Heritage Minister says culture spending can lead to economic growth
TORONTO – The federal government is turning its attention to overhauling the laws and regulations governing the cultural sector in Canada because it sees creativity as the driving force behind innovation, which will drive the growth of the Canadian economy, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly told delegates at the CRTC and NFB’s Discoverability Summit in Toronto on Tuesday.
While noting that the government has promised a $1.9 billion investment in arts and culture over the next five years – the first G7 country to make such an investment,…
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SAINT JOHN, NB – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) has announced the shortlisted nominees for their Tuned-in Canada awards – a national celebration of excellence in communications service delivery, community-mindedness, and community channel content development.
“We received a record number of nominations this year, many from our member companies – but many others from their customers across the country,” said Alyson Townsend, CCSA president and CEO. “That level of support really shows that Canada’s local cable and telecommunications companies are a valued part of our country’s communications ecosystem.”
“The nominations this year highlighted amazing local television content, introduced us to…
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TORONTO – The issue of “content discoverability” may force Canada’s audiovisual production sector to reinvent itself, and change the dynamic between producers, broadcasters and distributors, says a new report from stakeholders on the eve of the CRTC’s Discoverability Summit.
Discoverability: Toward a Common Frame of Reference, published by the Canada Media Fund (CMF) with financing from the National Film Board of Canada, Telefilm Canada, and the support of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Media Technology Monitor, is intended as a means for the Canadian audiovisual industry’s community and its stakeholders to develop a common understanding of the discoverability concept. The report provides an in-depth look…
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OTTAWA – Can Canada maintain a rights market of its own for cultural content in the face of rampant and rapid technological change? If so, how? Should we? At what costs? What would any new rules say?
These very difficult, complex questions, along with Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s recent announcement that our aged legislation covering Canadian content rules will soon be getting an overhaul, were front and centre during the first morning of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Biennial conference into new developments in communications law and policy at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.
For example,…
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MONTREAL – The federal government and CRTC should allow “competitive pressure” to spur the telecommunications industry’s investments in new broadband infrastructure, and not repeat the “mistakes" caused by intervening in the wireless sector, says a new report released Thursday by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).
“Critics who note that access to high-speed Internet is limited in some regions of Canada, or among less advantaged socioeconomic groups, invariably conclude that government intervention will be necessary to close the gap, but what they consider a market failure is actually just the normal course of technology adoption”, reads the 2016 edition of The State of Competition in…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Telecommunications service providers cannot charge for a service that is not, and cannot be, provided following a cancellation, the CRTC stressed Thursday.
The Commission made the comments after issuing two decisions relating to its prohibition of 30-day cancellation policies, a move designed to make it easier for consumers to switch service providers. In the first decision, the Commission denied a request by Telus to direct Shaw Communications to cease requiring the payment of liquidated damages when small business customers cancel retail local voice or Internet services before service installation work has begun.
Noting that Telus’ focus on a single service…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Despite a decrease in expenses, Canadian conventional television stations saw profits continue their downward slide in 2015, according to the CRTC’s latest statistical and financial report for this sector released Wednesday.
According to Conventional Television – Statistical and Financial Summaries 2011-2015, profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) for private local TV stations declined from -$138.7 million to -$140.9 million, and the PBIT margin decreased from -7.7% to -8%.
Revenues fell by 2.6% (or $46.6 million) from $1.8 billion in 2014 to $1.76 billion for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2015. While revenues from the sale of local advertising…
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OTTAWA – The local news business, while still attracting eyeballs, has ceased working from a financial perspective, Bell Canada told a Parliamentary committee on Tuesday. Echoing its appearance in front of the CRTC earlier this year, the company argued in front of MPs that creating a fund dedicated to local news programming would definitely help counteract falling advertising revenue.
Speaking at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Wendy Freeman, president at CTV News, noted that 2011 advertising revenue from private Canadian conventional TV stations has declined by $325 million, $91 million at Bell Media…
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MONTREAL and WINNIPEG – BCE Inc. is buying Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) in a transaction valued at $3.9 billion, the companies announced early Monday.
The combined company's Manitoba operations will be known as Bell MTS, recognizing the power of the MTS brand in the province. Winnipeg becomes Western Canada headquarters for Bell and, with the addition of MTS's 2,700 employees, Bell's Western team grows to 6,900 people.
Bell pledged to invest $1 billion in capital throughout Manitoba after the transaction closes to extend the availability of its Gigabit Fibe Internet, rollout Fibe TV and expand its LTE wireless network. MTS' data…
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OTTAWA – Sudbury, ON could soon have a new radio station after the CRTC issued a call for comments on market capacity and on the appropriateness of issuing a call for radio applications to serve the area.
The Commission said Friday that it issued the call after receiving an application from Larche Communications Inc. for a new English-language commercial radio station to serve that market. Based in Midland, ON, Larche currently operates four radio stations in Ontario including KICX 91.7 FM in Sudbury.
Interventions are due by June 1 and the deadline to file replies is June 10, 2016. Following receipt of…
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