TORONTO – Now that the largest Canadian broadcast and specialty networks are owned by the big four distributors, look for them to start to push harder at monetizing their online presences – while trying not to negatively impact their traditional TV advertising revenue and access provider programming fees – which totalled about $6.23 billion in 2010, says a new report from Convergence Consulting.
As it currently stands, online does little to improve broadcast and specialty networks’ bottom line, says the report, the latest instalment of the company’s ongoing “Battle for the North American Couch Potato” series. Most private Canadian broadcasters…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC must give broadcasters the flexibility to compete against over the top (OTT) competitors such as Netflix, Google and Hulu, Shaw Media told the CRTC during the third day of the group-based licence renewal hearing.
“The threat today from over-the-top television is alarming,” said Paul Robertson, group VP of broadcasting and president of Shaw Media. “It stems from major structural shifts in technology and rights exploitation that are permanently reshaping the global broadcast landscape.”
Emerging OTT services have maintained that they aren’t competitive with existing broadcasters, but Shaw says nothing could be further from the truth….
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OTTAWA – CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said Monday that Bell Media is taking a “one step forward and two steps backward” approach to its Canadian content commitments during the first day of the group-based licence renewal hearings.
While the chair lauded Bell and the other broadcasters for finalizing a terms of trade agreement with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) after years of badgering from the production community, he criticized the media giant for what he sees as a step back when it comes to the company’s Canadian programming expenditure (CPE) and programs of national interest (PNI) proposals.
“When you…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Media’s proposed Canadian program expenditures and programs of national interest spending drew the ire of the CRTC during the second day of hearings into the group-based licence renewals.
“When I listened to what you both said on CPE and PNI, you are really asking for a policy change. That’s as simple as that. It’s like a review and vary application, saying we like what you did but we want you to change it so it fits better to ,” said CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein. “I don’t understand why you feel we should change the basic…
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GATINEAU – Corus Entertainment must be included in the group-based licensing regime so as to better compete with its fellow broadcasters, the company said during its licence renewal hearing on Tuesday.
John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus, explained that despite the fact it only owns a couple of small local broadcasters (CHEX Peterborough and CKWS Kingston) the group approache enables the primarily pay and specialty company to more flexibly spend money where needed.
“What this group-based licensing approach would allow us to do is to allocate our programming to those areas that have either the greatest strategic need or the…
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OTTAWA – Canadian independent producers and the country’s major private broadcast groups reached an agreement in principle over terms in trade on Monday.
The framework deal, which is still subject to final approvals, will apply to the entire life cycle of a show – from first pitch, through to development, production and broadcast on all platforms, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) said. Once fully executed, it will apply to all independently produced projects developed and commissioned by Astral, Corus, CTV, Rogers and Shaw Media.
“Terms of Trade will bring greater clarity and certainty for both broadcasters and independent producers in…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC kicks off a public hearing on Monday to consider group-based licence renewals for English-language television groups, and Cartt.ca will be there.
The hearing will begin at 9:00 am ET in Gatineau, and a live audio feed will be available via the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca. Cartt.ca will file regular reports on the proceedings.
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OTTAWA – The CRTC began using a using a harmonized set of rules on Friday to process the majority of its broadcasting and telecommunications applications, and to guide public participation in its proceedings.
Commission chair Konrad von Finckenstein said in a statement that the new rules of practice and procedure offer “an opportunity to modernize and simplify our procedural rules, as well as ensure they reflect a converged communications industry”.
After reviewing its service standards, the Commission established new objectives for both sectors, and aims to publish decisions within the following time frames:
– Proceedings initiated by the CRTC as a result…
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TORONTO – Rogers is asking the Governor In Council to tweak a CRTC decision allowing Bell to use deferral account funds to expand broadband services to underserved communities in Ontario and Quebec.
In the decision, the CRTC approved a proposal by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant to use $306.3 million in deferral account revenues to extend broadband service to 112 approved locations using high-speed packet access (HSPA)+ wireless broadband technology. But Rogers has asked that this amount be reduced by the deferral account revenues required by Bell to cover “the uneconomic portion” of its cost to serve the 15 approved…
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OTTAWA – As Bell Canada stole the show with its usage-based billing (UBB) backdown earlier this week, the fact that the cable companies also suggested that billing on an aggregate use basis might be a more palatable approach was overlooked.
Under this type of model, the independent ISP which leases network capacity from a facilities-based carrier would be charged for a pre-determined amount of bandwidth that it could then offer to all of its customers. If the small ISP exceeds this amount, it would be charged additional fees. The current UBB approach contemplates charging independent ISPs on per-customer basis….
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