By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-18 enters its final stretch in the Senate, two former senior officials with the CRTC have proposed alternative ways to support Canada’s struggling news industry beyond the Online News Act, whose aim to redistribute advertising income from such digital platforms as Meta’s Facebook and Alphabet’s Google to new organizations is untenable in their view.
“The industry and public policy-makers need to accept that during a period of disruption such as the one currently underway, there will be companies incapable of surviving,” write former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and past CRTC…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor is asking the CRTC to provide immediate relaxation of regulatory rules that require it to provide a specific amount of local programming or else it must make “difficult choices” related to TVA’s programming.
A CRTC licence renewal decision from 2017 and extended last year until August 2024 requires the TVA station CFCM-DT Quebec broadcast 18 hours of local programming per week, while requiring fewer hours in the region for other stations including CBC/Radio-Canada. Quebecor said these comparatively “unfair” requirements are strangling it, despite saying it is producing more hours than is mandated of it.
“Faced with…
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By Connie Thiessen
Catherine Tait’s appointment as President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada has been extended another 18 months.
Canadian Heritage Min. Pablo Rodriguez announced the extension this morning, which will see Tait serve in the role until January 2, 2025.
Tait initially took up the appointment on July 3, 2018, the first woman in the history of the public broadcaster to serve as president and CEO. The former president and CEO of Salter Street Films and co-founder of NYC-based prodco Duopoly, Tait’s leadership at CBC has been marked by a distinct platform agnostic approach as the broadcaster moves into the digital-first content space. She has also championed advancing CBC’s commitment…
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By Connie Thiessen
Without access to funding, Corus Entertainment says its Global television stations across the country will be left “in a precarious and unduly disadvantaged position” as Rogers Communications moves to redirect $13 million in local expression funding to its CityNews stations.
In a letter to the CRTC, dated May 10 and posted to the commission website this week, Corus requests confirmation of its eligibility to participate in the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF), funded by licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), which are required to contribute 0.3% of gross revenues from the previous broadcast year.
Corus – which is effectively controlled by the Shaw Family Living Trust – says given Rogers’s recent acquisition…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA— Bill C-11, which became law on April 27, will serve as “the catalyst” for the CRTC to “start shaping the broadcasting system of the future” through the creation of a regulatory framework, Vicky Eatrides, chair of the CRTC, said at the opening of a two-day conference by the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications (IIC) in Ottawa on Monday.
C-11, or the Online Streaming Act, which amended the Broadcasting Act, “will ensure that all players, including online streaming services, contribute to the achievement of the cultural and policy objectives…
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By Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor
The Online Streaming Act (bill C-11) has been passed. This means foreign streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube will be subject to Canadian law and will be required to pay their fair share, just as Canada’s private broadcasters have always done. For too long, Canadian broadcasters, who have been operating in a rigid, highly regulated environment for decades, have had to contend with unfair competition from the web giants.
On the day the bill received Royal Assent, the Minister of Canadian Heritage said, “We are standing up for our stories,…
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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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