By Howard Law
HERITAGE MINISTER PABLO RODRIGUEZ has promised a CRTC policy directive to implement Bill C-11’s broad mandate to sweep foreign streaming platforms into our national program to create, fund and promote Canadian content.
C-11 has now passed second reading in the House of Commons and is on its way to the Heritage Committee for amendments and further debate. It’s time for the minister to table a draft directive.
What should be in it?
The minister has said he’s receptive to strengthening the definition of Canadian content, currently codified by the CRTC, the Canada Media Fund, and the Heritage tax credit…
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CANADA AND BRITAIN’s national public broadcasters, CBC/Radio-Canada and BBC, announced today they have jointly commissioned three new original podcasts by BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts.
The podcasts are an extension of a commitment to collaboration the BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada announced in 2019, a press release explains. They are scheduled to be released in late 2022 and 2023 on BBC Sounds, CBC Listen and on other podcast and audio platforms.
The working titles for the podcasts, which are currently in production, are The Billion Dollar Goldmine Scam, The Bait and Hollywood Outcasts.
The…
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TORONTO – Leading Ontario broadcasters including CBC, CHCH, City TV, CPAC, CTV, Global and TVO are coming together to produce and televise live the Ontario Leaders Debate on May 16 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The debate, which will also be simulcast on radio stations and will be available online, is taking place at the TVO Broadcast Centre in midtown Toronto. Journalists Steve Paikin (host of TVO’s The Agenda) and Althia Raj (Toronto Star columnist, CBC At Issue panel member) will be the moderators.
Leaders from major parties running candidates in all Ontario ridings and that currently have an elected…
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IQALUIT – Last week, after 16 years of preparation and planning, Inuit TV finally launched on Shaw Direct on channel 268.
“This is history in the making,” said Lucy Qavavauq (pictured above with her son, Inuuki Burke), co-CEO of Inuit TV, in an interview with Cartt.ca.
“This is very celebratory – not only for Inuit but for the rest of Canada… to be able to see what our beautiful culture is.”
The idea for the channel emerged because there was not much “unique content – not as much as Inuit wanted,” Qavavauq said, explaining “things started moving from there.”
Dedicated volunteers brought the…
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OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada’s Media Technology Monitor (MTM) today released a new report that shows the number of Canadians, both English and French-speaking, who subscribe to paid TV services is still relatively high.
“Although paid TV subscriptions have been in decline for over a decade, they still remain fairly high with 69% of anglophone households having a paid TV service,” reads a press release highlighting MTM’s findings for the English Canadian paid TV market.
For French-speaking Canada, the percentage of households that subscribe to paid TV services is approximately 75% (three out of four), according to MTM’s research on the French market.
In…
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By Monica Auer
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is asking Canadians to trust the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to implement new legislation about electronic communications.
The CRTC is now responsible for implementing Canada’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts, Canada’s ‘Anti-Spam’ law as well as parts of the Canada Elections Act and the 2019 Accessible Canada Act: the government is proposing through Bills C-11 and C-18 to give the Commission more powers over Canadian and foreign Internet broadcasters as well as Canada’s news media, along with new authority to levy administrative monetary penalties for non-compliance with the CRTC’s requirements.
In February the government assured…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada is on a mission to make things safer for journalists at a time when attacks on them are becoming increasingly troublesome.
“We no longer have the luxury of believing that attacks on journalists don’t happen in a country like ours,” CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Catherine Tait (above, right) said yesterday afternoon during a speech at the Canadian Club Toronto for World Press Freedom Day.
“I’m concerned by three trends in particular: how social media is being used to abuse and intimidate journalists; how state actors and extremists are weaponizing these platforms to silence journalists; and how some are deliberately…
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By Peter Menzies
THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO last week, the Calgary Flames scored one of their most famous triumphs – a 3-2 Game 7 playoff victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.
Back then I was sports editor of the Calgary Sun and that playoff run to the finals (Calgary lost to Montreal in 5) dominated my days. But by night I was secretly just as excited that by June I’d be in Mexico covering Canada’s debut at World Cup ’86.
In Canada, being a proper football fan has been a pretty lonely, often mocked, existence. Sports departments considered soccer merely…
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CBC NEWS ANNOUNCED today it is expanding its local news services through the addition of 14 new journalism positions across the country.
“At Canada’s public broadcaster, local is the lens into all that we do,” said Susan Marjetti, general manager of news, current affairs and local at CBC, in a press release.
“Prioritizing local connections will help us tell more of the stories that matter most to people. These newly announced positions across the country are aimed at broadening and deepening our journalism while building relationships with regional and cultural communities.”
The hiring process for the positions will begin this spring.
In Alberta,…
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By Howard Law
This is part two of a three-part series – read part one here.
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST the Liberals’ first attempt at passing the Online Streaming Act as Bill C-10 last spring is poised for relaunch as the House of Commons considers Bill C-11.
In my last post I described what Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is trying to accomplish with C-11. In this post we’ll take a look at the critique by the bill’s opponents.
Like previous criticism of C-10, it’s best articulated by Michael Geist’s prolific posting. His arguments have been picked up by Conservative…
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