Public broadcaster says it will hire up to 30 new journalists
CBC News announced Wednesday it will hire up to 30 new permanent journalists in 22 underserved communities across Canada, following the CRTC’s approval of Google’s plan to compensate Canadian news organization for use of their content.
Google has committed to providing a $100-million fund to host news content from news organizations across Canada, allowing it to be exempted under the Online News Act. CBC, which obtains funding from both private and public sources, is allowed to draw up to a maximum of seven per…
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By Ahmad Hathout and Linda Stuart
A watchdog that handles complaints for telecom and television services reported Wednesday that it received the highest number of complaints in its latest annual report, but its leadership stopped short of attributing the increase to more awareness of the organization.
Between August 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Servies (CCTS) said it accepted 20,147 complaints, a 38 per cent increase from the 14,617 complaints a year prior. Because each complaint can raise more than one issue, the 20,147 complaints translated to a total of 38,874 issues.
Despite the significant increase,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Corus executives said Friday they are confident the media company can lead in the lifestyle content segment, following what they say were strong fall viewership period for its newly branded food and home channels.
Co-CEO Troy Reeb said during a first quarter earnings conference call that the networks, Flavour and Home, have seen consistent viewership since it rebranded from Food Network and HGTV Canada – the rights to which were acquired by Rogers in a blockbuster deal this past summer.
Reeb cautioned that those now-competing channels have popular programming attached to them, meaning there will be fluctuations in audiences….
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Bell and Corus announced Wednesday an expansion of a multi-year agreement that will see Corus’s networks be distributed on Bell Fibe TV and Bell Satellite TV.
The agreement includes Corus’s new channels Flavour and Home through the media company’s StackTV streaming service, which had previously launched on the Bell Fibe TV app.
“Bell is a firm supporter of independent content providers, like Corus, that deliver compelling content that audiences want,” Payal Gabrani-Bahl, Bell’s senior vice president of consumer and small business, said in a press release. “We’re pleased to offer our Bell Fibe and Satellite TV customers the premier lifestyle networks…
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Regulator looking into adapting mandatory distribution, skinny basic to online services
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC launched a proceeding Thursday to examine what types of challenges Canadian broadcasters and producers face when navigating the new broadcasting market and when trying to get their content in front of audiences.
The commission is seeking answers by February 24 to questions related to the specific challenges faced by broadcasters – distinct from individual creators and producers – in having their services and content promoted and discovered; how, if applicable, does the regulatory framework help or hinder that discoverability; whether the commission, if it must, support…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell Media has filed a complaint to the CRTC alleging Rogers wants to give itself an undue preference by replacing two of its newly rebranded channels with the cable company’s newly acquired programming — Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.).
Bell previously had the rights to the Discovery and the I.D. brands, but lost them to Rogers when rights owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) signed a multi-year licensing deal with the cable giant this past summer. To make up for that, Bell announced in October that it acquired the rights to bring USA…
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The CRTC announced in December it has approved Maritime Broadcasting System Limited (MBS)’s application to acquire five English-language commercial radio stations and a transmitter from Bell Media Radio Atlantic Inc. (Bell Atlantic), in a transaction valued at $4.4 million.
The radio stations include CKTO-FM and CKTY-FM in Truro, Nova Scotia, and CKBC-FM Bathurst, CJCJ-FM Woodstock, and CIKX-FM Grand Falls and its transmitter CIKX-FM-1 Plaster Rock in New Brunswick.
MBS operates 24 radio stations across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island; however, it does not currently operate stations in the markets where it is acquiring these…
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Telecom says it is willing to pay ‘reasonable charges and rejoin CCTS’
By Ahmad Hathout
Small ISP InnSys Inc. is calling on the CRTC to institute changes at the chief complaints watchdog for telecom and broadcasting matters, a year after it was expelled for failing to comply with some terms of its membership.
The Ontario-based provider of internet, IPTV and home phone services filed Part 1 application made public late last month asking the regulator to consider implementing four changes on the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS): make the watchdog implement a “clear and transparent system that allows ISPs to…
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Indigenous broadcaster APTN announced Monday it is teaming up again with Rogers’s Sportsnet to bring a third season of Hockey Night in Canada in Cree to its viewers as well as three NHL games broadcast in Inuktitut for the first time.
Available on the APTN and APTN Languages channels, Hockey Night in Canada in Cree features play-by-play commentary from Clarence Iron, joined by analysts Earl Wood, John Chabot and Jason Chamakese. Hockey Night in Canada in Inuktitut will be hosted by Pujjuut Kusugak and David Ningeongan.
The games to be broadcast in Plains Cree will feature the Winnipeg Jets vs. the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau is suing Rogers at the Competition Tribunal for allegedly misleading customers by marketing its mobile wireless data as “unlimited” when speeds are throttled after the data cap has been exceeded.
“Rogers has made, and continues to make, representations to the public that convey the materially false or misleading general impression that Rogers Infinite Unlimited Plans offer unlimited and infinite data, allowing consumers to use as much data as they want, free from data limits,” the bureau claims in its tribunal application, filed Monday. “In fact, Rogers is providing plans whose high-speed data is limited to…
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