OTTAWA – Four Canadian unions protested on Monday outside the CRTC public hearings, calling on the regulator to deny CanWest Global’s acquisition of Alliance Atlantis because it’s backed by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. About 50 people showed up for the demonstration on the opening day of the hearings at which CanWest executives, including president and CEO Leonard Asper, are facing questioning by CRTC commissioners.
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), CWA-Canada and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), all unions that represent workers in Canada’s media,…
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TORONTO – Late this afternoon, Rogers Media announced it had purchased 100% of Outdoor Life Network Canada in separate deals with co-owners CTVglobemedia and Versus.
The three media companies had each owned a third of the channel. Versus, which is owned by American cable behemoth Comcast, had been named OLN and concentrated on outdoor programming (sharing both its brand and programming with the Canadian operation) before switching to Versus in 2006 and refocusing its programming to more mainstream sports. It is the primary outlet for the National Hockey League in the U.S., for example.
It is not known at…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC announced yesterday that it has junked its idea to allow limited access to confidential information between parties in a dispute.
As first reported by Cartt.ca, the Commission said about a month ago it was “of the view that there may be instances where, in order for a party to be able to participate meaningfully in a proceeding, it must receive some access to confidential information. In order to allow for meaningful participation while respecting the confidential nature of certain information, the Commission proposes to grant confidential access under certain conditions in broadcasting and telecom…
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OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada has organized a demonstration for Monday at the building where the CRTC will hold hearings into the CanWest purchase of Alliance/Atlantis.
At Place du Portage IV, 140 Prom. du Portage (corner of Laurier), the unions will be “calling on the CRTC to respect its mandate and regulate in the interest of Canadians,” says the press release.
The unions are concerned that investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, which is providing the lion’s share of the equity, will have too much say, even though CanWest will control the board of directors….
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TORONTO – Pierre Karl Péladeau will be a featured player in less than two weeks at nextMEDIA, where he is scheduled to discuss content strategy and the launch of the new Canoe.TV in a presentation at the two-day conference.
“Canoe.ca has quickly become a leader in video content production and distribution,” said Mark Greenspan, director of digital media, Achilles Media Ltd., the show’s organizer.
Earlier this year, Canoe.ca launched a new video section, which gives users access to content from Sun Media newspapers, along with content from CP-AP, WatchMojo, Jokeroo.com, Source Media, Just for Laughs, Moment Factory, IBC (Reuters,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today called for applications for new radio stations serving Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
The Commission received an application for new stations in each city and as is its policy, has opened the call to others.
The deadline to apply or otherwise respond is January 23.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – Broadcasters will take centre stage during one of the sessions at nextMEDIA, to be held in a couple of weeks in Toronto.
Globe and Mail columnist Mathew Ingram will moderate a panel that looks at the threats and opportunities coming out of the digital media space and examines the divergent strategies being adopted by Canadian and U.S. broadcasters in response to a changing business environment.
Ingram will be joined on stage by Leonard Brody, CEO of Vancouver-based Now Public, Jonathan Dube, Director of Digital Programming for CBC News, and Mark Lukasiewicz, Vice President, NBC News, Digital Media…
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TORONTO – The final day of nextMEDIA – Monetizing Digital Media should be a very interesting one.
The two-day gathering will wrap up with a town hall meeting examining a broad range of issues related to the changing face of the Canadian and global media industry and with the group planned, some verbal fireworks are almost assured.
New media consultant Mark Kuznicki of Remarkk! Consulting moderates the session, which includes a discussion between industry panelists and conference delegates. The town hall contributes to Phase Two of the CRTC’s New Media Project Initiative, a study that will help the CRTC…
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WINNIPEG – The CRTC yesterday granted MTS Allstream’s request to deregulate the Portage la Prairie local phone market.
New rules came into effect in early April 2007 which allow an incumbent telecommunications carrier to apply to the CRTC for local telephone deregulation in the consumer market for any community in which customers can choose between at least three service providers having their own network infrastructure, one of which can be a wireless provider, and where the carrier meets specific quality of service indicators for six months.
“This decision will help MTS Allstream provide better service to customers, and will…
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OTTAWA – According to the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, CanWest’s recently announced plans to centralize TV operations will leave it in breach of its broadcast licences.
CanWest said last month that it is consolidating most of its production work in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto over the next 18 months and will be laying off around 200 people.
CEP Canada today filed a complaint with the CRTC outlining what it believes is a series of breaches of both CanWest’s licences and the Broadcasting Act, if CanWest’s centralization plans go forward.
"We are calling on the CRTC to expedite…
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