By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – While a National Post consumer reporter shared his story of having his phone number ported against his will last week, the next day, coincidentally, the CRTC sent a request for information to wireless providers asking them further information on that very subject.
At the beginning of this “process” (although it’s not an official CRTC proceeding at this point) the Public Interest Advocacy Centre had voiced its reservations about the nature of this exercise, asking for a public hearing.
In effect, this started in January 2020 with a CRTC staff letter (not a notice initiating a…
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TORONTO — During its virtual upfront presentation today, CBC revealed its 2020-21 slate of original programming that features 1,300 new hours of television for its fall schedule, including 22 new and returning series.
New series include: the documentary Enslaved (6 episodes x 60 minutes), executive produced by Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici; the factual series Orangeville Prep (6×30, pictured), which looks at the high-pressure world of basketball’s most successful preparatory program; the Canada/New Zealand co-produced thriller The Sounds (8×60), directed by Peter Stebbings and starring Rachelle Lefevre and Matt Whelan; Indigenous-led drama Trickster (6×60), which…
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By Etan Vlessing
IT’S A LIVE TV PRODUCER’S worst nightmare: Take eight months to get the Canadian Screen Awards off the ground, then cancel your in-person, live gala ceremony just before going to air due to a sudden coronavirus pandemic spread, and then be forced to pivot online with entirely preproduced segments.
That’s what confronted the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television suddenly cast into disarray last March by a world in the grip of a Covid-19 crisis.
“You don’t make money by cancelling a show two weeks out. It threw us into a bit of a financial panic,” Beth Janson,…
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THE DG7, AN international group of public service media organizations including CBC/Radio-Canada, issued a joint statement Tuesday saying they have seen strong audience increases since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that this reflects the confidence global audiences have in the reliable and independent information the DG7 organizations deliver on television, radio and digital media, says the statement.
In addition to CBC/Radio-Canada, the publicly funded media organizations from seven democratic nations include France Médias Monde, Deutsche Welle, BBC World Service, U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), NHK World Japan and ABC Australia.
“Our organizations have adapted to the consequences of…
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TORONTO — CBC announced today its new original podcast series, This Is Not a Drake Podcast, will launch Wednesday, June 3.
The five-part series explores the history and evolution of hip-hop, R&B and Black culture through the lens of Drake’s career, 10 years after the release of his first studio album. The series provides context on Drake’s deep musical roots and his transition from an actor on teen series Degrassi to his top-tier music stardom. It also explores rap and R&B’s complicated history, the evolution of gender dynamics in hip-hop, the rise of the Nice Guy rapper, and how the…
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TORONTO — Long-time CBC broadcaster Michael Enright (pictured) is stepping down from hosting CBC Radio One’s The Sunday Edition to create a new one-hour radio program for the public broadcaster.
Enright has hosted The Sunday Edition for its entire 20-year broadcast run and his last day as host will be Sunday, June 28. According to the news release, CBC will redevelop the show for the Sunday morning time slot this fall featuring a new host. More information will be provided in the coming months, the release says.
“Hosting The Sunday Edition for 20 years has been the greatest experience and…
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Tech support mimes and other stories
By Ruby Pratka
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has forced many industries to radically, and quickly, reform the way they work and the telecommunications sector is no exception. Across Canada, independent telecommunications providers are adapting to the massive spikes in Internet usage and the need for contactless customer service (for its employees and consumers).
Weeks before the Quebec City region recorded any cases of Covid-19, Maryna Carré and her colleagues at Coopérative de câblodistribution de l’Arrière-Pays (CCAP) in the Charlesbourg sector of the city held a strategy session — just in case.
“Even before the state of emergency was…
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VANCOUVER — Thunderbird Entertainment Group’s kids and family division, Atomic Cartoons, announced Tuesday its animated series Molly of Denali about the adventures of a young Indigenous girl has been nominated for a Peabody Award.
Co-produced by WGBH Boston and Atomic Cartoons for PBS Kids and CBC Kids, Molly of Denali is one of only two nominees in the children and youth category for the Peabody Awards this year.
“It is such an incredible honour to receive a Peabody Award nomination for Molly of Denali, a series that we have been so passionate about from the very beginning,” said Jennifer Twiner McCarron,…
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TORONTO – Beginning Wednesday night and running through Sunday, May 17, CBC Sports is bringing Canadians exclusive live streaming coverage of the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) championship via cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports App for iOS and Android, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.
The four-day event takes place at the Lakewood Country Club in Yangju, South Korea and marks the first professional golf tournament to return to the sports calendar since March, when the Covid-19 crisis stopped all pro and amateur sports.
The 42nd KLPGA Championship will be the tour’s first event since December and will be played…
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TORONTO — To help Canadians connect to nature as they practise social distancing and stay home, CBC has launched the new Hello Spring website, a four-week Canada-wide digital initiative “celebrating the wonders of spring as it unfolds across the country in the midst of a year unlike any other,” reads the news release from CBC today.
The website features documentaries and photography from some of Canada’s top nature and wildlife cinematographers, including renowned filmmaker Jeff Turner (The Wild Canadian Year). Also featured is a collection of the best nature livestreams from coast-to-coast-to-coast, including eagles feeding their young in B.C., peregrine…
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