GATINEAU – Back in June of 2007 when CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein was just about five months on the job, the Commission denied CTVglobemedia’s request to keep the Citytv stations as part of the company’s purchase of CHUM Limited.
Since CTVgm (now Bell Media) already owned CFTO-TV in Toronto along with existing stations competing in Citytv’s other markets, the Regulator held firm to its one broadcast station per market policy of the same language, disallowing that portion of the sale. Weeks later, Rogers Communications stepped forward to buy the Citytv stations.
When it issued its decision then, the…
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DARTMOUTH, N.S. – Radio broadcaster Newfoundland Capital Corp. has reported profits of $5.9 million in the second quarter, up from $2.5 million in the same quarter last year. Revenues increased to $33 million from $30 million.
Newcap also announced agreements to acquire the independently owned radio stations CKKO FM of Kelowna and CIGV FM (along with its two repeater licenses) of Penticton, British Columbia, subject to approval from the CRTC.
"These licenses are a great fit for our company. It is in a growing area of the country and gives us a presence in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. There is potential for…
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THE QUEBEC MARKET is the country’s Bizarro World for Canadian content. Frame its borders with mirrors and the reflected image offers the opposite of everything we know, and believe, in the rest of Canada when it comes to culture.
Francophone broadcasters don’t have to air Cancon; they like and want to air it. They don’t air the minimum CRTC-required hours in prime time. They go over and above them. They invest in their own Cancon and promote it. That’s crazy talk for English language broadcasters.
But, it doesn’t take voodoo to ensure success. There’s no magic elixir or Harry Potter-style wand…
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TORONTO – A labour disruption at Shaw Media has been averted. At least for now.
The company confirmed that it’s plans to launch a new Ottawa-based public affairs show, a new morning news show in Toronto, and expand its investigative news program 16×9: The Bigger Picture are back on track for a fall launch after reaching an agreement with unionized staff represented by eastern bargaining unit of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP).
CEP East represents Global employees in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto, Ottawa and the Maritimes. Despite the union’s encouragement to reject Shaw Media’s offer, as Cartt.ca reported, members voted to…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – British Columbia is the latest province to receive a new area code.
On Thursday, the CRTC said beginning on June 1, 2013, new telephone numbers assigned in the province may be given the area code 236, as the regions currently covered by area codes 250, 604 and 778 begin to run out of numbers.
Until 1996, 604 was the only area code in British Columbia until 250 was introduced to serve the area outside the Greater Vancouver Area. In 2001, area code 778 and 10-digit dialing were introduced in the Greater Vancouver Area, before being extended across the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – More and more Canadians are subscribing to broadband Internet and wireless services, while TV and radio are still the most popular devices for accessing content, according to the CRTC’s latest Communications Monitoring Report.
The report, released Thursday, provides an annual overview of the Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting industries. By the end of 2010, approximately 9 million Canadian households subscribed to broadband Internet services, an increase of 9.2% over 2009, and the number of Canadians subscribing to wireless services grew by 8.5% to 25.8 million.
“It is encouraging to see Canadians taking up broadband Internet and wireless services…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – Canada’s creative community used words like “optimistic” and “pleased” to describe their reaction to the CRTC’s group-based licencing policy released Wednesday.
As Cartt.ca reported, Bell, Corus and Shaw will now be required to spend 30% of their revenues on Canadian programming, while Rogers will have to spend at least 23% of its gross annual revenues on Canadian programming for its conventional television stations. Bell and Shaw must allot 5% of their revenues to programs of national interest, Corus 9% and Rogers 2.5%.
Noting that it had hoped that the CRTC would require the English-language broadcasters to spend…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s largest broadcast companies will inject billions of dollars into original Canadian programming over the next five years after the CRTC renewed the English-language TV licences for Bell Media, Corus Entertainment, Shaw Media and Rogers Media on Wednesday.
The widely anticipated group-based licencing decision saw the broadcasting licences for services owned by Bell Media, Corus Entertainment and Shaw Media renewed until 2016. Citing the smaller number of specialty services owned by Rogers Media, the Commission renewed its licences through 2014.
Over the next five years, Bell Media, Corus Entertainment and Shaw Media must allocate at least…
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I have looked at your series on Canadian content. Any discussion with respect to television has to deal with cable carriage and simultaneous program substitution. While the flavour of the subject is there, some basic facts need clarification, and with my background as first a cable system owner operator and later an employee of the CRTC for 27 years, I felt I should comment.
Program protection with respect to cable is not a Canadian invention. That notion is false. That process started on the American side of the line in 1966 when U.S. border stations requested protection from…
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CANCON’S RULES AND regulations are much like a series of bandages slapped onto the television industry – one here to cover a scrape, another there as salve on a slash. It’s almost impossible to rip any away from this complex patchwork without damaging a broadcast arm or independent production limb.
The tales of woe – accompanied by an orchestra of tiny violins – come from both the broadcast and the creative side of the industry, and the TV doctors have differing opinions on which medicine is the cure for our ailing Cancon system. So what’s the spoonful of sugar…
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