GATINEAU – The dangling carrot of more money for the Canadian TV system is always what’s at stake when the Regulator considers letting broadcast distribution undertakings sell the ad time that’s available on American cable channels.
U.S. channels like CNN, A&E, Speed and the Golf Channel make two or three minutes per hour available for U.S. cable, satellite and telco carriers to sell ads on. It’s a multi-billion-dollar business in the States. That time is also available to Canadian carriers but they can’t sell it. Regulations say that 75% of the time must be made available to Canadian broadcasters…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has dismissed a complaint against Canwest Media made by the Communications, Energy and Paperworks Union (CEP), alleging that Canwest breached local programming commitments, and the Commission’s policy on local advertising.
CEP filled its first complaint in November 2007, saying that Canwest’s decision to shift elements of local program production from its television stations to broadcast centres in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto, would “contravene its obligations with respect to the broadcast of local programming”.
Saying the local stations would effectively “operate as rebroadcasting transmitters” and “unlicensed broadcasting distribution undertakings”, it also questioned whether allowing Canwest to…
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TORONTO – With a 700MHz spectrum wireless auction expected to take place in 2010, independent telcos need to be thinking now about strategies to get their concerns heard during the next few months of public consultation.
That was the advice from Peter Barnes, principal at Ottawa-based Tactix Government Consulting, during a Tuesday morning a regulatory update to delegates at the 2009 Canadian Independent Telecommunications Association showcase and seminars held this week in Markham.
Building relationships with public interest groups and local politicians is just one way for smaller telecom players to get their message out, ahead of Industry Canada’s…
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OTTAWA – The “erosion” of local programming at CTV’s A-Channel stations “flies in the face of promises made when the company purchased the network”, says the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) in response to CTV’s announcement that it cut jobs and local programming at its ‘A’ Channel stations Tuesday.
"CTV’s license approval by the CRTC was partly based on the selling pitch that bigger is better – that the larger corporations would be able to nurture and protect the smaller stations," says Peter Murdoch, CEP’s vice president of media, in the statement. "Yet, at the first sign…
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OTTAWA – Rogers Broadcasting has asked to amend the broadcasting license of its specialty channel Outdoor Life Network, adding comedy, animated programming, and perhaps even some professional sports to its lineup.
The revisions will “allow for a more well-rounded programming offering that responds to the expectations of its viewers,” read Rogers’ application to the CRTC.
The application seeks to add ongoing comedy series (sitcom), animated television programs and films, programs of comedy sketches, improvisation, unscripted works, and stand-up comedy, to the list of categories from which it may draw programming.
Rogers also asked to be able to devote up to 15%…
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HAMILTON – While the vultures encircle a faltering Canwest Global Communications, most of whom are trying to pry the company’s valuable specialty channels away, the 100 or so people working for the company’s Hamilton TV station are working on their own bid to save their small piece of the lot.
Sources with knowledge of the discussions say that both Corus Entertainment and Astral Media are working their hardest to tempt Goldman Sachs (the U.S. investment bank which owns most of the equity – if not voting control – of the group of specialties which used to be the Alliance…
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OTTAWA – New media regulation that is “moderate and constructive, but resolute” is needed to promote and safeguard Quebec’s musical culture, the Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ) told the CRTC Thursday at its broadcasting in new media hearing.
Saying that the music industry’s structure and business model have been “more profoundly changed than those of any other cultural industry by the deployment of new media platforms”, the ADISQ said regulatory guidelines “will promote the harmonious development of our culture and the new media companies, for the greater benefit of the general public."…
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A GROWING SENTIMENT AMONG many industry folks is that the carefully (and sometimes not-so-carefully) constructed, heavily regulated, TV system we have built here in Canada can not withstand the global media environment of the 21st century.
So, is it time to completely de-regulate television in Canada? Do we need to re-write the Broadcasting Act and just blow it all up?
Yesterday I talked with two people with long histories in Canadian television with diametrically opposed points of view. I think they’re both right about a number of things and if they are, our regulatory system is in for some…
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GATINEAU – There are currently no viable business models for broadcasting in the digital world, both the CBC and Corus Entertainment, two broadcasters who have taken extensive forays into the new media environment, told the CRTC on Thursday.
“We have a long way to go to securing a broadcasting model for new media,” Steve Billinger, executive director of digital programming at the CBC, said during the CRTC’s ongoing new media hearings. “What we’ve lost on the traditional broadcasting side is not being made up on the digital side.”
Steve Guiton, CBC chief regulatory officer, noted that some revenue being…
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GATINEAU – Claiming there is no evidence that mobile broadcasting will ever be viable, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association told the CRTC that wireless operators should not be required to contribute to a fund for Canadian new media content.
Too little money is being made in mobile broadcasting, and there is already a significant amount of Canadian content out there for the few who have opted for the service, CWTA president and CEO Bernard Lord said Wednesday during the CRTC’s ongoing broadcasting in new media hearing.
“Imposing a contribution tax on WSPs would amount to penalizing success,” he noted….
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