OTTAWA – When Cartt.ca wrote about CBC/SRC CRTC licence renewal last month, one of the questions which remained was: How much money will the Corporation be able to draw upon to meet its obligations, and how can the CRTC impose obligations in the absence of budgetary certainty?
It’s not the first time the CRTC and the CBC/SRC found themselves at this junction, but this time there was some guidance from the 2016 Federal Budget.
However, the 2016 Budget used language which created more confusion. “The Minister of Canadian Heritage will work with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada to develop a five-year accountability…
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TORONTO — Chris Howden has been announced as the new co-host of CBC Radio’s national current affairs show, As It Happens. Howden will join the program’s longtime host, award-winning journalist Carol Off, on Monday, January 6, 2020.
Howden is replacing former co-host Jeff Douglas, who left As It Happens in May 2019 to host Mainstreet, the CBC Radio One afternoon show in Douglas’s home province of Nova Scotia.
As It Happens listeners may already be familiar with Howden’s voice as a fill-in host and behind-the-scenes writer for the show. As It Happens broadcasts weekdays at 6:30 p.m. (7 p.m. NT) nationwide…
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OTTAWA — The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund will award $744,479 in grants to six new projects designed to advance accessibility to broadcasting content for Canadians with disabilities.
These six projects represent the completion of the Fund’s fifth round of grants, with approximately $3.3 million committed to date through five rounds of funding, to address gaps in broadcasting accessibility.
The projects approved by the Board of Directors are:
Understanding User Experiences of Play-by-Play Captioning in Fast-Paced Live Sports — Canadian Association of the Deaf — $191,570: Fast paced live sports (such as hockey) continues to be one of the most difficult genres of programming…
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VANCOUVER — Kim’s Convenience and Highway Thru Hell (among others) maker Thunderbird Entertainment Group reported $17 million in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2020, ended September 30th, an 18% increase over the first quarter of last year.
Net income for the quarter was $849,000, down from $1.45 million in Q1 2018. Adjusted EBITDA was $3 million, down from $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2018.
The company also noted it has 21 programs currently in production, nine of which it owns or is part-owned.
During the first quarter, the company had 21 programs…
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Commission invites CBC/SRC to potentially use digital media to meet its regulatory obligations
GATINEAU – On Monday, the CRTC officially opened the process for the renewal of the CBC/SRC licences, asking Canadians on Facebook what they think about the public broadcaster.
The public hearing will be held in May.
While we had heard and read the CBC/SRC is asking the Comission to include its digital platforms when it comes to meeting its substantial regulatory objectives, in reading the 200-page application, we found that it is the Commission itself which actually invited the Corporation to do so.
A renewal process such as this one…
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TORONTO – Radioplayer Canada, the radio streaming app that delivers more than 500 radio stations to Canadian listeners across multiple platforms (loads of stations, except for Bell Media’s), has surpassed one million downloads in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, combined, the company announced this week.
“Two and a half years ago the majority of Canadian radio broadcasters joined together to collaborate on technology in order to make radio listening easy for the audience – wherever, whenever, and however they want,” said Julie Adam, board chair of Radioplayer Canada and senior vice president of Rogers Radio. “Clearly,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC said today it wants to know what Canadians think of CBC/Radio-Canada’s programming.
As part of the CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewal process, which started today, the Commission wants to “ensure the content produced and distributed by the public broadcaster reflects the diversity of Canada’s population, while meeting its needs in both official languages,” reads its press release.
“Given changes in the models for the production and distribution of content, the Commission is inviting Canadians to review how CBC/Radio-Canada content is made available to them on various platforms. They will also have an opportunity to share their opinion on how…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada today announced Acast will be its first official podcast partner for international sales.
Stockholm-based Acast will help grow CBC/Radio-Canada’s podcast slate globally by selling advertising and sponsorships to clients outside of Canada, including in the U.S. and Europe, says the press release. Acast has sales teams spead across 10 countries.
CBC/Radio-Canada’s portfolio of podcasts includes L'ombre du doute, Personal Best, Histoires d'enquête, Love Me, Ça s'explique, Transmission, Par hasard la science, Alone: A Love Story, Uncover, Someone Knows Something and Hunting Warhead, which is an international co-production with Norway’s Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper, including input from Australia’s…
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OTTAWA – Amid new portfolio names and no major change to Navdeep Bains’ duties, one big surprise in the unveiling of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new post-election cabinet on Wednesday was the appointment of well-known Quebec environmentalist, anti-pipeline activist and month-old Member of Parliament Steven Guilbeault (right), as – the new minister of Canadian Heritage.
However, OUTtv CEO Brad Danks told Cartt.ca he is “cautiously optimistic” that Guilbeault’s background as a human-rights activist and reputation of being forward-thinking will help the government undertake a “complete overhaul of the broadcasting system” following the release of recommendations early next year by…
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YELLOWKNIFE – After two days of outcry in the Far North, the CBC today said it wouldn’t merge English-language morning radio newscasts in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
On Monday, the CBC announced local newscasts were to be merged into a single, pan-territorial broadcast in January 2020. Local politicians, CBC employees and many other northerners didn’t hold back in their criticism of the plan.
According to a press release from the Canadian Association of Journalists, the move showed the CBC was ignoring its commitments to upholding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action…
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