Dear Editor,
The purpose of this letter is to clarify and correct certain references made in recent articles published by Cartt.ca summarizing the CFTPA’s submission to the CRTC’s review of its regulatory framework for over-the-air television (Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing CRTC 2006-5).
Specifically, the October 5 article titled “TV POLICY REVIEW: Dropping the 12-minute limit as TV reaches a tipping point” states that the CFTPA is in favour of fee-for-carriage of over-the-air television signals. In fact, we took a neutral stance on the fee-for-carriage issue. To clarify, we neither endorse nor oppose the concept of fee-for-carriage. We do,…
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AFTER READING THROUGH a number of submissions to the CRTC’s conventional television policy review, I’ve got a few first impressions where I think the new policy will go.
Remember though, first impressions can be very, very wrong and really, I’m just guessing for fun, so here we go.
Impression #1: I think fee-for carriage for OTA broadcasters has a shot to win approval. Probably not at the 50-cent a sub per month level that CanWest has asked for and certainly not the $2 level the Canadian Media Guild wants (an earlier version of this story said CFTPA but was…
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OTTAWA – Next month in Vancouver, nine broadcasting veterans will be inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
A special luncheon ceremony on Monday, November 6, 2006 will honour:
* Doug Allen, Broadcast engineer, Winnipeg * Vicki Gabereau, Radio and Television talk show host, Vancouver * Alain Gourd, Broadcast executive, Gatineau * Frank Lewis, Broadcast executive, Charlottetown * Gary Miles, Broadcast executive, Toronto * Pierre Morrissette, Broadcast executive, Montreal * Bill Stephenson, Sportscaster, Toronto * Sophie Thibault, News Anchor, Montreal * Philip (Pip) Wedge, Broadcast executive, Toronto
“This year’s inductees are innovators and leaders in the…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Women in Communications Jeanne Sauvé Professional Development Program provides women in the Canadian communications field with opportunities to gain first-hand knowledge of federal communications policy, the role of the government and its impact on industry as well as the dynamics of the relationship between public and private sectors.
In addition, the program strengthens the relationship between government and industry, and encourages dialogue on issues of common interest, says the association.
CWC supports and promotes the advancement of women in the communications industry through the CWC Jeanne Sauvé Convergence Program which focuses on broadcast and communications…
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CANADIANS NEED TO PAY MORE for their TV, according to additional submissions to the CRTC on its conventional television policy review.
Filed last Wednesday three months ahead of the November 27th hearing, we could only plough through a few submissions at first, but having had a bit more time to read some more, it’s clear that TV distributors are in tough against many players who want to see wholesale subscriber fees paid to conventional broadcasters.
CTV, Quebecor Media (owners of TVA and Videotron), the Canadian Media Guild, ACTRA, and the Canadian Coalition of Audio-visual Unions all said they were…
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IN 1998, A YEAR BEFORE THE CRTC set its last conventional television policy, people of all ages would have thought you a kook if you asked them about "downloading a video", "IM-ing" your friend, charting your MP3s or buying the latest season of Seinfeld on DVD.
Just eight short years ago, instant messaging didn’t exist, there was no online video, nobody had a digital camera, only 1% of Canadians had a DVD player and just 8% knew what broadband was.
These are some of the findings published in a Trend Analysis for the CRTC by Solutions Research Group.
The…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has granted licences for new radio stations in Dawson City, Yukon and Strathroy, Ont., as well as a national Christian specialty audio service.
The commission has granted a licence to the Dawson City Community Radio Society to operate an English “developmental” community FM radio station. It will be at 106.9 FM, with only 5 watts of power. It would broadcast 126 hours of programming per week, of which a minimum of 18 hours will be station-produced. The local programming will include rock, blues, jazz, and folk music as well as programs featuring Yukon and First…
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TORONTO – An informal coalition of independent Canadian specialty channels opposes the notion of distributors paying a subscription fee to carry over-the-air TV stations.
As reported last week by Cartt.ca, in its submission to the CRTC’s public process as part of its TV policy review, a group of eight specialty broadcasters said that paying sub fees to conventional broadcasters would “drastically” hurt the independents. Distributors would either pass the cost on to consumers, or reduce the fees it pays specialty networks, according to the document from the networks that are not affiliated with any distributor or large media…
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IT’S NO WONDER THERE couldn’t be a CAB submission to the CRTC on the TV policy review.
While there is some agreement on what must be done to alter the course of conventional television in Canada, along side the regularly substantial chasms in opinion between the usual suspects – distributors and broadcasters – there are also substantial variances between fellow broadcasters on what must be done to secure the future of conventional television stations and companies.
So, for this most important of policy reviews, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters had to step aside and tell its members that since…
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OTTAWA – A wholesale fee for carriage is something that not just private broadcasters are after.
The CBC/Radio-Canada submission to the CRTC’s TV policy review calls for a new way to deploy high definition and for the CBC to begin getting paid a subscriber fee from cable and satellite companies.
"CBC/Radio-Canada must be able to adapt to the realities of the fast-changing broadcasting environment," said Robert Rabinovitch, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, in a press release.
The Commission has asked conventional broadcasters about the future of over-the-air reception in a digital environment. "Very few Canadians continue to rely on…
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