TORONTO – CBC will continue to have Hockey Night In Canada until at least 2014.
The country’s public broadcaster and the National Hockey League today announced a new six-year broadcast agreement for national English-language broadcast and multimedia rights to NHL games in Canada. The new agreement commences with the 2008/09 season and runs through 2013/14. The agreement is subject to approval by the NHL’s Board of Governors at its June 20 meeting.
"Hockey is part of the Canadian fabric and we’re proud and pleased to continue what is the longest-standing sports rights partnership in the world; one that dates…
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TORONTO – Royal Canadian Air Farce will celebrate its 300th episode on CBC Television with an hour-long live telecast on Friday, March 30, at 8 p.m.
It’ll be the first time in the show’s history that an episode will be telecast live in real time.
The variety show’s regular troupe Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon, Alan Park and featured player Penelope Corrin will be joined in a guest-star line-up representing other top Canadian comedy shows. From Little Mosque on the Prairie there will be Sitara Hewitt, Sheila McCarthy, and Carlo Rota, and from, CTV’s…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should amend the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to stipulate distributors must make monthly, rather than just annual, contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), the all-party Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended in a report released this week.
That was one of six recommendations contained in the report, entitled The Future of the Canadian Television Fund. It includes dissenting opinions from the Bloc Quebecois and Conservative Party members. The report was tabled on March 21.
The Standing Committee under recommendation number one strongly condemns the actions of Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media – both of…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) Toronto has ruled its members can audition for and participate in the new CBC television show, The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend.
“I am very excited that we have been able to include ACTRA members in our search; this makes sure that we are able to see all the available talent in Canada,” said executive producer Andrew Alexander.
Auditions are scheduled for March 24 in Calgary, March 27 in Halifax and April 4 in Toronto.
Produced by Suddenly SeeMore…Productions Inc., the show is an eight-episode talent search…
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OTTAWA – CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch called on the federal government to come up with a long-term strategy for the public broadcaster, including spelling out how it would be funded.
Appearing Thursday before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is in the midst of an examination of the role of the public broadcaster in the 21st century, he said that strategy should be enshrined in a formal contract, as is the case in Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong. In the United Kingdom, the BBC operates under a Royal Charter that is formally renewed, after debate,…
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TORONTO – In conjunction with Telus Corp., Amp’d Mobile, the youth-targeted mobile entertainment provider, launched in Canada this month.
The company offers a series of plans that provide voice and text, exclusive music tracks and videos, live entertainment, 3D games and mobile communities through its Amp’d Live 3G user interface.
Amp’d Mobile will handle marketing and content, along with providing optimized handsets capable of fast download speeds. Telus provides the distribution network, and will handle customer care and billing under the revenue-share agreement.
Amp’d Mobile Canada, the Canadian arm of U.S.-based Amp’d Mobile Inc., has also established an in-house…
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OTTAWA – Official Languages commissioner Graham Fraser called Tuesday on the government to compel the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to spruce up its regional programming to help build cultural connections among Francophone minorities outside Quebec and English minorities inside the province.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is in the midst of an investigation of the role of the CBC in the 21st century, Fraser said one of the shortcomings of the public broadcaster is that it has become too centralized in Toronto and Montreal.
He noted that Francophone communities outside of Quebec need to have access…
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ONE OF THE KEY DEMOGRAPHIC differences between the U.S. and Canada is the number of Hispanics here versus there.
Stateside, there’s an entire media sector dedicated to the Hispanic consumer, of which there are 40 million or so, including several cable channels such as Univision. In Canada, there are about one million Spanish-speaking Canadians and until recently, just one place to get some Spanish language programming: Telelatino.
Of late, however, other Spanish language channels have been added and in March, two Canadian channels were launched, one by the legacy brand owner in Canada, Telelatino.
In a recent chat with Cartt.ca…
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s budget was criticized Monday by the arts community for not providing increased and stable funding to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
While Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda announced last month public funding of the CTF would be extended for two more years, there was no increase.
“The Canadian Television Fund has not received any increases since 1996. The CTF desperately needs enhanced, long-term, stable funding,” said Stephen Waddell, national executive director of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).
He added the government’s…
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GATINEAU – Leave it to the mavericks at Shaw Communications to best articulate how carriers feel about granting analog channels preferred status once digital migration occurs.
In its intervention, which opposes all of the applications, Shaw’s senior vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs Ken Stein writes: "Shaw considers that the Digital Migration proceeding and the subsequent gazetting of applications for mandatory digital carriage on basic has been a colossal waste of time and energy for Shaw. Shaw’s request for packaging flexibility to serve consumers and meet unprecedented competitive challenges, all of which will strengthen the system and protect it…
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