GIVEN WHAT HAS now happened since the value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage hearing, an alert reader reminded us of something CRTC commissioner Timothy Denton pondered as the folks from Shaw Communications appeared in front of the Commission panel.
Back on November 20th, the now infamous hearing visit by CEO Jim Shaw featured a lot of, well, interesting exchanges. In the official transcript the word “Laughter” appears 23 times, more than on any other day.
It also featured the word “woosa”, which we thought was something misheard by the official transcribers – until we looked it up. It means, according to urbandictionary.com, “to calm down and…
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MONTREAL – TVA blamed its modest fourth quarter growth on the economy and the continuing sluggish advertising market.
“While we are posting positive results, the potential for future growth in advertising revenues, which still account for close to 75% of the Television sector’s revenues, is severely limited in view of the economic environment and current market trends”, said president and CEO Pierre Dion, in the statement announcing the company’s financial results.
TVA reported that its consolidated operating income increased by 43.8% to $32.2 million, compared with $22.4 million in the same quarter of 2008. For the fiscal year ended December 31,…
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DARTMOUTH – Growth in its broadcasting segment helped power Newfoundland Capital Corporation (NewCap) to its “best fourth quarter ever”.
Broadcasting revenue of $29.7 million was $1.3 million or 4% better than the same quarter last year, while for the year, broadcasting revenue of $101.8 million was $2.0 million or 2% ahead of last year. The company’s Atlantic Canada radio properties and “organic” (same-station) operations accounted for primarily all of the revenue growth in the quarter and for the year, the company said.
Consolidated revenue of $30.5 million in the fourth quarter improved by 4%, and for the year ended December 31,…
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THUNDER BAY, ON – Thunder Bay TV station CKPR-TV has told the CRTC that it wants to drop its affiliation with the CBC and become an independent.
In its application, parent company Thunder Bay Electronics said that it has been unable to negotiate a new program supply agreement with the CBC, and that as an independent local station it would “source” its non-local programming.
Thunder Bay Electronics’ other local television station CHFD-TV dropped its long time affiliation with CTV to become an independent station aligned with Canwest Global in January.
Interventions are due by April 8, 2010.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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“About a month later at a cable show in San Antonio, I bumped into an engineering legend named Israel Switzer, who worked for years at Maclean Hunter Cable. He was now consulting to upstart U.S. long-distance competitor MCI Communications. I knew and respected him a great deal.
“Israel asked me about cellular and what my plans were. I told him I was looking into it. He said he thought it was the future of telecommunications and urged me to get in before it was too late. I had to pay attention to a statement like that from a man of…
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OTTAWA – In Wednesday’s Speech from the Throne to open the latest, much delayed, session of Parliament, the federal government has committed itself to allow more foreign investment in telecom and satellite in Canada.
While saying the government “will launch a digital economy strategy to drive the adoption of new technology across the economy. To encourage new ideas and protect the rights of Canadians whose research, development and artistic creativity contribute to Canada’s prosperity,” and that “our Government will also strengthen laws governing intellectual property and copyright,” (Read: Yet another stab at copyright reform, sigh…) the speech also said the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has revised its determination relating to the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) allocation formula.
In paragraph 22 of broadcasting regulatory policy 2009-406, the Commission erroneously indicated that the funding for a minority-language station from one language category would come from the funding made available to a non-metropolitan market of another language category.
The Commission said Thursday that it has corrected the first bullet of paragraph 22 as follows (changes in bold):
LPIF funding will be made available to television stations operating in non-metropolitan markets. However, a French-language station operating in a metropolitan English-language market (i.e.,…
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OTTAWA – Rogers has received CRTC approval for a new mainstream sports channel.
Programming will include NHL hockey games involving Canadian teams, Major League Baseball games, Union of European Football Associations soccer and other mainstream sports.
In its application submitted last September, Rogers said that the new network will air “programming dedicated to all aspects of sports with an emphasis on mainstream Canadian professional sports”.
The service has proposed to offer over 50% of its programming in high definition format with a view of moving towards 90% by the end of its licence term in August, 2016.
www.crtc.gc.ca Continue Reading
SINCE TENS OF MILLIONS of us tuned in to watch our Canadian skiers, skaters and sliders perform at their best on their biggest stage, the Olympics, wouldn’t we also want to watch our own actors, writers and directors doing the very same thing on their biggest stage, prime time?
The answer is “yes, of course,” if given the chance.
The Olympic broadcast consortium spent multiple millions acquiring the rights to the 2010 Games and then multiple millions more preparing, building the facilities and staffing the place with the best Canada has to offer in terms of broadcasters and broadcasting. The 1,400…
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OTTAWA – Corus is looking to increase its presence in local news.
Through its subsidiary Corus Audio and Advertising Services, the company has applied to the CRTC for a broadcasting licence to operate a regional, English-language category 2 specialty television network in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The service, to be known as LOCAL1, will offer a local news, weather and community information service using video, text, graphics and audio content “tailored to respond to the need and interests of each individual community that it serves, large or small, urban or rural”, the application reads.
The Commission is scheduled to consider the…
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