VANCOUVER – S-VOX officially named the senior management team of Christian broadcast station Joytv 10, which launched Sept. 1 in Vancouver, B.C.
Before S-VOX bought it earlier this year, the broadcaster was a Rogers OMNI station and prior to that was an independent broadcaster called NowTV. Rogers had to commit to the CRTC to sell the Christian station when it acquired Citytv from CTVglobemedia in 2007. It’s always been a religious station.
And, since Rogers purchase of Vancouver’s Channel M last year, OMNI in Vancouver is now a multicultural station.
Amid the changes, Terry Mahoney remains. Mahoney,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will put off a review of its benefits policy until after the federal government renders its views on the Canadian Television Fund.
The Commission issued a public notice in July, asking for comments on altering its benefits policy so that some money could be directed to new media initiatives. Currently, when one broadcast company buys another, a certain percentage of the transaction (10% in the case of television companies) must be set aside for public benefits, which are mostly for the production of Canadian content.
However, a number of recent transactions (such as Goldman Sachs’…
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TORONTO – CRTC vice-chairman, broadcasting, Michel Arpin, will be the keynote speaker at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB) Awards luncheon in Toronto.
At the event, the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to former CHUM Limited, vice-chair and CEO – and broadcasting pioneer Fred Sherratt.
“We are thrilled that Mr. Arpin has agreed to be our keynote speaker. Prior to becoming vice-chair of the CRTC Mr. Arpin has had a distinguished career in broadcasting and so has valuable firsthand knowledge of the significant issues and challenges facing our radio and television members. We very much look forward…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media Television will officially take over OLN as of August 31st, 2008. This follows the purchase of the specialty channel which took place August 1st, 2008.
As previously reported by Cartt.ca, Rogers had owned a third of the channel, with the rest owned by CTVglobemedia and Comcast. Rogers agreed to buy out the other partners in 2007.
"We are thrilled to welcome OLN into our broadcast family and are pleased to be able to reach more viewers with the exciting and innovative programming OLN has to offer" Alain Strati, vice-president, specialty TV and development, Rogers Media…
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VANCOUVER – The recorded reminders to dial all 10 digits when making local calls will end in British Columbia and Alberta between September 8 and 12, but they are doing their job, says the Telecommunications Alliance.
The telecom company group said in a release that nearly all local calls are now being made using 10 digits
“Last week, 96% of local phone calls placed in the affected areas were made using 10 digits. It’s possible the remaining four per cent of calls are being made on auto-dialers, computers, fax machines and speed dials that have not been re-programmed. Those…
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GATINEAU – The Ottawa radio market is already well-served musically and would have been better off adding another news/talk station, according to CRTC commissioner Michel Morin.
On Tuesday, the Commission granted licenses to Astral Media and to Frank Torres (Captain Frank of the Toronto-based Skywords Traffic service) for new English FM radio stations serving the Ottawa-Gatineau region. According to the applications, Astral’s station is to be a soft A/C format while the Torres station will be a blues/blues-rock station. The Ottawa application is one of several Torres has made in a number of Canadian centres for blues station licenses….
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved a new English and Aboriginal-language Native Type B FM station and a new English-language commercial FM station to serve the Winnipeg area.
Evanov Communications will air an adult contemporary (35%) and new easy listening (65%) music format targeted to those aged 45 years and over. The frequency of the new FM station is still to be determined. The music offering will focus on soft melodic selections with less instrumental, a minimum of blues and no jazz selections.
“The proposed format will add to the programming diversity in the Winnipeg radio market by complementing the musical offering currently provided…
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OTTAWA – With the very future of the Canadian Television Fund in question, the CBC along with the independent production community are urging the CRTC to postpone its plans to review funding for new media in September. The CRTC has put out a call for comments (Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-62) regarding its proposed changes to its public benefits policy that would create new funding streams for new media within the CTF.
In just the last few weeks, the Harper government has cut tens of millions in funding to arts program and has so far given no indication if…
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OTTAWA – Telcos will soon be allowed to change their phone rates without the need for prior CRTC approval. The commission announced that effective October 6, 2008, it will be moving to a more efficient and less burdensome procedure for retail tariffs. Once implemented, the traditional telephone companies will be able to change most of their telecommunications rates without the CRTC’s approval. For regulatory purposes, most of these changes will now take effect on the day they are filed.
"While the new procedure eases the regulatory burden for traditional telephone companies, it does not permit them to exceed the pricing…
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TORONTO – The CBC has received the go ahead to launch an all-sports television channel despite a concerted effort from rival broadcasters to block the application. But it’s not a complete victory for the CBC as the CRTC responded to concerns by further restricting the amount of professional sports the channel can air.
SportsPlus, a national, English-language, Category 2 specialty service plans to offer programming dedicated primarily to the coverage and “celebration of Canadian athletes with a particular emphasis on amateur athletes,” says the CBC. "We feel this is great news for both CBC and the Canadian sports system,"…
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