TORONTO – Toronto listeners will soon be able to dial up more ‘Zoomer Radio’ after the CRTC gave MZ Media the go-ahead for a nested FM transmitter in the city’s downtown to rebroadcast English-language commercial AM radio station CFZM Toronto.
Owned by Moses Znaimer, The New AM 740 (aka Zoomer Radio) caters to the 45+ age group, a demographic that Znaimer has coined “Zoomers” (Boomers with Zip).
The Commission said Monday that it agreed with MZ Media’s application that the proposed transmitter is necessary to improve the reception quality of CFZM’s signal in downtown Toronto. The transmitter would operate at 96.7 MHz (channel…
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GATINEAU – Earlier this month, a group of 14 broadcasters met for the first time to begin figuring out how to develop a subscription television set top box data measurement system.
In its TV Policy Review decision, the CRTC said building such a system would be a very good thing and set a deadline of April 13th for an industry-wide working group to start moving. Representatives from Bell Canada, Blue Ant Media, CBC, Cogeco, Corus, Eastlink, the Independent Broadcasters Group, MTS, Pelmorex, Quebecor, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw and Telus met on April 8th saying in its first…
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MONTREAL – Videotron has decided against launching a separate English-language community channel, opting instead to add English-language content to its MAtv channel starting this fall.
The Quebec broadcaster said that MAtv will air a minimum 20% English content starting in September, with five new English shows added to the schedule as "MYtv goes on the air as part of MAtv". The community channel will also offer “programs that reflect the diversity of the city’s communities”, with local content making up 80% of its schedule, and 54% of that being public access programs created by the community.
MAtv is working with partners such as the English-Language Arts…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications saw overall revenue improve in the first quarter by 5% to $3.175 billion while cable, wireless and media expenditures drove down profits.
"We continued to see steady revenue growth this quarter along with strong growth in Wireless ARPA," said Guy Laurence, president and CEI, in the press release. "We made planned strategic investments to retain high-value customers ahead of the conclusion of the industry-wide shift to two-year contracts this summer – our underlying adjusted operating profit growth was otherwise solid. At the same time, we moved full steam ahead with our Rogers 3.0 program…
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BANFF – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais will deliver a keynote address on Sunday June 7, 2015 to open the 36th annual Banff World Media Festival.
In the wake of the Commission’s decisions from its Let's Talk TV hearing, Blais will speak about where the CRTC is heading next, and, why the recently launched review of basic telecommunications services is important – not only for the Canadian content industry, but also for all sectors of the Canadian economy.
Banff organizers also announced the return of the ‘Media Leaders’ series, offering delegates the unparalleled opportunity to listen in on exclusive conversations between top media leaders…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Community newspaper publisher Metroland Media Group Ltd. has paid $240,000 as part of a settlement over violations to Canada's telemarketing rules, plus agreed to correct its telemarketing practices, the CRTC said Thursday.
Acting on complaints, the Commission investigated Metroland for unsolicited calls made via an automatic dialing-announcing device. The CRTC concluded that during the period from January 4, 2012, to July 31, 2013, Metroland’s identification message was not compliant because it did not include a local or a toll-free number and a mailing address at the beginning of the telecommunication.
In addition to paying the $240,000 penalty, Metroland…
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LAS VEGAS – With the digital, global, avalanche of content ever growing and never slowing, discoverability will be the number one challenge in the video industry’s future, according to panellists on a forward-looking TV panel at the National Association of Broadcasters conference here in Las Vegas.
Entitled “TV 2020 in the networked society” the panellists noted the deluge of content consumers face now (let alone in five years) and the crippling inability of user interfaces so far to properly sort and organize content in a way that is satisfying to consumers seeking good content and producers who want those viewers…
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OTTAWA – Making sure to set aside cash for TV broadcasters from the auction of 600 MHz wireless spectrum just might drive the prices to be paid for that spectrum too high for some to participate.
Arguments from the integrated wireless/broadcasting companies that they should get a portion of the proceeds from an auction of the 600 MHz band to pay for the transition to new over the air (OTA) frequencies should be dismissed, argues Wind Mobile.
The company notes that setting aside money from a 600 MHz auction could result in higher spectrum licence costs because the integrated…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) is seeking leave to appeal to quash a recent CRTC decision that did away with the Terms of Trade agreement the organization fought so hard for. The group has filed the leave application with the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA).
The March 12 portion of the Let’s Talk TV decision (Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86) made a number of significant changes to the Canadian broadcasting system, many of which were discussed at length during the two week public hearing. Terms of Trade was not one of them and the Commission’s decision…
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LAS VEGAS – With revenues in the traditional subscription TV business trundling along at 1-2% growth – even though subscribers are not cutting or trimming their subscriptions in real numbers yet – expect all the big media companies to jump into the over-the-top pool, if they haven’t already. The potential global growth is too big to ignore.
That was part of the message this morning during a National Association of Broadcasters Super Session panel diving into the burgeoning business that is OTT video.
While the number of people who say they want to cut or trim their subscription TV bill still…
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