GATINEAU — As the first phase of its consultation on the development of a new Indigenous broadcasting policy in Canada, the CRTC released today the results of its early engagement sessions with First Nations, Métis and Inuit broadcasters, content creators and artists during which the Commission gathered input to establish the conduct and scope of the next phase of the policy development.
In June 2019, the CRTC launched a three-phase process to co-develop a new Indigenous broadcasting policy in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. Phase one consisted of 12 engagement sessions — nine in-person and three teleconference sessions — held across…
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“French to follow”
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – This what you could read in an indignant tweet from the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF) when the group saw the CBC had filed its final reply to the CRTC in English only. And they added facetiously that they will stop “following” the public broadcaster.
This is the culmination of CBC’s licences renewal process that lasted way too long, but we should have a decision before the end of the licence extension, on August 31, 2021. The initial renewal application by the CBC was filed with the CRTC on August 23, 2019.
That tweet…
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By Steve Faguy
IS TERRESTRIAL RADIO dead?
Well, no. The Canadian commercial radio industry brought in $1.45 billion in total revenues in 2018-19, according to CRTC data. But that’s a steady decline from $1.6 billion in 2014-15, and even without the effects of Covid-19, it looks like the only way forward is down as both advertisers and audience increasingly migrate toward digital services.
Faced with this decline, broadcasters are taking various strategic approaches to the future. Some are embracing new platforms, launching podcasts and streaming services of their own.
“I think there’s still a place for…
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TORONTO – Something Undone will stream on CBC Gem starting Friday, March 26.
The six episode x 10 minutes drama follows a character named Jo who goes home to settle her estranged mother’s estate, and then discovers a dark family secret — her mother suffered from schizophrenia.
Jo becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth and struggles with her own reality. The series was directed by Nicole Dorsey (Black Conflux, Arlo Alone); and co-written, produced and stars (above, right to left) Madison Walsh as Jo (Mrs. America, The Expanse) and Michael Musi (“Terence” on Kim’s Convenience).
The original short series was funded by…
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TORONTO – Saloon Media’s new one-hour CBC Docs POV, UFO Town (1×60’; HD), is set to land on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming service.
The special will may well open up age-old debates after the film’s exclusive premiere on Friday, March 26 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT). Audiences will join UFO Town as the documentary revisits the mysterious UFO case from West Carleton, Ontario.
The case made international headlines and went viral over 30 years ago after a top-secret “declassified” letter and video emerged, claiming a UFO spacecraft had crash-landed in the region. UFO Town weaves together two compelling…
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OTTAWA — Almost all new Canadians own smartphones and watch YouTube videos, but they’re not so big on subscribing to traditional TV services, according to a new report from CBC/Radio-Canada’s Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
MTM’s newly launched report product, MTM Newcomers, focuses on the media consumption habits of new Canadians who have come to Canada within the past five years.
Based on MTM 18+ data, the report includes the following findings:
99% of those who report arriving in Canada in the past 10 years say they have a smartphone, with 57% owning an iPhone, compared to 49% of those who were…
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TORONTO and LOS ANGELES — Canadian production company marblemedia, in association with Cloudco Entertainment, today announced it has received a series order for a half-hour, live-action comedy, Overlord and the Underwoods, from CBC, Nickelodeon and ITV, in association with BYUtv.
The original, single-camera comedy (20 episodes x 30 minutes) follows the Underwood family, “whose life is turned upside down when their distant cousin, Overlord, the second most-wanted villain in the universe, seeks refuge in their home after being forced into intergalactic witness protection,” reads the press release from marblemedia announcing the series order.
The series is created by BAFTA-winning showrunner Anthony…
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Minister makes draft policy directive public
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In a somewhat surprising move, the Heritage Ministry on Thursday decided to share the draft policy directive to the CRTC which is to be delivered to the Regulator once the bill aimed at updating the Broadcasting Act is passed.
The draft direction (as in, not final) was supposed to provide more clarity into what the government expects from the CRTC after the passage of C-10, a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act. But, to be honest, there isn’t much direction in the directive which hasn’t already been examined during our reportage…
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TORONTO — The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) today announced the 10 nominees for the Juno Fan Choice Award, which this year is being presented by Shaw Communications’ Freedom Mobile.
New this year, Freedom Mobile has signed on as a lead sponsor of the 50th Annual Juno Awards and the new presenting partner of the fan choice award. TikTok is also joining as a new lead sponsor and has been named as the official voting platform where fans can vote for their favourite nominee directly in the app. In addition to voting via TikTok, other voting options…
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By Steve Faguy
“THE SYNDICATION OF LOCALIZED programming is nothing new,” says Troy Reeb, executive vice president broadcast networks at Corus Entertainment. “My career began at 17 years old at CFOK in Westlock, Alta., which was a hub station for a network of rural stations across Alberta and northern B.C., where we had this primitive robot — it was huge, it took an entire room and it looked like something out of Space Odyssey. It had reel-to-reel tapes that turned off and on automatically, and clackity cart machines, and it would deliver differentiated programming and weather forecasts and everything else…
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