TORONTO — In a press release issued Tuesday afternoon, Unifor is condemning a round of cuts being made to Bell Media newsrooms this week, saying so far 100 Unifor members in Toronto have been let go, plus more to come outside Toronto, affecting all station operations including news gathering.
As we reported earlier, Cartt.ca has learned 210 positions at Bell Media will be cut in Toronto alone, and the company has laid off all staff in the newsroom of Montreal radio station CJAD.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have seen how important a strong media sector is to…
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By Etan Vlessing
OTTAWA – Janet Yale, chair of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Review (BTLR), on Monday argued the federal government’s proposed Bill C-10 is “future forward” legislation for the digital age as it seeks to embed increasingly dominant foreign online players in Canada’s TV regulatory system as content curators.
“It’s a simple, effective way to bring online undertakings into the legislative framework and support cultural policy on a like-for-like basis,” said Yale (right) on Monday during a virtual debate with University of Ottawa professor and Bill C-10 critic Michael Geist (left) during the Canadian Media Producers Association annual Prime…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The 2021 Parliamentary season is back in full swing and the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage began to dig into a pair of important topics over the past few days
This session’s first two meetings, on Friday and Monday January 29 and February 1, dealt with “Relations Between Facebook and the Federal Government,” said the meeting notice – and Bill C-10, the amendments to the Broadcasting Act.
That first meeting was spurred by an email from Kevin Chan, global director and head of public policy, Facebook Canada, sent to the director general of broadcasting, copyright and creative…
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Local stations hit Monday as radio reporter jobs slashed. CFRB newsroom decimated. Cuts at 9 Channel Nine to be announced Wednesday
By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — After recent cuts at the senior executive and senior manager levels, Bell Media began making major changes at the local level this week, with a so far unspecified number of job cuts happening at local stations and in Toronto.
UPDATE: Since publication of this story, Cartt.ca has learned 210 positions will be cut in Toronto alone. Notices of the mass layoffs have been posted at the Bell Media buildings in Toronto on Queen St. W., 9…
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TORONTO and GATINEAU — Kids channel broadcaster WildBrain Television (formerly known as DHX Television) is asking the CRTC to step into its ongoing dispute with Cogeco Connexion over the distribution of its Family Channel, Family Jr and CHRGD channels.
According to a Part 1 application filed January 19 by WildBrain, and posted to the CRTC website on January 28, WildBrain and Cogeco have been engaged in “protracted negotiations” regarding the carriage of the three kids-oriented channels by Cogeco. (WildBrain’s French-language Télémagino channel is not part of the dispute.)
WildBrain says it presented a proposal to Cogeco on April 27, 2020,…
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OTTAWA — The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund today announced the launch of its seventh call for letters of intent, the first step in its annual process seeking innovative projects which advance accessibility to broadcasting content for Canadians with disabilities.
Organizations that intend to apply to the fund for a grant must complete a letter of intent and submit it no later than end of day on Monday, March 22, 2021. Potential applicants are expected to review the Fund’s mandate and to describe how the proposed project or initiative will further the mandate’s objectives.
For more information, please visit the Broadcasting Accessibility…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – a 14-day hearing is rather long in normal circumstances but in a virtual context it is a Guinness-like feat and it did go smoothly. Kudos to the CRTC hearings team, and everyone’s local internet connections.
Thursday morning was Phase IV, the final reply portion of the CRTC hearing into the renewal of the CBC’s broadcasting licences. This is where the CBC had its opportunity to reply to the concerns raised by the 70 intervenors who appeared in front of the Commission in the last two weeks.
It’s usually used to celebrate successes with a little dash of…
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SSi Micro says northern broadband won’t grow if everything is given to incumbents
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Last week, outgoing Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said a chunk of the United States’ historic C-band spectrum proceeds should go toward a fund intended to help bring basic telecommunications services to all Americans.
North of the border, NDP Member of Parliament Brian Masse (and many others) has long been calling for spectrum proceeds to fund rural broadband investments — even creating a proposal to connect the entirety of the country to universal objective speeds (50 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload) much sooner than…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Like other organizations who appeared during this multi-day hearing, the Canadian Media Producers Association took a narrow view, arguing other discussions should be allowed to take place first.
“We think it’s important to ask questions about how CBC will ensure discoverability, success, and relevance for programming available online, but before thinking of substituting any current requirements for new metrics, we need to engage in the kind of wider industry consultation that will be possible in a major policy proceeding once Bill C-10 is passed,” said Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the CMPA during its appearance…
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Day 12…
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On day 12 of the hearing into the renewal of the CBC’s broadcasting licences, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) appearances grabbed our attention.
While PIAC has no real skin in this game (beyond representing Canadian consumers who pay for and watch the CBC), the Guild and the various unions are there to defend its members now and in the future.
From the get-go, John Lawford, PIAC’s executive director and general counsel, proposed the CBC’s licences be reviewed in two years “to line up with implementation of changes outlined in…
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