TORONTO – Senior lawyer and public policy professional Deborah Smith-Webber has joined Hall Webber LLP as the Toronto entertainment law firm looks to expand its practice.
Smith-Webber most recently served for ten years as senior specialist/advisor on culture policy with the Ontario government, where she led strategy and policy development on a legislative and regulatory portfolio that included free trade agreement negotiations, CRTC broadcasting proceedings, copyright reform, and Canadian culture policy toolkit modernization.
In her new role as strategic policy counsel, she will help organizations devise and execute effective policy, legislative, and regulatory advocacy strategies and initiatives at the intersection of…
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MONTREAL — Quebecor’s TVA is so fed up with how its all-sports channel is being treated by Bell that an executive confirmed it will defy a CRTC demand and pull TVA Sports from all Bell TV distribution systems at 7 p.m. Wednesday, just as the National Hockey League playoffs begin.
"We don't have confidence" in the CRTC process, said Groupe TVA COO Martin Picard in an interview. "We've already waited too long."
While the Commission has a dispute resolution process that uses final offer arbitration to impose new carriage contracts when asked to do so by one of the parties,…
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QUISPAMSIS, NB – Nominations are now closed and judging is underway for Tuned-in Canada: The CCSA Awards 2019.
Judges Greg O’Brien (president of FindTV, and editor & publisher of Cartt.ca), Suzanne Lamarre (lawyer, former CRTC commissioner, member of the Disciplinary Council of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and Télé-Québec's Board of Directors), Matthew Polka (president and CEO of the American Cable Association), and Joely Collins (producer, director and founder of Vancouver-based Million Faces Productions) are currently combining a shortlist of nominees in the public voting categories of:
– Best people: on-camera community channel personality– Best…
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SHOULD QUEBECOR FOLLOW through on its threat to take TVA Sports away from Bell TV customers (which seems sure to happen, given this tweet from Quebecor’s SVP, corporate and institutional affairs Serge Sasseville), what exactly might happen then? We talked to a broadcast policy legal expert (one with no skin in this game).
Such a move, for a licence holder to openly defy CRTC regulations like this, is pretty much unprecedented, to begin with.
According to Québecor, it will stop providing the TVA Sports signal to Bell TV at 7 p.m. on Wednesday April 10th (the first…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications CEO Brad Shaw today affirmed his company’s stance against the federal government’s and CRTC’s desire to see new, non facilities-based wireless competition in Canada.
In February, as readers will recall, the CRTC launched a new review into the wireless market and noted its view was to mandate mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs – or third party carriers who lease space on incumbent networks) to operate in Canada since few have launched under the existing regs. Those who would like to launch an MVNO in Canada have said the wholesale rates proposed by…
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GATINEAU – During the final regular season game of the NHL season aired on TVA Sports this past weekend, the Quebecor-owned broadcaster warned viewers they were going to lose access to the channel when the NHL playoffs begin – and that it’s all Bell’s fault.
Currently, Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau is leading a one-man public campaign decrying the state of affairs when it comes to specialty TV and the wholesale rates his TVA channels receive from carriers (please see our feature interview published here), since they are so much lower than Bell Media channels…
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Shortliffe to become ED, broadcasting
GATINEAU – CRTC chair Ian Scott announced today it has filled a newly created position with Scott Hutton, who will leave his long-time post as executive director, broadcasting, to become the Commission’s new chief of consumer, research and communications.
Hutton “brings to the role 27 years of experience at the CRTC and has extensive experience in both the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. He is a seasoned expert of the communications industry and the regulatory environment,” reads the chair’s memo.
“Scott will lead the CRTC’s work as we engage in a conversation with Canadians, key stakeholders and industry…
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Reiterates push for “granular data”
GATINEAU – The Canadian wireless market reaps $24.5 billion in annual retail sales, accounts for 155,000 jobs and 31.7 million subscribers (2017 figures*) so the stakes are rather high when it comes to another regulatory review of that market.
Old ways (facilities-based competition) may be thrown out with new ones mandated (MVNOs). The questions surrounding the CRTC’s latest review of the wireless market has created much unease and uncertainty inside Canada’s wireless carriers (and a glimmer of hope among those who want to launch new MVNO-based brands and…
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Le président de Québecor sent qu’il est le seul pour se battre pour la culture
C’EST UN PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU en grande forme à qui nous avons parlé cette semaine lors d’une conversation téléphonique, mardi après-midi. Il venait de prononcer une conférence au CORIM (Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal) dans le cadre de sa dernière campagne d’information sur l’avenir du système de radiodiffusion canadien.
Cette fois, le président et chef de la direction de Québecor, monte aux barricades pour s’attaquer à Netflix, au système de redevances des canaux spécialisés, au CRTC, à Radio-Canada, à Bell et…
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CEO says he feels alone fighting for our culture
IT WAS A PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU in fine form with whom we had a phone conversation on Tuesday after a speech he gave at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relation. That speech was part of public relations campaign he is leading on the future of the Canadian broadcasting system.
This time the Quebecor CEO is attacking Netflix, the specialty channel affiliation regime, the CRTC, the CBC, Bell and the apathy he feels from so many. While the system is crumbling nobody is being spared, and not enough Canadians…
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