TORONTO – Sirius Canada announced today that it has passed the 100,000-subscriber mark.
"In just over five months we have reached 100,000 subscribers exceeding all of our expectations, and our growth continues to climb," said Mark Redmond, president and CEO. "Sirius fans are loving the wide range of commercial-free music, leading news and sports programming, and exclusive content from Howard Stern, Lance Armstrong, Martha Stewart Living Radio, the CFL and the NFL."
Sirius Canada is owned by Standard Broadcasting, the CBC and Sirius (U.S.) in a 40-40-20% partnership. It’s Canadian competitor, XM Canada, announced last month it had reached…
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OTTAWA – Jason MacDonald was named chief of staff for CBC Television this week. He replaces Ian Alexander, who has moved to the learning and development department at the Corp.
MacDonald has worked at CBC since 2002, most recently as director of public relations and operations for corporate communications in Ottawa. Before that, he had a career as a communications officer and journalist with various organizations in Montreal and Toronto, including Rogers Media.
"I’ve been very impressed by Jason’s strong strategic skills and his ability to perform well under pressure," said CBC TV’s executive vice-president Richard Stursberg, in a…
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TORONTO – The innovative, quirky, little-watched, ZeD TV has been cancelled.
The late night show’s current season will be its last, CBC management told staffers late last week. Six jobs will be cut.
"This is another blow to the concept of public television," said Lise Lareau, national president of the CMG, in a release. "In its quest for high ratings and commercial success, CBC management is abandoning the things that make public television special, like its ability to take risks, chart new courses for TV and other media, and reach audiences who are not well served on the rest…
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TORONTO – Canadians can now listen to CBC Radio’s programming on demand as podcasts.
The public broadcaster is making a rather large number of its programs available for complimentary download or subscription, including “best of” editions from The Current, Dispatches, Definitely Not The Opera, Ideas, Outfront, As It Happens plus comprehensive highlight packages of regionally-based radio programs.
According to a recent CBC survey, one-third of podcast users listen to more than three hours of podcasts per week at home, work or in transit. The top reason for listening to podcasts is to hear the program anytime.
“Canadians have the…
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TORONTO – "Work. Live. Play. – The Infinite Potential of Wireless", is the theme of the 2006 Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association annual conference.
The gathering, backed by major sponsors Bell Canada, Rogers, Telus and Nortel, will explore new business opportunities, converging technologies and life beyond 3G.
Set for May 16 and 17, 2006 at the Hilton Toronto Airport, the two-day symposium will feature more than 65 industry experts, business leaders and government officials in a series of panel discussions and workshops centred around three main tracks:
* Freedom to the Worker – Wireless Solutions for Business * Living in…
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OTTAWA – Those expecting the first Conservative budget in 14 years to throw any more money at the Canadian culture sector came away from today’s federal budget disappointed.
Then again, nothing was taken away, either.
Just a few lines of the budget made mention of culture, when the government committed $50 million more over two years to the Canada Council.
It was silent on Telefilm, the Canadian Television Fund and the CBC, for example.
ACTRA, the performers union, offered up typical criticism, calling it a "different cast, same script," in its press release.
"Our culture defines us as an…
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NEW YORK – In its quarterly report filed Tuesday, American company Sirius Satellite Radio referred to its Canadian operations in a single line, which read: "For the first quarter of 2006, the company recorded ($4.4) million for its share of SIRIUS Canada, Inc.’s net loss."
That’s in U.S. bucks and for the January to March 2006 time frame. Given the 20%-40%-40% ownership structure (Sirius-CBC-Standard Broadcasting) of the Canadian company, that puts Sirius Canada’s Q1 ’06 losses at US$22 million or so – with CBC and Standard on the hook for US$8.8 million each.
While Sirius Canada is a private…
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WINNIPEG – The Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada has honoured the best in electronic journalism in the Prairie region in 2005. The coveted RTNDA Awards were presented at the Association’s annual Prairie Regional Professional Development Seminar in Winnipeg, last weekend.
The 2005 TELEVISION winners are: Bert Cannings Award – Best Newscast
§ CBC North in Yellowknife for CBC News: Northbeat – (Small Market) § CTV Regina for CTV News Six O’Clock Report – (Medium Market) § CTV Winnipeg for CTV News @ 6:00 PM – (Large Market)
Charlie Edwards Award – Spot News
§ CTV Calgary for River…
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OTTAWA – With new finance minister Jim Flaherty promising a GST cut – and perhaps a personal income tax cut – to go along with some spending cutbacks, the gossip mill in Ottawa is spinning wildly this week among those in the culture industries.
According to a few reports, the budget will likely curtail government spending on culture, perhaps changing the funding picture for Canadian TV production and the CBC, for example.
Surf back to cartt.ca later today and on Wednesday as we look at how the Federal Budget, which will be released at 4 p.m. this afternoon, will…
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TORONTO – Ray Carnovale (pictured), vice-president and CTO for CBC/Radio-Canada, has been named president of the North American Broadcasters Association. He takes on the role from Peter Smith, v-p, advanced technology, NBC Universal, who was elected to serve as one of two v-ps for NABA. Leonardo Ramos, director, high technology projects for Televisa was re-elected for another term as veep.
The NABA board confirmed the new executive at their Board meeting on April 4.
The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is a non-profit union of broadcasting organizations throughout North America "committed to advancing the interests of…
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