OTTAWA – Representatives from the CBC and the Canadian Media Guild continue to hold talks in Ottawa, which the corporation describes as “positive.”
Members of the bargaining committees of both sides in the lockout met yesterday and made enough progress that follow-up talks were scheduled for today.
“The two sides are meeting in a series of smaller groups in an effort to create a dialogue that will allow formal negotiations to begin again,” the CBC says in a statement.
Meanwhile, CBC employees were joined on the picket lines in front of the corporation’s new downtown Ottawa studios today by…
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MONTREAL – Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada have announced they will each carry an equal number of English and French stations when they launch.
As part of their conditions of licence, each satellite radio service is required to launch with at least eight Canadian channels, one-quarter of them in French. Both services said today they will voluntarily increase that to half.
Also, if they add any new Canadian services in the first 24 months of operation, they pledge to add an equal number of English and French.
“It has always been our intent to ensure satellite radio further strengthens Canadian…
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TORONTO – CBC Television has delayed the launch of its fall TV season, scheduled for Sept. 7, because of the lockout of employees over a dispute between the corporation and the Canadian Media Guild.
“While CBC Television is encouraged that preliminary talks between CBC and CMG have resumed, negotiations have not proceeded far enough to permit the (launch) to proceed,” according to a CBC statement.
Earlier today, CBC Television announced that Hockey Night in Canada will return (from a different lockout) on Oct. 8 with back-to-back games every Saturday night in the regular NHL season. The debut will see…
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WE HOPE READERS HAVE ENJOYED the four-month free preview of www.cartt.ca. We do our best to cover the vital issues that affect executives, managers and employees of companies of all sizes in the cable, radio, television and telecom trade.
Since our May 2nd launch, we’ve delivered original journalism – breaking news, feature stories, interviews and viewpoints – important to the domestic industry. In fact, since launch, www.cartt.ca has published almost 800 stories which have appeared in our twice-weekly newsletters that hit in-boxes promptly at 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That’s more than nine per business day, and includes many…
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EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers have announced their 2005-2006 TV schedule, which will see all but four of the 82 regular season hockey games televised.
Fifty of the 78 broadcast games will be on Rogers Sportsnet West, with 12 games on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, 10 exclusively available on pay-per view, and six on TSN.
The pay-per-view games will be available to customers of Bell ExpressVu, Star Choice, and Shaw digital cable. The first Oilers pay-per-view special will air Nov. 3, when Edmonton visits Detroit. Pricing will be announced later.
The Oilers’ home opener is Oct. 5 against…
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TORONTO – America’s premier daily entertainment news show, Entertainment Tonight, is coming to Hollywood North. ET Canada will air nightly across Canada on Global starting Sept. 12.
The show will be hosted by Global personality Cheryl Hickey, along with on-air reporters Rick Campanelli (former MuchMusic icon), Rosey Edeh (former on-air talent for CNN, NBC, and CTV’s E-Talk), Kim D’Eon (former reporter for CBC’s The Hour), and Roz Weston (former senior reporter for Toronto 1’s A-List).
“It’s extremely exciting to be part of the world’s largest entertainment news brand,” says Barbara Williams, Senior VP of Programming for Global Television Network….
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TORONTO – Preliminary talks resume today between the CBC and the Canadian Media Guild, aimed at ending the more than two-week-old lockout that is mainly about wages and contracting out.
The corporation says chief negotiators from both sides “have had some meaningful contact over the last few days” and will start to discuss unresolved issues.
Representatives are meeting in smaller groups “to enable more focused, committed discussion between the parties,” the broadcaster says.
“CBC welcomes this opportunity to get back to the table to continue discussions with the CMG on all of the outstanding issues so we can work…
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OTTAWA – Prominent broadcasters were named to the Order of Canada this week by Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson.
Longtime TV executive Trina McQueen was named an Officer, while Winnipeg CBC broadcaster Robert Enright was named a Member. Toronto-born ABC anchor Peter Jennings was named a Member posthumously, though he was told of the honour just days before he died of lung cancer at the age of 67.
McQueen had been a broadcaster for more than three decades, including as Executive Vice-President of CTV, a post she left when she retired in 2001 to become active as a volunteer on several…
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OTTAWA – The CBC has revealed the details of its latest offer to the union that precipitated the two-week-old lockout, as both sides gear up to resume formal negotiations on Wednesday.
The corporation says on Aug. 11, it gave its second comprehensive offer to the Canadian Media Guild containing proposals on all financial items, including general wage increases, payments for reclassifying positions, and retroactive payments.
The CBC says it’s committed to spending $17.4 million in retroactive payments and wage increases to offset job evaluation, which in some cases would alter pay scales. Of that amount, $15 million would be retroactive…
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TORONTO – Reports swirling around all weekend long after the Liberals’ cabinet retreat in Regina suggest that Heritage Minister Liza Frulla is hoping to get her fellow cabinet ministers on-side to ask the CRTC to review or rescind its June 16th decision to license a pair of satellite radio companies.
Both companies are taking the reports seriously, executives told www.cartt.ca on Monday. Cabinet has until September 14th to decide what it may do.
“From the outset Madame Frulla has been worried about the overall number of French stations. No surprise,” said SIRIUS Canada president Kevin Shea. “In fairness, she…
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