TORONTO – The number of soccer fans in Canada are gaining on the number of hockey fans, if the World Cup Final ratings are any indication.
While game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals drew 4.7 million viewers to CBC this spring, viewership of the final game of the World Cup peaked at 4 million viewers, CTV announced today.
"When Italy’s Fabio Grosso lined up his historic penalty kick, a record 4 million Canadians were watching in anticipation," says the press release. "When his Cup-winning goal lifted Italy into the history books, it capped the most watched World Cup…
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WINNIPEG – "A number of factors contributed to the disappointing operating results in the quarter," said CanWest Global Communications CEO Leonard Asper in reviewing the company’s third quarter performance, ended May 31, 2005.
"Conventional television in Canada remains a challenge. In Australia and New Zealand, a cyclical correction in advertising markets affected financial results, as did currency translation when local currency results were translated into Canadian dollars. The stronger Canadian dollar reduced EBITDA by approximately 5% or $6 million compared to the same period last year. A slowdown in national advertising, which we believe to be short-term, and weakness…
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REGINA – SaskTel has launched a new streaming video clip service for its mobile customers.
Provided by QuickPlay Media, streaming video will allow SaskTel cellular customers to instantly watch the latest in news, weather, sports and entertainment highlights as well as music videos and movie trailers. The content will be refreshed regularly by a wide selection of broadcast channels including CBC, MuchMusic, Tribute, Comedy Time and others.
“We’re extremely pleased to offer our customers the latest form of mobile entertainment and information that can be accessed anytime, anywhere,” said Diana Milenkovic, SaskTel’s senior vice-president, marketing and mobility, in a…
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OTTAWA – For the first time ever, the amount of revenue earned by Canadian pay and specialty services has pulled even that earned by conventional broadcasters in fiscal 2005.
According to the CRTC’s annual Broadcasting Monitoring Report, total revenues for English-language private conventional services in 2005 were $1.764 billion, nearly the same as the $1.761 billion brought in by Canadian specialty and pay channels. In 2004, their revenues were $1.693 and $1.637 billion respectively.
Where specialty really has convention beat is in the margins. Conventional stations saw their profit before interest and taxes margins in 2005 hit 11% where…
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LONDON – Coverage of the Bandido biker murders near Shedden, Ont., helped Fanshawe College student Katie Simpson win the Broadcast Educators Association 2006 president’s award for Spot News Coverage, sponsored by MediaIntelligence.ca.
"Katie Simpson is the first of a new breed of broadcast journalism student," said Jim Van Horne, professor, broadcast journalism, at Fanshawe. "Katie is a part of our first graduating class of a collaborative program between the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College (both are in London, Ont.)."
Her talent has "been recognized by Corus Entertainment," added Van Horne. "She has been employed at AM 980…
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THE OVERFLOWING TOILET THAT was the endless stream of negative commentary last week on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was more than a little unseemly and ultimately, absolutely confusing to the average Canadian.
A letter to the editor last Thursday from Gerry Nicholls, vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in just 107 words, perfectly illustrated the paradoxical critical firestorm of the last seven days when he criticized the Corp. both for trying a show that might produce big ratings and for producing shows "nobody wants to watch," he wrote.
Talk about sucking a blowing at the same time. His solution…
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TORONTO – Stompin’ Tom Connors’ self-produced concert special has found a home after all, on CTV, after the CBC had turned it down.
The Canadian legend hired his own producers to shoot and edit a concert he played last year in Hamilton, in answer to repeated requests over the years from the public broadcaster for a musical special. When it was delivered to the Corp., the CBC turned it down, saying it’s moving away from musical and variety programming and stressing it did not commission the special.
Tom was stompin’ mad, and told the CBC to “shove it.”
Now,…
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TORONTO – CBC Television Executive Vice-President Richard Stursberg is defending the corporation’s decision to pre-empt The National newscast for eight Tuesdays this summer to air a U.S. reality show, saying the CBC needs the ad revenues and the program will ultimately help promote Canadian talent.
There has been strong public reaction against the CBC’s decision to move The National, albeit temporarily, to simulcast the ABC music reality show The One, where aspiring singers attend a music academy and receive professional training to turn into stars.
In a statement, Stursberg defended the move on several fronts.
CBC’s primetime TV schedule…
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OTTAWA – After being told last month by the CRTC that it wasn’t allowed under its current license to distribute separate regional streams, TSN has applied for a license amendment.
In 2005, CBC complained to the Commission that CTV Specialty’s TSN had breached the conditions of its licence by broadcasting NHL hockey games using two simultaneous, national feeds last fall. The games were distributed by cable companies (BDUs) on an analog as well as a digital basis.
The Commission agreed with CBC and found that TSN’s use of two simultaneous national feeds when broadcasting a pair of games in…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC on Friday announced that it’s renewing the transitional digital radio licences for another 12 months for some 73 stations in large centres across Canada.
The commission is extending the licence terms from Sept. 1, 2006 to Aug. 31, 2007, to buy time while it develops its new commercial radio policy, following its extensive public hearing held last month in Gatineau, and while it makes changes to its transitional digital radio policy, introduced in 1995.
The licences allow existing stations to operate a digital audio broadcasting signal. Of the 73 licences, 20 are not yet on…
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