Search Results for: cbc

Radio / Television News

CBC’s Layfield is optimistic

TORONTO – The CBC put out a press release Monday strongly backing up its fall programming decisions saying the launch of CBC’s fall season "so far contains definite bright spots despite significant competition from heavyweight American content." “We ended last season with a 7.3 percent audience share and this year so far have moved that up to 7.6 percent,” said Kirstine Layfield, executive director of network programming, in the release. “Naturally, we have programs we would like to see with bigger audience numbers, but our objective this season has been to rebuild our schedule as a whole and we’re… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Cogeco builds Quebec HD

MONTREAL – Today, Cogeco Cable’s Quebec HD customers have access to 11 high definition television channels, eight of which are in French, as the company added to its HD lineup. “The growing popularity of large TV screens confirms it: our customers are constantly looking for exceptional image and sound quality when they watch television,” said Ron Perrotta, vice-president, marketing, Cogeco Cable. “We are putting all our efforts towards providing the best HD offering possible. Only two months after launching five new HD channels in Ontario, we are proud to provide our customers with the most complete French HD offering available… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

The TUESDAY INTERVIEW: CBC CEO Robert Rabinovitch, Part II

IN THE FIRST PART OF Cartt.ca’s exclusive, wide-ranging interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CEO, Robert Rabinovitch talked about stable funding, the TV Policy Review, The One, CBC radio and SRC, among other topics. Click here to read Part I of the story from last week. In the second part of our chat, Rabinovitch goes over on demand strategies, HD, CBC Sports (the interview was prior to Nancy Lee’s departure), local news and the residual effects of the 2005 lockout. What follows is an edited transcript. Greg O’Brien: Let’s switch back to English TV – but actually this question… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

“Unprecedented” outage after fire

ST. JOHN’S – Backup systems failed after a fire at an Aliant switching station in St. John’s Nfld., on the weekend, leaving about 150,000 customers in Newfoundland without any phone service. Reports, such as this one and this one, say the outage occurred after a fire caused a fibre cable to go down, and so far, Aliant can’t explain why their built-in redundancies failed, with a spokesperson calling it "unprecedented." The outage lasted around five hours during the night on Friday and into Saturday morning. Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

BBM takes CBC’s MTM

TORONTO – BBM Analytics announced Wednesday it will assume the role of official sales and marketing partner for CBC/Radio Canada’s Media Technology Monitor (MTM). CBC/Radio-Canada’s MTM is "a comprehensive and authoritative study conducted annually that focuses on the usage of new technologies in broadcasting," says the press release. "With a national sample of over 12,000 respondents, and response rates exceeding 40%, MTM is the single largest qualitative survey available in Canada, providing reliable and accurate insights into a wide range of communication technologies." Those include: * Market share and satisfaction with cable, satellite, wireless, and IPTV * Analogue subscribers’… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

The TUESDAY INTERVIEW: CBC CEO Robert Rabinovitch, Part I

I’VE GOT A BIT OF A SOFT spot for the CBC because when you grew up where I did, the CBC was it. Apologies to CTV’s Northern Ontario precursor, MCTV, but when I think of old shows from my youth, it’s most often the CBC that springs to mind. Like sooo many of my fellow Canadians, when I think of the Ceeb, I invariably recall many frigid Saturday evenings inside watching Hockey Night in Canada: Me and my father sitting down with a big bowl of warm, greasy, salted popcorn. I usually fell asleep right after Peter Puck during the… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Lee quits Corp.

TORONTO – Nancy Lee will get to oversee the broadcast of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics after all. The executive director of CBC Sports told staff today she is stepping down from her position after 20 years with the CBC. She has been hired by the International Olympic Committee as COO of Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver. CBC was out-bid for the 2010 Olympics by a CTV/TSN/Rogers Sportsnet consortium, an important programming loss for the Ceeb’s sports section. David Masse will be acting executive director of CBC Sports while a search for a permanent replacement is launched. For more Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Sorensen to man Washington for Global

VANCOUVER – CBC The National’s Eric Sorensen will be the new Washington Bureau Chief for Global News, the company announced today. His start date is November 1st. Sorensen replaces Troy Reeb, who was promoted from Washington to be Global’s vice-president, news operations. “We are extremely pleased to have Eric join our award-winning team,” said Steve Wyatt, senior vice-president of news and information at CanWest MediaWorks. “He is one of Canada’s most accomplished journalists and brings with him a wealth of experience. His reputation for excellence has earned him well-deserved recognition among his peers and the country’s most influential decision… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

COMMENTARY: First impressions

AFTER READING THROUGH a number of submissions to the CRTC’s conventional television policy review, I’ve got a few first impressions where I think the new policy will go. Remember though, first impressions can be very, very wrong and really, I’m just guessing for fun, so here we go. Impression #1: I think fee-for carriage for OTA broadcasters has a shot to win approval. Probably not at the 50-cent a sub per month level that CanWest has asked for and certainly not the $2 level the Canadian Media Guild wants (an earlier version of this story said CFTPA but was… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Beeforth, Hodge, MacLean to be honored by SMC

TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet president Doug Beeforth and TSN host Dave Hodge will receive lifetime achievement awards from Sports Media Canada, the group announced today. The awards will be presented at SMC’s annual luncheon at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on October 18, 2006. For 16 seasons, Canadian families saw Hodge as the face of Hockey Night In Canada (’til that day he infamously flipped that pencil…) and for another sixteen years he has hosted TSN Inside Sports and The Dave Hodge Special. Beeforth’s career began as a news and sports announcer at CFRB radio in the late… Continue Reading