CRTC to do the same thing.
In a recent article for Cartt.ca, the distinguished communications lawyer, Doug Barrett, argued for the maintenance of the existing definition of Canadian content based on the citizenship of the key members of the creative team. The points system, as…
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By Bronwyn Howell, a fellow at think tank American Enterprise Institute with a PhD in economics and public policy, an MBA, and a BA in operations research, all from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. She has undertaken contract work for Telus.
Canada and Australia are similar in many ways, but one area of significant difference is mobile telecommunications. While both countries share similar geographic and demographic features – vast territories very sparsely populated on average, yet highly-urbanised first-world economies, so likely face similar telecommunications costs and demands, Canada has fared less well in comparison to…
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MONTREAL AND TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada’s media solutions division announced today the appointment of Hisham Ghostine as general manager and chief revenue officer for CBC and Radio-Canada Media Solutions.
Ghostine will oversee all teams associated with the public broadcaster’s self-generated revenue, including advertising, distribution and content-licensing streams, the CBC said in a press release. He will start on April 3 and work between Montreal and Toronto.
Ghostine will replace Donald Lizotte, who after spending three-and-a-half years in the position will be stepping down for retirement on March 31.
Ghostine was appointed as executive director of sales, marketing and Olympics in May 2021 and…
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