OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for comments on the wording to its proposed amendments that range from allowing BDUs to use of new forms of targeted advertising, to who will contribute to the new Local Programming Improvement Fund.
The changes will impact present regulations contained in the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, the Television Broadcasting Regulations (1987), the Pay Television Regulations (1990), and the Specialty Services Regulations (1990).
Comments are due by May 3, 2009, and all regulations are scheduled to come in to force on September 1, 2009.
To read the full notice, click here.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for comments on the exemption order for smaller broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) serving fewer than 20,000 subscribers.
As set out in Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-100 last October, the CRTC has also asked for input on the information to be provided by exempt undertakings, and feedback on the specific criteria to be used in determining what constitutes a "discrete operation" for exemption purposes.
Comments are due by May 6, and the deadline for submitting replies is May 27 2009.
For more on the notice of consultation, click here.
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has released its review of the broadcasting services in English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada.
The hearing began on January 13, after receiving public comments last November as it requested in Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing 2008-12.
At issue was the availability of English- and French-language broadcasting services across all broadcasting platforms and distribution systems, and assurance that the diversity of these communities is reflected throughout the Canadian broadcasting system.
The Commission further identified three issues relating to the specific communities involved:
– the availability and quality of English- and French-language broadcasting…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC has launched an online consultation to gather views on Internet traffic management practices.
Referencing the popularity of video streaming and peer-to-peer networking, the Commission’s press release said that some Internet service providers (ISPs) maintain that this growth in traffic can cause congestion, especially during peak times, which has led to some ISPs managing the flow of traffic on their networks or adopting "new business models".
The CRTC said that it will examine “the current practices of ISPs operating in Canada”, plus those that could be adopted in the future. The proceeding’s main objective is to determine…
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OTTAWA – Quebecor Media’s Sun TV and TVA Group, and Canwest Television have received CRTC approval to be governed by the new Journalistic Independence Code established by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC).
The code, which was approved by the Commission in Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-95 last October, ensures a diversity of editorial voices in companies where there could be issues around cross-media ownership.
The move means that the networks are no longer subject to the CRTC-imposed Statement of Principles and Practices which was included as a condition of license, so long they remain members in good standing of the CBSC.
The…
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TORONTO – Canwest Broadcasting interim president Peter Viner told staff in a memo today that while there has been interest in the company’s small chain of E!-branded TV stations, it will wait until after this summer to decide what it will do with the stations.
With employees reporting recent visits to some of the TV stations by several “anonymous suits,” one such employee told Cartt.ca Viner likely felt it was time to re-address the troops and provide an update. Canwest announced earlier this year that it is attempting to sell the stations [Hamilton (CHCH), Victoria (CHEK), Montreal (CJNT),…
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GATINEAU – The Commission has added to what it wants discussed at next month’s conventional TV station license renewal narrow-hearing.
With the economic crisis fully blasting conventional TV’s ad revenues and threatening local content because that’s primarily where the private broadcasters have decided to cut costs, the Regulator is looking at ways to immediately help out the OTA sector.
Last year, the CRTC’s new policies governing Broadcast Distribution Undertakings and specialty channels said, among many things, denied the broadcasters’ requests to be able to charge a new fee for carriage of local signals, but said that they could charge…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) says that “record-high revenues” for Canadian specialty, pay, pay-per-view television and video-on-demand (VOD) services prove that “that the sky isn’t falling on Canada’s TV industry”.
Responding to Thursday’s CRTC report on the state of Canadian specialty, pay, pay-per-view television and VOD services, Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director, is calling for a closer look “at the industry as a whole.”
“Doesn’t it tell us that something is wrong when small specialty networks spent twice as much on Canadian programming as the major networks?,” Waddell asked in…
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MONTREAL – Calling itself “one of the country’s largest private investor in English and French-language content”, Astral Media said it invested close to $150 million in Canadian content development in fiscal 2008 through its pay and specialty television networks.
"Since we started in this business in 1983, we have invested more than $1.3 billion in the film and television industry," said André Bureau, chairman of the board, in a statement. "Many know Astral Media for the quality of its media properties and the strength of its financial performance, but we are also very proud of the support we offer to…
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OK, SO INCLUDE ME in as one of the drones buzzing about Twitter (even our headline here, I’m sure, has been used already, somewhere). We like it so much actually, that Cartt.ca added a Twitter widget to the home page this week as a way to provide additional quick bursts of teeny tiny opinionated news bites.
Like many, I questioned the value of the micro-blogging site, when I first learned about it some months ago at a conference. Twitter, which seems to have no discernable way yet to earn a living, by the way, gives users 140 characters…
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