By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The federal government’s Thursday announcement to spend another $2 billion on expanding broadband access to underserved communities as part of a $10-billion basket of infrastructure initiatives through the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s (CIB’s) Growth Plan leaves many unanswered questions.
“How is it going to be delivered? What’s the timeline? What communities will be prioritized?” wondered John Nater, the Conservative shadow minister for rural economic development. “We understand these will be loans, but we don’t know whether the interest rate will be competitive and how it will differ from commercial lending agencies.”
“I don’t have a ton of…
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By Catherine Tait
THE PAST SIX MONTHS have transformed Canada and the world. It has changed how we work, how we shop, how we interact with friends and family. It has been an unsettling lesson in how quickly everything we take for granted can change. And as we head into autumn and winter, we are all worried about a second wave, and the health of our families and our society.
At CBC/Radio-Canada, Covid-19 has redoubled our attention on what is most important about serving Canadians: trusted news, serving local communities, and supporting Canadian creators who depend on us.
Canada’s media industry was…
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TORONTO – Calling itself a broadcaster “where all voices matter,” The News Forum launched with a press release late Tuesday evening saying its mandate is “to encourage critical thinking and to celebrate diversity of opinion.”
The channel, which features a show called Boom and Bust hosted by former Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement but will also offer domestic and international news, launched on all Bell television platforms (as well as Telus satellite TV and Regina’s Access Communications) and is partnered with two Canadian companies, Nextologies, for master control and distribution, and Ethnic Channels Group for sales and advertising, says the…
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TORONTO and LONDON — Julie Bristow, the former CEO and president of factual and kids content maker Bristow Global Media, has launched the Content Catalyst Fund (CCF), a development and funding company focusing on content developed, delivered and designed by women and about women.
Based in Canada but with an international reach, the CCF will develop and invest in unscripted and scripted content, but with an initial focus on unscripted, says a press release on Tuesday. To help female creators find an audience for their work, the CCF will invest in end-to-end strategic support in viable female-led projects, says the…
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TORONTO — Blue Ant International announced today a new commissioned special, After the Wildfires, which looks at Australia’s recovery effort a year after the country’s devastating bushfires in 2019, will premiere on Love Nature in November.
Shot during and in the aftermath of Australia’s worst fire season in recorded history, the one-hour special is “a gripping account of the wildfires that ravaged Australia, centred on the animals that struggled to survive the disaster and the people who gave their all to save them,” reads the press release announcing the new program.
Produced by Sydney-based Northern Pictures, the documentary includes dramatic…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL — CBC/Radio-Canada announced today it is partnering with the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) to launch new fellowships for Black journalists.
The CJF-CBC/Radio-Canada Black Journalism Fellowship (open to all genders) and the CJF-CBC/Radio-Canada Black Women’s Journalism Fellowship will provide early-career Black journalists with mentoring and training in a CBC News or Radio-Canada Info newsroom. Early-career journalists are defined in the CBC press release as those with one to 10 years of experience.
Over a six-month period, selected fellows will receive mentoring and training in video and audio editing, writing, research and investigative reporting. Each fellow will receive a…
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OTTAWA — Ahead of International Podcast Day on September 30, CBC/Radio-Canada’s Media Technology Monitor (MTM) released today a new report on the podcast listening habits of English Canadians, which finds podcasts remain a sizeable piece of the online audio market among Anglophones.
According to MTM’s report, listenership among English Canadians has grown more than 50% from the fall of 2017 when 20% of those surveyed then saying they listened to podcasts, compared to 30% of respondents in fall 2019 saying they do so.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found people who use public transit or walk to work are more likely to…
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NEW YORK and TORONTO – Streamer CBS All Access announced Friday a new series order for comedic documentary series For Heaven’s Sake, which will be co-produced for and aired by CBC in Canada.
The series “blends comedy and crime documentary formats for a unique take on uncovering the truth,” says the press release. The series will follow the search for Harold Heaven, who disappeared from his cabin near Minden, Ontario during the winter of 1934.
While local police searched the nearby woods and dredged the adjacent lake, Harold was never found nor heard from again. The case was closed as a…
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“Rare” move means many Indigenous Manitobans remain without broadband
By Ahmad Hathout
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS for years been dealing with two parties vying for federal funds to deliver high-speed broadband to one of the worst connected regions in the country.
But last week – in the same month it was meeting the proponents of its preferred project to try and salvage it – ISED withdrew $30 million in earmarked Connect to Innovate money because the project had not progressed in a “timely and effective manner,” the government said in an email to Cartt.ca.
That project was led by Wekitowak Communications, telecom RFNow,…
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TORONTO — CBC and production company Accent Entertainment today announced original sketch comedy series TallBoyz has started production on its second season, which is scheduled to premiere on CBC and CBC Gem in winter 2021.
With a collective height of 25’2”, the TallBoyz cast — Guled Abdi, Vance Banzo, Tim Blair and Franco Nguyen — will return to jab at popular culture from a very tall point of view, says the CBC press release.
“This season’s sketches range from silly, absurdist themes, like taking down a buffet or rearing an oil barrel, to hard-hitting examinations of power, privilege, racism, blackface and…
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