OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has confirmed its lineup of speakers and panellists at its upcoming annual convention in Vancouver.
Appropriately for its 80th anniversary gathering, the CAB has booked more than 80 panellists, including keynote speakers Heritage Minister Bev Oda and outgoing CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen, who will likely be giving his last major address to broadcasters before his terms ends in December.
Along with top broadcasting execs (including Rick Arnish of The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Norm Bolen of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., Catherine Bridgman of CanWest MediaWorks Inc., Kathy Dore of CanWest MediaWorks…
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TORONTO – National radio ad sales rose 6.3% in this broadcast year compared with the year before, according to Canadian Broadcast Sales, but adding too many licences in markets could hurt sales as it has in the United States, the group says.
The fourth quarter of 2006 saw a “robust” revenue growth of 19% among Canadian stations, CBS said.
“The four year horizon for radio looks promising,” said Patrick Grierson, president of CBS. “As conventional television declines as a reach medium and the digital and specialty channels further carve up the audience, radio continues to deliver the ability to…
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TORONTO – The CRTC should set a date to force over-the-air broadcasters to end to analog distribution, Rogers Communications says in its submission filed today with the commission as part of its TV policy review.
The commission should maintain its requirement for traditional broadcasters to build digital transmission facilities, but it should also mandate an end to simultaneous analog transmission, the company says.
With the proliferation of digital technology and increasing consumer demand for choice, the commission should move to a “more flexible, market-driven approach to regulation,” the cableco says. Viewers are expecting to be able to watch their…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has approved two more category 2 digital TV channels: The Consumer Channel and the German Channel.
According to the commission’s decision, the English-language Consumer Channel “would be devoted exclusively to all aspects of consumer products and services. Programming would provide in-depth information and knowledge on everyday consumer goods and services.” Among the categories of programming are news and infomercials. No more than 10% of its programming can be from the game show or general entertainment and human interest categories.
The German Channel must air no less than 90% of all programming in German. It can…
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OTTAWA – The consumer groups who appealed the CRTC’s February decision directing monies in so-called "deferral accounts" to rural broadband builds learned today the Federal Court of Appeal has granted them leave to appeal the decision.
The CRTC directed Canada’s ILECs to charge customers a little extra and deposit the money in accounts which in February the Commission said it would be best spent on developing the broadband infrastructure in rural markets.
There is about $650 million in the bank and consumer groups, composed of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO) and the Consumers Association of Canada (CAC), sought…
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TORONTO – "It wasn’t so long ago that we lived in a society dominated by broadcast mass media operating with analog technology," reminisced Canadian Association of Broadcasters CEO Glenn O’Farrell in a speech on Thursday.
A veteran of the broadcast world (O’Farrell launched CanWest Global’s Quebec properties), O’Farrell and the association is struggling with the new media world. "(W)hile mass media is still a powerful force, the universe is becoming more and more populated by narrowly targeted digital media offerings," he told those gathered at the Broadcast Executives Society lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel. "In fact, we are…
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OTTAWA – Speakers have been announced and sessions outlined for the 2006 Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention, set for Vancouver November 5-7.
The early registration deadline (where attendees get a rate break) ends on Friday.
The theme for this year’s CAB Convention – New Realities. New Rules. – "reflects the tremendous rate of change that Canada’s private broadcasters are experiencing," says the association.
"From the explosive growth of new digital technologies to an unprecedented level of regulatory review, 2006 is shaping up to be a watershed year for Canada’s private broadcasters," adds a release.
In keeping with well-established tradition,…
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AS WE MOVE INTO FALL, it’s getting closer and closer to the end of Charles Dalfen’s term as chairman of the CRTC.
His busy term expires at the end of the calendar year and he will apparently not be offered a second term.
According to a well-placed source in Ottawa, Dalfen was offered a one-year extension but he declined, asking the government to grant him another full five-year term or not at all.
So, who’s going to sit in the top chair at the Commission? Names that have been making the rounds among Ottawa communications types – and their…
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GRAVENHURST, Ont. – After Monday’s lunch where EastLink won the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance member of the year award and CTV the supplier of the year award, AGM delegates filled the Taboo Resort Boathouse to listen to what the CRTC had to say.
The much-anticipated panel featured Ontario regional commissioner Rita Cugini, vice-chair broadcasting Michel Arpin, executive director Len Katz, senior director distribution policy and applications and head of dispute resolution Randy Hutson and CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend.
With the demise of the Canadian Cable Television Association, Townsend talked about the CCSA’s new regulatory focus on behalf…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC is relieving some cablecos of certain regulatory obligations regarding their local voice over Internet protocol services, but only in cases of “hardship” for small carriers.
The now-defunct Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association had asked the commission to relieve certain competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) from several requirements. In 2005, the commission determined that local VoIP services would be regulated as local exchange services.
The relief is being granted to Group 2 CLECs (non-dominant Canadian carriers offering local VoIP services through a reseller) with fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
These “small CLECs” will not have to meet and…
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