GATINEAU – This morning, CTV began its second appearance before the CRTC’s OTA licence renewal hearing this week with some tense exchanges with the panel’s commissioners, some unvarnished attacks on broadcast distributors, and a call for the regulator to protect the interests of consumers.
The tension level in the room first rose over the issue of the coming transition to digital transmission. CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein noted the possibility of FreeSat signal delivery didn’t figure much in CTV’s application. He noted that Bell Canada proposed such a model yesterday, to ensure off-air viewers would continue to be served…
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TORONTO – About two hours after having been informed by Cartt.ca that an offer to buy three troubled TV stations was coming from Shaw Communications, CTV said it will accept the $3 offer.
An exclusive story broken by Cartt.ca this afternoon revealed that Shaw Communications was placing a full page newspaper ad in tomorrow and Saturday’s Globe and Mail, as well as The Hill Times on Monday morning.
The ad, signed by CEO Jim Shaw, warns Canadians their broadcasters are seeking a bailout worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “They call this Fee for Carriage. Without mincing words, this…
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GATINEAU – Looking around the CRTC hearing room Tuesday in Gatineau many of the exact same faces were in the exact same places making the exact same cases as they were 12 months ago.
Last year it was the combined BDU and specialty policy review hearing while this year it’s the license renewals hearing for conventional broadcasters. Same concert hall. Same tune. Same singers. Sung with more urgency though, this time around.
Despite the passage of a year and the new name of the hearing, the central issue is the same: broadcasters want more money for their signals and…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Cable told the CRTC Tuesday morning that offering distant broadcast signals to its customers in a linear format is a poor use of spectrum and that time-shifted viewing of popular programming can be done much more efficiently and in a more consumer-friendly way via its on demand platform.
During questioning on distant signals by commissioners during the “broad sectoral issues” portion of the conventional stations’ license renewal hearing in Gatineau, Rogers Cable’s vice-president of video product management David Purdy told the panel that given its druthers, the cable giant would rather not offer Vancouver’s broadcast stations…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should “demand” public accountability from Canada’s broadcasters, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) said Wednesday.
In reference to this week’s over-the-air hearings before the CRTC, CEP’s vice president of media Peter Murdoch, expressed alarm that the Commission may close the public hearing to the public when it addresses broadcasters’ financial statements.
"How can broadcasters’ claims be challenged when the financials that are key to this entire hearing aren’t available for review?", Murdoch questioned in a statement.
"Broadcasting accountants are experts in shifting revenues, hiding profits and highlighting losses – but instead of an…
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GATINEAU – April 27, 2009 – It was low-key, seldom confrontational and sometimes as languid as the 30-degree heat outside, but CTV’s appearance to open the CRTC’s OTA licence renewal hearing sought tirelessly to redefine the assumptions that underpin much of Canada’s conventional TV business.
The Commission did not reduce the scope of the hearing, anticipated to last 11 days, with the expectation that renewal applicants would respond as CTV did. The regulator asked companies to structure applications based on the premise that it would award one-year administrative renewals in the economic turmoil of 2009 and longer terms next…
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TORONTO – The day before it is scheduled to appear before the CRTC, Canwest has ordered two original Canadian series for its Showcase channel.
The 13 episode one-hour dramas, called Lawyers Guns and Money (working title) and Shattered, will begin production this summer with a 2009/2010 airdate on the channel.
Lawyers, Guns and Money is the story of a young claims adjuster for a cut-throat corporation who maneuvers his way around insurance scams and the criminal underworld while trying to escape his past and make a better life for himself on the gritty streets of Hamilton. Luke Kirby and Emmy-nominated…
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OTTAWA – MTS Allstream is gearing up to provide some direct competition to Westman Communications in Brandon, Manitoba.
The CRTC on Monday approved an application by MTS to extend its licensed area, currently serving Winnipeg and surrounding areas under a Class 1 regional broadcasting licence, to include Brandon.
The Commission also relieved MTS from the requirement of section 17 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to distribute CKX (CBC) Brandon, provided that the signal is distributed in Brandon, and allowed it to tweak its community programming requirements for its video-on-demand service.
Westman Communications, who operates a Class 1 cable BDU…
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OTTAWA – Peter Menzies has been appointed as a full-time member of the CRTC, representing the Alberta/Northwest Territories region.
"Mr. Menzies’ talent and experience in leading teams and managing high levels of performance make him an ideal candidate for the responsibilities entrusted to him," said James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, in the announcement.
Menzies is the president of Menzies Strategies, a company specializing in media consulting and strategic planning, and has been a part-time member of the CRTC since 2007. He spent his career in the newspaper business, serving as general manager of the Calgary…
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TORONTO – As the CRTC gears up to begin licence renewals hearings for Canada’s private conventional broadcasters, ACTRA is asking the Commission not to “give in to private broadcaster threats” and “punish Canadian programming”.
Urging the CRTC to resist any calls from broadcasters for deregulation or “watering down” of Canadian content regulations, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) proposed that broadcasters be required to maintain their level of spending on Canadian drama to at least the level they spent this year.
“Don’t punish Canadian programming. Canadian content regulations didn’t cause the current challenges in our broadcasting system,”…
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