OTTAWA – Gordon Ritchie had a lot more success negotiating the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement than he has had trying to inch Canada’s broadcasters toward a Terms of Trade agreement with producers.
Ritchie, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s (CFTPA) principal advisor as it seeks an agreement on the terms under which producers sell content to broadcasters, was a panelist discussing the state of the negotiations at the CFTPA’s annual conference this week in the nation’s capital. He says he’s been “surprised and disappointed” by the months of stagnant talks. “Absolutely nothing has been agreed at the bargaining…
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TORONTO – Middle East-based news and current affairs channel Al Jazeera English (AJE) is asking the CRTC to add it to the list of eligible satellite services in Canada.
The channel, which is already seen in more than 100 countries and 130 million households worldwide, said it is committed to opening a Canadian news bureau if it is authorized for distribution here.
Ethnic Channels Group (ECG) will present the application to the CRTC, acting in their capacity as "the channel’s sponsor", the press release said. ECG is a Canadian multi-ethnic broadcaster which currently offers 12 television channels in Canada.
AJE…
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WE KNOW NOT everyone will have Monday off, but those of us at Cartt.ca will be taking advantage of the Family Day holiday that day.
That means our regular Tuesday newsletter will not appear in your in-boxes on February 17th. We will still be posting news as it happens, of course – from both the broadcasting in new media CRTC hearing and the CFTPA Prime Time Conference (both in Ottawa-Gatineau) and will resume our regular newsletter service on Thursday, February 19th.
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment is selling its pay audio service Max Trax to Stingray Digital Group Inc. for approximately $16 million dollars.
“To ensure our focus remains on driving our core business, we have made the strategic decision to discontinue the operation of Max Trax,” said Paul Robertson, president of Corus’ television division, in the press release. “Stingray Digital is a pioneer in the digital music service business and we are confident that they have the expertise to enhance the pay audio offering. We have agreed to provide services to Stingray in the short-term to ensure a smooth transition for…
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GATINEAU – After seeing the broadcast license renewal applications from Canwest Global, CTV, TVA, and Citytv in all their frightening uncertainty (or so we’re told), the CRTC has decided to push the full hearings back another year.
However, it will still tackle the very serious issues facing conventional broadcasters in a hearing on April 27th.
In a public notice released this morning, just weeks after the Commission said it was going to “review the scope” of the proceedings, it was determined there are way too many factors and pressures in play right now to possibly decide on new,…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – Industry reaction to the CRTC’s decision to issue one year broadcast licences to four private conventional television networks has been swift.
The Candian Media Guild (CMG) warned that the decision “poses an immediate threat to local programming” in Canada, and “should raise fears across the country” over the future of over-the-air television after the digital conversion in August, 2011.
“We know that broadcasters have had an unprecedented number of closed-door meetings with the CRTC," said Lise Lareau, president of CMG, in a statement. “Our concern is that this fast-tracking of the process is going…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) says that for the sake of the local economy, Canadian TV broadcasters must invest in Canada’s film and television industry, not spend “record amounts to buy Hollywood shows”.
The statement follows the release of the CRTC’s annual report earlier this week showing that Canada’s private TV broadcasters spent $775 million on foreign programming in 2008, up 7.4% from 2007, while spending on Canadian dramas "remained relatively stagnant" at $88 million.
“Buying shows like ‘Access Hollywood’ and ‘Entertainment Tonight’ does not help Canada’s economy. Private broadcasters are already spending almost 10 times more on foreign programs…
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GATINEAU – While Canadian private broadcasters are increasingly spending big on American programming, their profitability took a huge hit in the 2008 broadcast year, ended August 31st, CRTC numbers show.
When compared with 2007, revenues for private conventional television stations decreased by 1.5% last year while expenses increased by 4%. This resulted in profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) of just $8 million, well off the $112.9 million reported in 2007.
In 2008, private broadcasters generated $2.1 billion in total revenue, with $387.3 million from local advertising remained – about the same level as last year. National advertising sales,…
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TORONTO – The recent cutbacks and sharp shift in focus for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is something that should be re-thought, say its independent broadcast members.
Readers will recall that the group recently cut its size in half and retrenched its focus so that it will be much less involved with the CRTC and spend far more time and resources lobbying government MPs directly instead.
That’s not to say the smaller members don’t recognize some change is required. “I think it’s important to recognize that the CAB leadership had every good intention of being responsible and changing with…
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OTTAWA – The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) has launched its first call for proposals for Canadian community-oriented broadcasters and associations.
Applications will be accepted under the categories ‘Radio Talent Development Program’ and the ‘Youth Internship Program’. The goal of both programs is to “develop innovative local interest programming while providing mentorship, education, and/or training for broadcasters”.
The deadline for each program is March 27, 2009. Proposals will be assessed in April through a peer review process, with the final results announced in May.
The programs are part of a financial partnership with Astral Media Radio through a CRTC contribution mechanism worth $1.4…
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