OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians are spending less time watching television and listening to the radio, but revenues continue to climb for both media, according to the CRTC’s annual report on Canadian broadcasting.
In 2006, Canadians watched an average of 27.6 hours of TV per week, less than the 28.1 hours they spent in 2005. Nearly 78% of all TV viewership last year was to Canadian services. Revenues for conventional television were up by about $100 million, to $2.6 billion last year. Revenues for specialty channels, pay, pay-per-view, and video-on-demand services rose by about $300 million, to $2.5 billion in 2006….
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ALBERTA IS BOOMING, and so are its airwaves. Calgary is getting four new radio stations in the latest licence award by the CRTC. One of the most recent to launch was Fuel 90.3, a second Calgary FM station for Halifax-based Newcap Broadcasting, which has been operating california 103, a smooth jazz/blues station, for five years. Fuel pulled in respectable numbers in its first BBM ratings period, according to the spring book just released.
The aptly named Fuel hopes to cash in on the region’s energy boom with a “Triple A” format—adult album alternative. At the helm is Stephen Peck,…
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TORONTO – The CanWest MediaWorks sale of its two Canadian radio stations to Corus has been completed.
CanWest says Corus bought 99.1 Cool FM in Winnipeg and The Beat FM in Kitchener for an aggregate cash price of approximately $15 million.
As reported by Cartt.ca, CanWest announced last fall it was getting out of the radio business in Canada, saying its failure to get applications for more stations approved by the CRTC meant it could no longer make the radio business work.
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TORONTO – Asian Television Network says it’s set to launch four new foreign third-language channels after the CRTC recently added them to the list of eligible satellite services.
ATN has been given the green light to distribute SET MAX, Star India One, Star India News, and Star Vijay across Canada on a digital basis.
The Toronto-based network said it will soon announce its launch plans for the channels.
Sony Entertainment Television (SET) MAX offers Hindi movies, not only Bollywood blockbusters but also Hollywood movies dubbed into Hindi. ATN says SET MAX, backed by Sony Pictures International, is India’s premium…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has made another move with plans to establish a do not call list for consumers to stop unwanted telemarketing.
The commission has put out a request for proposal, asking suppliers to bid by Sept. 10.
Suppliers need to show they have enough cash to fund the start-up costs and first two years of operating costs, among other things.
Earlier in July, the commission set out the rules for the list’s creation and operation.
The request for proposal to manage the list can be found on the government’s tendering service, MERX.
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TORONTO – The Directors Guild of Canada is adding its name to the list of production industry professions upset at the recommendations by the CRTC’s task force looking into the funding of the Canadian Television Fund.
The DGC filed comments with the CRTC this week urging the commission to reconsider several recommendations.
The task force, led by CRTC vice-chair Michel Arpin, recommended in its June report that the CTF contributions from BDUs be taken out of the fund and put into a private funding stream. The directors object to this, saying that the BDUs make those contributions as…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is calling for public comments on the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ proposed voluntary Equitable Portrayal Code to guide how identifiable groups are portrayed on radio and television.
The CAB has drafted the code to replace its 1990 Sex-role Portrayal Code. The new code will cover not only women, but also how members of visible minority groups, Aboriginals, and people with disabilities are portrayed on the air. The CAB’s private broadcaster members are expected to adhere to the code.
The association contacted 36 community organizations dealing with those issues, but only 7 responded to requests for…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Competition continues to grow for Canadian companies in the telecommunications industry, the CRTC says in its 2007 telecom monitoring report.
Total revenues for the industry as a whole grew in 2006 by 4.5% to $36.1 billion, while EBITDA rose 5.3% to $13.1 billion.
But the big story is the continuing bite that competitors are taking out of the traditional telcos’ business. Competitors grabbed an additional 3% market share, rising to 38% of total revenues in 2006, the report says. Competitors’ revenues rose 12% from the year before to $13.7 billion, mainly because of cablecos recording an impressive…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has granted a Cat 2 licence to operate a horror genre specialty channel, over the objections of The Movie Network and MPix.
The commission has granted a licence to High Fidelity HDTV Inc. to operate Horror HD, a national English-language service devoted to horror and thriller movies and other programming, such as magazine-style shows, in the genre. High Fidelity indicated it wouldn’t air more than 25% of its programming in the thriller genre.
Astral Television Networks had filed an intervention, arguing that Horror HD’s programming was too broad and would directly compete with Astral’s The…
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by Myron Love
WINNIPEG — CJOB, Winnipeg’s most listened to radio station, is applying to the CRTC to simulcast on FM as well as AM.
“It’s not that we want to abandon the AM dial,” says CJOB general manager Garth Buchko. “AM is important to us. It’s just that with more and more taller buildings going up in downtown Winnipeg, we find that there are pockets throughout the city that our signal can’t reach now. With FM, everybody will be able to hear us.”
Buchko is hopeful that the CRTC will respond to CJOB’s application within the next six…
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