TORONTO – There’s a great radio gig coming open at the CBC in the coming months as the Corp’s radio chief Jane Chalmers, vice-president, CBC Radio, has decided to retire at the end of the year.
CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch announced it to staff today. “It’s no exaggeration to say that Jane’s departure will be an incredible loss to the organization,” he wrote in a company-wide e-mail. “She embodies the values of public broadcasting to the core. Not only is Jane one of our most experienced and valued leaders, but she has also been a standard-setter in…
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MONTREAL – While things on the cable side of the ledger are clipping along nicely, Cogeco Inc. is now reviewing its options when it comes to Television Quatre Saisons, the Quebec broadcaster it owns with CTVglobemedia.
TQS is perennially the third-place network and compared to the company’s cable operations in Canada and Portugal, a small part of the Cogeco puzzle, but because of a challenging TV ad market in Quebec, its owners (Cogeco has 60%, CTVglobemedia, 40%) have retained CIBC World Markets “to assist in assessing the strategic options available to them in connection with TQS,” says the press…
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TORONTO – From now on, the award for best television news information program presented annually by RTNDA Canada – the Association of Electronic Journalists – will be named after Canadian industry legend Trina McQueen.
“To call Trina McQueen a trailblazer is an understatement,” says the RTNDA press release. “She was the first female reporter for CFTO News in Toronto, co-host of W5, the first female on-air reporter for The National, the first woman named executive producer of The National, at just 33.
“In 1992, McQueen became vice president of English television news and current affairs at CBC and CBC…
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GATINEAU – An airing of Radio-Canada’s "Fric show" which examined the porn industry – complete the nudity and frank language – at 7:30 p.m. was a poor decision, the CRTC told CBC this week.
In a decision released Tuesday, the Commission found that by airing the program on April 26 2007 before 9 p.m., the CBC did not meet the Canadian broadcasting policy objective set out in the Broadcasting Act that programming should be of high standard.
The Fric show is produced by the CBC and hosted by Marc Labrèche. It’s not a public affairs or news program but rather…
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SOME FILED REAMS of digital paper with the Commission (Rogers Communications’ submission was 132 pdf pages and a few appendices), while others were more concise (Shaw’s was just nine pages, plus a couple of research reports)
Anyway, we’ve read more than a few thousand words and identified what appear to be the primary issues facing the CRTC with its review of the policies governing broadcast distribution undertakings (all licensed video providers) and specialty services. The hearing is set for February 4 in Gatineau.
Below is a bit of a synopsis of what the BDUs are asking for and what…
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Dear Editor,
ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC. asserts that the primary policy objective of the CRTC should be to lessen Canadian protection and facilitate an accelerated importation of foreign channels.
Well, the fastest and most economically efficient way to accomplish that would be to cease protecting Canadian cable companies from U.S. distributors like Comcast and DirecTV.
However, that would be against the law – and would trigger a precipitous dismantling of our once-proud broadcasting system.
Canada is the only country in the world that competes 24 hours a day, and live, with the behemoth U.S. entertainment machine.
We have a unique…
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TORONTO – The Radio Television News Directors Association Canada said today that the award for Best Radio News Information Program will be named after the late broadcaster Peter Gzowski.
“There are some people whose voices you remember. Peter Gzowski had one of them,” says the RTNDA release. “At 28, he became the youngest-ever managing editor of Maclean’s magazine. But Peter Gzowski will be best remembered as the voice of Morningside. During his 15 years as host of the CBC Radio program, it is estimated he conducted some 27,000 interviews. The list of his awards and honourary degrees is long….
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OTTAWA – Rémi Racine has been appointed to the board of directors of the CBC), Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, announced today.
"Mr. Racine’s credentials will make him an excellent member of the Board of Directors of the CBC," said Minister Verner. "I am confident that his experience will greatly benefit the CBC."
Racine has been president, CEO and executive producer of Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), a creator and developer of 3-D interactive video games, since 1999. From 1996 to 1999, he was CEO and executive producer of Behaviour Interactive and…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters will induct nine Canadians into the CAB’s Broadcast Hall of Fame at a special luncheon ceremony on Tuesday , November 6, 2007 at this year’s CAB Annual Convention in Ottawa.
The Hall of Fame recognizes Canadians in private broadcasting or related industries who have achieved outstanding success in helping raise industry standards from a material or humanitarian standpoint.
The inductees who will be honoured at the luncheon are:
Raynald Brière , RNC MEDIA Inc., Montreal, Quebec
Bruce Hogle , retired, Edmonton, Alberta
Harvey Glatt , retired, Ottawa, Ontario
Fred Latremouille , Rogers…
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TORONTO – The producers of Little Mosque on the Prairie, Canadian comedian and author Don Harron, producer, writer and director John Kastner, the writing team behind Mr. Dressup, broadcast journalist Tony Burman and singer and actor Tom Jackson will be awarded special Gemini awards this year, it was announced Wednesday.
Harron, who has been performing on television and radio, stage and through the pages of various books since 1936, was awarded the Earle Grey Award for his impressive body of work and contribution to the international profile of Canadian television.
Kastner picks up the Academy Achievement Award, which was…
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