OTTAWA – After dominating the three months worth of hearings earlier this Spring, the House of Commons committee on Canadian Heritage left out any recommendation on the controversial issue of fee for carriage in its report on the state of local television released Friday.
The committee heard testimony from 45 different groups in March, April and May about the issues and challenges facing Canada’s TV industry, from the importance of local television, to the fragmentation of TV audiences, through to declining advertising revenues.
Made up of MPs from all of the federal parties, the standing committee’s report made 18…
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OTTAWA – Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN) received CRTC approval for ten new TV channels on Thursday.
ATN already operates 14 multicultural TV channels, and now holds national licenses for two Hindi movie channels; two cricket channels; three South Asian news channels; two Hindi music channels; and a sports service called Asian Sports Network.
The Commission denied ATN’s request for a national, English-language, ethnic Category 2 specialty television channel called ATN Multicultural Channel, and its application for the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network, a national, English- and Hindi-language general interest network that would target Caribbean and African communities.
www.crtc.gc.ca www.asiantelevision.com
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TORONTO – GlassBOX Television will launch its cross-platform AUX music channel as a new digital channel on Rogers Cable beginning this Fall.
AUX, which calls itself “Canada’s music discovery destination”, launched last November as a video-rich web destination. The carriage deal will allow its music-themed journalism, current affairs, news, charts, videos, films and documentaries to come to television.
"We are delighted to be launching AUX on Rogers as a key next step in our strategy to bring our unique brand of music television to audiences across Canada," said Raja Khanna, Co-CEO of GlassBOX and founder and president of AUX, in the…
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EDMONTON – Allarco Entertainment, owners of Canadian pay-TV service Super Channel, filed for protection from its creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on Tuesday, Cartt.ca has learned.
According to documents filed with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, the company has liabilities of $139 million and assets of $68 million.
In those documents – as well as a letter sent to its affected program suppliers – Allarco president and COO Malcolm Knox said the company plans to reorganize and continue broadcasting. He blamed the poor economy and a lack of BDU promotion follow-through for the young broadcaster’s…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has granted regional video-on-demand (VOD) licenses to four telcos in Ontario.
Brooke Telecom Co-operative Ltd., serving Inwood, Watford and Alvinston; Huron Telecommunications Co-operative Ltd., serving Goderich, Wingham, Lucknow, Ripley and Kincardine; Quadro Communications Co-operative Inc., serving Fullerton, Granton, Kirkton, Uniondale and surrounding rural areas; and Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative Ltd., serving Kippen, Seaforth, Hensall, Bayfield and surrounding rural areas, all received CRTC approval Wednesday.
The new VOD services will consist primarily of feature films but may also include other types of programming such as adult programming, children’s videos, short films and television shows.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – The CRTC seems prepared to follow up a busy 2008 with an even busier 2009, judging by its six telecom industry initiatives for the coming year, outlined by CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday morning.
Last year saw the CRTC tackle issues such as wireless 911, the National Do Not Call List, improved accessibility to communications services for disabled persons (with a decision coming this month, said von Finckenstein), and improved dispute resolution, among other initiatives. For the year ahead, the CRTC will expand on some of its recent work while…
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TORONTO – Moses Znaimer’s ZoomerMedia is buying VisionTV’s broadcasting assets in a deal worth $25 million.
VisionTV (VTV) operates the multi-faith and multicultural channel by the same name that is available in nine million homes in Canada on basic cable, in addition to diginet One: the Body, Mind & Spirit channel, and the conventional TV stations Joytv 10 in Vancouver and Joytv 11 in Winnipeg.
ZoomerMedia Limited (ZML) is a publicly traded company that caters to the interests of Canadians aged 45-plus through its radio, broadband and magazine properties, including CARP, Canada’s largest association for retirees.
“The VisionTV group of channels deliver unique…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Canada’s AM and FM radio stations generated $1.58 billion in revenues for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2008, an increase of just over 5% from the year prior, according to a CRTC report.
Canada’s 474 FM radio stations reported over $1.25 billion in total revenues for 2008.
Over the past five years, average revenues for FM stations have increased by approximately 8%, with revenues for English-language FM stations topping $1 billion, and their French-language counterparts generating $219 million. Ethnic FM stations increased their revenues by over 4% for a total of $16.8 million.
With…
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GATINEAU – Scolding the broadcast industry for not heeding its warnings two years ago, the CRTC approved Pelmorex Communications’ plan to make emergency alerts available to all broadcasters across the country.
“The Commission recognizes that The Weather Network and MétéoMédia make a unique contribution to public safety and are exceptionally important to the achievement of Canada’s broadcasting policy,” said the Regulator’s press release today. Pelmorex owns and operates the English and French language weather nets.
So, under the 9(1)(h) portion of the regs, which stipulate that if a TV service is deemed to be of “exceptional importance,” it would…
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GATINEAU – With no emergency broadcast system in place in Canada (and none on the horizon yet), Pelmorex Media (owners of the Weather Network and MétéoMédia) asked the CRTC earlier this year for both approval of its new emergency alert service – and for mandatory carriage on all cable and satellite operators in Canada.
A decision is coming on Thursday morning, Cartt.ca has learned.
As Cartt.ca reported in April, the company spent a couple of days in front of the Commission explaining the system – and why that should be tied to 9(1)(h) (i.e. mandatory) carriage. Pelmorex’s plan is…
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