TORONTO – Janet Yale, chair of the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review panel, told the telecom industry on Monday morning that they will have to think far more broadly than their quarterly numbers and short term business plans when her panel makes their final recommendations to the federal government in January.
In a keynote speech at the start of the Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday, Yale said she had initially hoped to bring copies of the panel’s interim report for delegates, but it’s not quite ready for release, so instead she focused her remarks on reminding the telecom folks in attendance…
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TORONTO – As Canadian broadcasters pitch linear TV as a safer space for brands than toxic social media platforms during their upfront presentations, it was some surprise to see on stage Thursday at Twitter's TwitterFront event in Toronto top execs and talent from Corus Entertainment, CBC, Rogers Media and Bell Media.
"Everyone is working with us," Paul Burns, a former digital exec at Shaw Communications and now Twitter Canada’s managing director, told Cartt.ca about Canadian media players who are increasingly making the most of a social media platform often derided by critics for being a land…
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OTTAWA – Speaking before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait said public and private broadcasters in Canada are seeing their territory invaded by multinational foreign giants that have disrupted the very nature of the country’s media landscape.
“We know that our industry is facing real challenges,” Tait said during the meeting where the committee is studying the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada as it relates to the Broadcasting Act. “We want to work with Canadian partners, both public and private because today our competition is not with each other. Our competition is Google, Facebook,…
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TORONTO – As streaming video grows and younger viewers move online, traditional Canadian TV networks in recent years have been keen to tell advertisers they were following audiences online as multiplatform players amid fast-changing viewer habits.
But the CBC, underpinned by new leadership, had a stark selling point at its upfront presentation in Toronto on Wednesday beyond excitement over their new and returning TV shows – brand safety and transparency.
"The last year illustrated some of the dangers the digital world represents. There are traps," Jean Mongeau, general manager and chief revenue officer at CBC Media Solutions, told Cartt.ca, as U.S….
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THERE’S NOT MUCH TIME left to save our cultural institutions and corporations in Canada, says Richard Stursberg.
If our federal government doesn’t act soon, what it means to be Canadian will be subsumed by the sheer volume of American culture washing over us online while our “feckless” Canadian government stands idly by. “We’re going to be completely dominated by American content,” he says.
The former assistant deputy minister of culture and broadcasting and former CBC, Shaw, and Telefilm executive, recently released a brand new book, called The Tangled Garden. A Canadian Cultural…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s creative community applauded the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for hitting the right notes in calling for better pay for Canadian artists in its Shifting Paradigms report presented to Parliament on May 15.
Now, however, groups representing artists want the federal government to produce a symphony of legislative change from the committee’s 22 recommendations, which include a call to both support creators and creative industries adapt to new digital markets, and review safe-harbour exceptions and laws to ensure that Internet service providers (ISPs) are “accountable for their role in the distribution of content.”
“As technology…
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TORONTO – CBC announced its 2019-20 programming slate Wednesday that includes a mix of drama, comedy, factual, arts, music, kids, sports, news and documentary storytelling across its television, radio and streaming platforms.
New original scripted series include spy drama Fortunate Son, Canada/New Zealand thriller The Sounds, sketch comedy Tallboyz, and darkly humorous coming-of-age story The Trickster, which is based on Eden Robinson’s award-winning novels. New factual entertainment includes time-travelling adventure Back In Time For Winter, original CBC format Fridge Wars, and high-stakes drama at sea High Arctic Haulers.
The ‘pubcaster also announced that Hockey Night in Canada’s Ron MacLean will be returning…
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OTTAWA – With a nod to the 50th anniversary of Canada’s Official Languages Act, Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie Mélanie Joly unveiled a new $16 million cultural program designed to help Canadians to learn and use English and French as a second language.
Dubbed "The Mauril" in honour of the late Mauril Bélanger, a former member of Parliament who championed Canada's two official languages, the program will provide access to a virtual learning environment, materials based on current events in Canada, Canadian cultural and artistic content, educational resources to help learners progress from a basic to an…
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GATINEAU – So much work and hope was dashed yesterday for those hoping to replace Rogers Media’s OMNI on the TV dial.
The CRTC has decided Rogers will continue to operate its must-carry national ethnic language TV channel after renewing its license for OMNI Regional for three more years until August 2023. Its current license expires next summer.
This means the Commission has denied all of the other hopefuls, each of whom had rather interesting proposals for a new channel to serve the ethnic market.
“The new service, which will succeed Rogers’ existing OMNI Regional service, will be available on all digital…
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TORONTO – CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries has kicked off production on its 13th season that will see the popular Canadian drama mark its 200th episode.
Starring Yannick Bisson, Hélène Joy, Jonny Harris, and Thomas Craig, the series averaged 1.1 million viewers each week on CBC in season 12.
Murdoch Mysteries will film on location in Ontario until November and premiere on CBC this fall, with international dates to follow. Season 13 guest stars will include Colm Feore (The Umbrella Academy, House of Cards) and Claire Goose (The Coroner, Casualty).
Developed and produced by Shaftesbury for CBC, Murdoch Mysteries is licensed to broadcasters in over 150 countries and territories including the…
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