OTTAWA – Reynolds Mastin has been promoted to chief negotiator and chief legal officer for the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), effective immediately.
Mastin replaces John Barrack who left the organization abruptly earlier this month. Mastin, who formerly held the position of counsel for the CMPA, has also served as legal counsel for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and articled at the CRTC.
In his new role, Mastin will take charge of all of the CMPA’s labour negotiations and will continue to oversee other matters such as Terms of Trade negotiations with broadcasters and the Canada Media Fund file. He will also…
Continue Reading
DARTMOUTH – Newcap Inc. has received CRTC approval to launch a second FM radio licence in Fredericton, NB.
The new station, which will offer a contemporary hit radio music format, will broadcast 120 hours of local programming per broadcast week, of which 12 hours and 28 minutes will be devoted to spoken word programming. In addition, the new station will broadcast 4 hours of news programming per broadcast week, of which 75% will be devoted to local stories, reads the Commission’s decision.
"We are extremely pleased to be awarded a second FM to serve the Fredericton community and we will proceed to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – After listening to most of the nine applicants who have asked the CRTC for the 88.1 FM slot on the Toronto radio dial (of 17 in total) over the past three days, I can’t imagine how the Commission is any closer to making a decision on who will get the license.
It’s not the best signal, down at 88.1 FM and 8,000 watts, but goodness, lots of people sure want it (except for the big Toronto radio companies – Astral, Bell, Rogers and Corus – who weren’t about to challenge the Regulator’s radio station ownership policy based on…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Blue Ant Media is paying $85 million to buy independent broadcaster High Fidelity HDTV, according to a CRTC application made public on Wednesday.
As Cartt.ca reported, the deal called for the company to initially purchase 29.9% of shares in High Fidelity HDTV and its four premium high definition television channels – Oasis HD, eqhd, radX and HIFI HD, with the remaining 70.1% closing subject to CRTC approval.
Led by broadcast veteran Michael MacMillan, Blue Ant Media holds a controlling interest in GlassBox Television, which operates Travel+Escape, Bite TV and Aux TV, as well as a minority interest…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Broadcasters and television service providers will have to turn down the volume on loud television commercials starting this September.
The Commission published its final regulations on Tuesday after calling for comments on draft regulations in December. The move follows a public hearing held in February 2011 in which Canadians flooded the CRTC with complaints about the excessive loudness of television commercials.
The regulations require Canadian broadcasters to adhere to the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) standard for measuring and controlling television signals to minimize fluctuations in loudness between programming and commercials. The Commission similarly amended the exemption order for BDUs…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – SCN was a publicly-owned educational broadcaster which the Saskatchewan provincial government decided to shutter in 2010. After some local complaints, the politicians instead made the decision to try and sell it.
After hearing mostly crickets, the only offer that didn’t include any ongoing government financial support came from Bluepoint Investments, a private company backed by a former advertising executive from Toronto, Bruce Claassen. Bluepoint’s $350,000 offer was accepted by the provincial government mere days before the plug was to be pulled on the broadcaster. Then, in approving the sale months later in early 2011,…
Continue Reading
STOP US IF you’ve heard this before: “Psst, I hear (insert name here) is going to be the next CRTC chair.”
Today it’s Jean-Pierre Blais, a former executive director, broadcasting at the CRTC (during CRTC chair Francoise Bertrand’s tenure), former assistant deputy minister of international and intergovernmental affairs and former ADM of cultural affairs both at the Department of Canadian Heritage – and current assistant secretary of the government operations sector at the Treasury Board. He was the senior bureaucrat in charge of the federal government’s pre-budget strategic and operating review, so he is quite familiar now to the Conservative…
Continue Reading
CAMBRIDGE, ON – The CRTC must move beyond its traditional “gatekeeper” approach to broadcasting to one that offers more flexibility and ensures “that the players in the broadcasting industry have all the oxygen they need to make the system flourish”, according to the Commission’s broadcasting vice-chair, Tom Pentefountas.
In a speech at the annual Broadcasting Invitational Summit in Cambridge late last week, Pentefountas advocated for a “less dogmatic approach to regulation” that takes advantage of "innovation from both the business and creative communities”.
“The Regulator should lay out the lines of the big picture, and leave it to the members of…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Canada’s biggest telecom companies have joined forces in calling for a national set of standards to regulate wireless contracts.
In a shared position statement submitted to the CRTC on Thursday, the regulatory heads of Bell, Rogers, Telus as well as the Public Interest Advocacy Center (PIAC), on behalf of the Consumers’ Association of Canada and Canada without Poverty, said that there is “a clear need” for the Commission to “lead an initiative involving all stakeholders with the ultimate objective of bringing cohesion and uniformity to this area for the benefit of consumers and the industry alike”.
Noting that five…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Novus Entertainment has received CRTC approval to begin offering its services in Toronto.
The independent telco currently provides TV, digital phone and Internet services to apartments, condominiums, and businesses in Metro Vancouver via a fibre optic network.
The Commission said Thursday that Novus’ broadcasting licence to operate a terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertaking will expire on August 31, 2018.
www.crtc.gc.ca
www.novusnow.ca
Continue Reading
