MONTREAL – Quebecor Media has decided to pull in its horns over the funding of Canadian television productions and will resume monthly payments to the CTF, at least for now.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said late Tuesday he was encouraged by the commitment made earlier in the day by the new CRTC Chair, Konrad Von Finckenstein, to become involved in finding solutions to the issues raised by Quebecor and Shaw Communications.
Von Finckenstein said the two companies had highlighted “serious issues that need to be resolved”, and that Quebecor, with its funding proposal outlined Monday, had…
Continue Reading
BY THE MIDDLE OF this year, Canada’s largest satellite operator, Telesat, will be a much bigger company.
When Loral Space Communications and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board said in December it would pay about $3.4 billion for Bell Canada Enterprises-owned Telesat, it moved the Ottawa-based company into a larger playing field. Its seven satellites plus four from Loral and the four the companies currently have in the pipeline under construction or awaiting launch, will more than double Telesat’s size by the end of 2009, when the last bird on the drawing board right now is built.
However,…
Continue Reading
Karen Wirsig of the Canadian Media Guild (Letter to the Editor, January 30, 2007) makes several arguments that are self-serving and wrong.
1. It is untrue that the CTF was funded with money taken away from CBC/Radio-Canada. When the CTF was created, Telefilm Canada’s broadcast equity-investment fund was rolled into the new joint public-private entity. No new public money was allocated to independent production.
2. Wirsig complains that broadcasters do not qualify for CTF money to produce their own shows. It’s true, they don’t. But this does not leave broadcasters "in a serious bind," as she says. In fact,…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – CBC Television and Thunderbird Films today announced that production is underway in Vancouver on The Quality of Life – A Dominic Da Vinci Movie.
The special two-hour television movie follows the popular Dominic Da Vinci franchise (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Da Vinci City Hall) and picks up where City Hall left off. The Quality of Life will air during the fall 2007 season on CBC Television and in 2008 on Showcase.
"Dominic Da Vinci has become a true Canadian icon, and we jumped at the chance to bring him back to television audiences,” said Kirstine Layfield, executive director…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union has asked the new CRTC chairman, Konrad von Finckentstein, to launch hearings into the Canadian media landscape.
CEP says it represents approximately 25,000 members in the media, and that ownership concentration has reached exceptionally high levels requiring a public analysis.
"Thirty years ago the Commission was going to look into the issue, but that hearing was cancelled. Nothing has been done since," said Peter Murdoch, vice-president media, in the press release. "As a result, today we have significantly higher concentration of ownership. And given approximately $4 billion worth of transactions waiting…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – Shaw Communications has again rejected the arguments made by those who support the Canadian Television Fund and its aims.
Today the company "categorically rejected" a suggestion made by former Shaw executive Richard Stursberg, who is now CBC TV’s executive vice-president, that withholding payments to the fund will "unravel" the Canadian broadcasting system.
"It is unconstructive and misleading. The CBC is the biggest recipient of CTF monies. Canadians deserve a fair and independent accounting of how billions of dollars that they paid out in taxes and fees were spent by the CTF and the CBC," said Jim Shaw,…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Quebecor Media’s Sun TV has asked the Commission for permission to build transmitters in both London and Ottawa.
The move would dramatically expand the channel’s coverage area, making it a basic cable must carry across most of the province- and Sun TV would then be far more competitive in the lucrative Southern Ontario TV market.
Expect the existing broadcasters in the region, from CTV to Global to the CBC to Rogers to CTS to whomever ends up owning the A-Channels (London, Wingham, Barrie and Ottawa) after the CTV-CHUM purchase, to vehemently oppose any further market additions, just…
Continue Reading
IN THE DR SEUSS CLASSIC How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch is robbed of his revenge when the good burghers of Whoville preserve their Christmas spirit and retain their celebrations despite having been robbed of their gifts and sustenance.
In the modern Canadian retelling, the Grinch is not Jim Carrey but Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw, who started sledding off with the Canadian content money our regs say he’s obliged to pay, just before Christmas – and has since encountered fewer effective voices preserving its spirit than there are moguls on a ski run.
Instead, while Mr. Shaw…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Terry Snazel, vice-president technology at Bell ExpressVu, was this year’s CSUA Outstanding Service Award winner.
In making the presentation at the association’s recent annual conference held last week in Toronto, Corus Entertainment’s Gordon Lee, vice-chair of CSUA said: “Persistent and provocative perhaps, but always inquisitive and always on the leading edge of the technical assessment of the issues. Terry has shared his experiences with his peers and we have all learned from him. Terry you have made a difference in CSUA and you have made a difference in the Canadian broadcasting industry.”
Snazel began his career in…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Canadian Women in Communications have announced the winners of its CWC Annual Awards for 2006.
Four Canadian women and one communications-industry employer are recognized annually for their contributions to the Canadian communications industry.
“Celebrating the achievements of women is one of CWC’s most important and rewarding tasks,” said Stephanie MacKendrick, CWC president, in the press release. CWC holds an Annual Awards Gala in Ottawa that celebrates the achievements of women, and those who support their advancement in the Canadian communications industry.
Participants in the awards presentation program will include: Minister of Industry, the Hon. Maxime Bernier, Minister…
Continue Reading
