CALGARY – In case anyone was wondering whether or not Shaw Communications was prepared to soften its stance on paying into the Canadian Television Fund, a press release this afternoon put any such thoughts to rest.
"Shaw Communications today announced its conclusion that the Canadian Television Fund ("CTF") is simply the wrong way to support the production and exhibition of high quality Canadian programming," says the release.
"The CTF is broken and cannot be fixed" said Jim Shaw, CEO. "Our customers pay for the CTF through their taxes and subscription fees. We would prefer to return the money to…
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IT’S STARTING TO LOOK like this year could be the final one for the Canadian Television Fund in its current form.
With two of its four largest contributors (#1 Shaw Communications and #4 Videotron) adamant that they will forward $0 to the CTF – and with a Heritage Minister in Bev Oda who may be sympathetic towards their complaints – at the very least, upheaval is a certainty.
Oda, who on Monday renewed her government’s $100 million annual commitment to the fund, met with representatives of the four primary private sector contributors: Rogers Communications’ vice-chair Phil Lind, Bell…
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OTTAWA – NDP Heritage critic Charlie Angus read from Cartt.ca today in the House of Commons while calling for hearings into the future of the Canadian Television Fund.
The emergency hearings will happen soon after a motion to launch them passed the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage today.
During Question Period this afternoon, Angus suggested that Heritage Minister Bev Oda was colluding with the cable industry to kill the fund after reading our Analysis piece on the CTF this morning which keyed off an interview with Shaw Communications senior vice-president Ken Stein, who described the meeting to Cartt.ca.
Oda…
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TORONTO – Michael Claydon has been named area executive producer of independent documentaries for CBC Television.
Claydon will be responsible for overseeing and co-ordinating all independent documentary production for English television. He succeeds Jerry McIntosh as the overall person in charge of relations with Canada’s independent documentary community. Claydon will commission all independent documentaries and documentary series for CBC Television. He will also work closely with CBC Newsworld, which will continue to commission independent documentaries for its own strands, under executive producer Catherine Olsen.
“Michael has great depth of practical experience and knowledge of the independent sector from coast…
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MONTREAL – Heading into a meeting today with Heritage Minister Bev Oda, Quebecor Media told Cartt.ca that it would double its contributions towards making Canadian content – but not under the current Canadian Television Fund structure.
As reported over the past two weeks, both Quebecor’s Videotron and Shaw Communications have suspended their monthly payments to the fund, each citing similar concerns over how it is run.
For example, the companies strenuously object to the amount of money headed towards productions to air on the CBC (37% of the annual CTF payouts is mandated to go towards productions headed to…
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QUEBECOR’S LUC LAVOIE SUGGESTS that CBC/Radio-Canada unfairly benefits from the Canadian Television Fund. But it is disingenuous to insist that private cable companies, such as Quebecor’s Videotron, foot the bill for the public broadcaster’s benefit.
In fact, the federal government supplies a full 40% of the CTF, or $100 million per year. And that’s approximately the share that funds productions that air on CBC and Radio-Canada. Let’s not forget that the CTF emerged on the heels of massive cuts to the public broadcaster’s government allocation during the 1990s. So the CTF was effectively funded with money taken away…
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TORONTO – In a "state of the CBC" memo to staff sent out Tuesday, EVP English television Richard Stursberg outlined his burgeoning vision for CBC, as media changes all around it.
After a "transition year" of 2006, he predicted further upheaval and that ad revenue will remain soft throughout 2007, as "audiences to continue to fragment," but also said the Corp. must take advantage of that fragmentation as much as possible.
"We need increasingly to understand that we are a content company, no longer just a television or radio company," wrote Stursberg.
"To that end, we are building a…
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OTTAWA – It’s no increase (as producers, actors and broadcasters were hoping for) but the $200 million committed to the Canadian Television Fund by the federal government over two years is far more than two of CTF’s primary industry contributors are currently paying.
That is to say, zero.
Hot on the heels of Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media’s decisions to suspend monthly payments to the CTF, Heritage Minister Bev Oda said Friday the federal government is renewing its $100 million a year contribution to the fund through 2008-09.
"This announcement signifies this Government’s commitment to producing quality Canadian programming…
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TORONTO – The 2007 Canadian Digital Broadcasting Summit will be held January 29th and 30th at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre.
On the agenda are topics such as IP delivery of broadcasting, HD studio conversion, how the last mile (consumer premises) affects HD rollout, broadcast delivery capacity, IT infrastructure, subscriber rates and the recent trend towards the consumer as broadcaster.
Canadian comic Ron James will entertain at dinner on day one of the conference, which is organized every year by the Canadian Satellite Users Association. Cartt.ca is a media sponsor of the event.
Other speakers include: Paul Bush, Telesat;…
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OTTAWA – Bev Oda told the principal private funders of the Canadian Television Fund that she wants to meet with them next week.
"I have received letters from Shaw Communications and Videotron announcing that they will withhold their contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF)," said Oda in a release.
As reported by Cartt.ca this week, both BDUs have decided to pull their funding of the production fund with complaints of accountability to the fact they believe money goes to the CBC. In response, the CTF has retained legal counsel and wants to force the two…
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