I LOVE GOING TO confabs like NextMedia. As Telus’ SVP Michael Hennessy tweeted earlier this week: “Finished 2 days at #nextMEDIA looking to future of digital media. No discussion of #FFC, #CRTC. Met real digital entrepreneurs. Awesome.”
Hennessy told me Monday at that conference that when it comes to the debate over value for signal for over the air broadcasters, he’s done. Telus won’t be appearing at next week’s hearing into the issue, the one ordered by the feds.
Indeed, two days at NextMedia (built off a backdrop of my four days in Denver at Cable Connection Week in October,…
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OTTAWA – Parliament must assume leadership of the issue of net neutrality in order to safeguard consumers’ rights, says a new report from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).
In the report “Staying Neutral: Canadian Consumers and the Fight for Net Neutrality” released on Tuesday, PIAC calls on federal legislators and policymakers to protect consumers’ rights to “use their Internet connection to access the lawful content, applications or services of their choice without discrimination, modification, interruption, or delay of their internet transmissions by any party, subject to law”.
It also recommends that the federal government set minimum speed standards for…
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By Christopher Maule, Professor Emeritus, Carleton University
THE BATTLE BETWEEN CANADIAN BROADCASTERS and cable companies taking place before the CRTC is about the past and the disappearing present and not about the future of traditional television and other forms of video.
If the protagonists and the Commission are to consider the public interest as reflected by how consumers spend their money and time, they need to look for ways to profit from what consumers want instead of struggling over what consumers have been forced to take.
Today, consumers use their Kindle and computers to read books and view pictures, use their iPhones…
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GATINEAU – Group licensing has the potential to throw the Canadian broadcasting system on end, while benefiting consolidated broadcasters and hurting small independents, according to Score Media CEO John Levy.
The company, which operates the sports specialty service The Score, contends group licensing is “not in the best interests of the Canadian broadcasting system.”
“This is not coming from my love of existing rules (which include genre exclusivity, and specific expenditure requirements for each specialty channel),” he said during questioning. Group licensing with group-wide Canadian content expenditures would allow large broadcasters with many channels to engage in “genre arbitrage,” said Levy.
He…
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TORONTO – In a move that seems designed to rally the public to their cause, Globalive’s Wind Mobile is kicking off a national ad campaign to hammer home the need for more competition in Canada’s wireless market.
In a press release Friday, Wind said that the goal of the campaign is to raise awareness about “the current state of Canada’s wireless industry compared to the rest of the world”, and to highlight “why more choice is essential”.
“The heart of the issue is that Canadians pay some of the highest rates for some of the most complained-about wireless service in the…
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GATINEAU – Protect Canadian feature films and drama, expand the reach of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), and create a credit system for Canadian content were a few of the things advocated Friday during the CRTC hearings, which wrapped early.
The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters (CAFDE) urged the CRTC to ensure that more, not less, Canadian drama is commissioned under the new broadcast framework. Canada’s film industry is also in peril because not many homegrown movies are getting shown on the small screen, according to CAFDE president Ted East.
“Of all the sub-genres of drama, we believe…
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GATINEAU – Canadian content again took centre stage at Wednesday’s CRTC hearing.
Both the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) and ACTRA pinned the blame for our broadcasting system’s issues squarely on the broadcasters for overspending on foreign content.
The CCA, which provides research and analysis on public policies affecting the arts and Canadian cultural institutions and industries, suggested, using words we’ve heard steadily for a week and a half, that the Commission consider re-regulating cable rates in order to “re-balance the system”, and to “bring back regulations so that broadcasters fulfill their Canadian programming obligations.”
“Your responsibilities are specifically to use…
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GATINEAU – Canadian cable, satellite and telco TV carriers can now add Al-Jazeera English to their channel lineups.
This morning the CRTC added the international news channel to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis. Canadian sponsor Ethnic Channels Group filed the application in February for the Doha, Qatar-based service.
The decision is bound to arouse some scrutiny today since Al-Jazeera’s Arabic language channel has in the past aired a number of people who espoused virulent anti-Semitic views on air. Some Canadian Jewish groups have expressed reservations about having the English channel available here.
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GATINEAU – The sale of advertising time on American cable channels, by a new third-party company, can help fix what ails the broadcasting system, says former Canadian Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell.
His new company, Mediadenovo (Italian for “media of the new”, we’re told) would be a new programming undertaking that would sell the two minutes per hour of local availability ad time to national advertisers. Mediadenovo submitted its application for a license to the CRTC months ago, said O’Farrell, but it has yet to be made public.
American cable channels like CNN, A&E, Golf Channel and others…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters inducted eight people into its Hall of Fame, it was announced today, calling them “a diverse mix of industry experts who have made significant contributions to Canadian broadcasting throughout their careers.”
Without an annual convention (which would normally be taking place right about now, but was cancelled after last year’s event), the CAB will honour the eight at a cocktail party on November 30th in Ottawa.
The 2009 CAB Hall of Fame Inductees are:
– Rob Braide, President, Braide Media (and long-time head of Standard Broadcasting in Quebec)– Michel Chamberland, founding president of…
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