OTTAWA – Just two years into his five-year mandate, CRTC vice-chair, telecom, Richard French, told Heritage Minister Bev Oda on Thursday he will be stepping down no later than June 15th of this year.
French told Cartt.ca on Monday that he is resigning now before section 75 of the Federal Accountability Act applies to him. That’s the portion of new federal legislation that will essentially prevent anyone who works for the government or a government agency to lobby the government or even to hold a leadership position in a company that gets government contracts for up to five years….
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OTTAWA – With two major crises reaching public climaxes just before Canadian film, TV and new media producers gathered here for their annual Prime Time conference last week, the event could easily have become two long days’ journey into denouement.
Instead, although frequent quips proved tensions still simmer following the ACTRA strike and the uncertain future for the Canadian Television Fund, PT’s agenda (which included a speech from new CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein) focused on improving industry performance amid some encouraging 2005-’06 news.
Volume up The Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s annual Profile report says…
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OTTAWA – Today in Ottawa during his first official speech to an industry group, new CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein set the tone for his five-year mandate and confirmed that the CRTC under him will continue to pursue deregulation as desired by the federal government.
However, one could say that during his breakfast address to Prime Time, the Canadian Film and Television Producers’ Association annual conference, he pushed back a little bit in the other direction, warning of the dangers of "untimely deregulation."
"Make no mistake: less regulation in telecom has and will continue to be the Commission’s prime…
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TORONTO – After over a month of uncertainty and facing a serious funding shortfall, the Canadian Television Fund said today it welcomes the CRTC Task Force on TV production funding.
“The CTF is a dynamic organization,” said Douglas Barrett, CTF chair, in a press release. “We continually evolve to ensure our policies, programs and operations meet the needs of all our clients and stakeholders. The CTF welcomes the opportunity to work with (vice-chair broadcasting Michel) Arpin and the CRTC Task Force to examine the issues and improve the stability and strength of the Canadian television industry.”
The CTF is…
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GATINEAU – Saying the proposed new digital channel infringed on the genre protection of existing Canadian specialties, the CRTC denied a category two digital specialty service license to Cosmo TV.
The channel, as first reported in January by Cartt.ca, was to be a partnership between Corus Entertainment and Hearst Corporation, the publisher of Cosmopolitan Magazine (better known simply as "Cosmo", of course).
CHUM had objected to the Cosmo application, saying it infringed too closely on its Star! analog cable channel and its protected category one digi-net Fashion Television.
The Commission agreed. "In the present case, given the very…
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HALIFAX – Eastern cableco EastLink received its regional video-on-demand license from the CRTC last week.
“With this license approval, EastLink will be able to expand our on demand offering to include a wider range of programming," said director of marketing Ian Lezama. Currently, EastLink only offers The Movie Network On Demand.
EastLink is currently negotiating with a number of major movie studios with the objective of adding feature films to its VOD line up.
"This product category is expected to see tremendous growth over the next few years as customers experience the convenience of watching what they want when…
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CALGARY – True to its word, Shaw Communications will not be resuming monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund.
On Friday, Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda was informed of the decision by the company which owns Star Choice and Shaw Cable – and is the largest CTF contributor.
"I am disappointed to learn that Shaw is not going to resume their payments to the Canadian Television Fund," she said. "Clearly Shaw does not recognize the importance of abiding by regulations in a regulated world.
"All cable and direct-to-home satellite companies are regulated by the CRTC," continued Oda’s statement….
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TORONTO – The fourth quarter of 2006 was "one of the best quarters this company has ever had," Rogers Communications founder and CEO Ted Rogers said Thursday.
Consolidated revenue grew 14.4% to $2.4 billion and consolidated operating profit jumped 46.3% to $752 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2006.
On the subscriber side, wireless Postpaid ARPU (average revenue per unit/subscriber) increased 6.1% while postpaid churn fell to 1.24% in the quarter. Cable and telecom residential and business local telephony lines surpassed 920,500, and solid growth in cable and high-speed Internet subscribers continues.
Despite the good news, Rogers cast…
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OTTAWA – That’s the question the legal eagles at Telus are wrestling with this week.
Last week’s mobile TV exemption order made it clear that wireless carriers are not to offer any TV channels – including conventional broadcasters – on its mobile television lineups, without the broadcasters’ prior permission.
This worries Telus vice-president, wireless, broadband and content policy, Michael Hennessy.
"They’ve essentially given a retransmission consent right to over-the-air broadcasters, which lies at the heart of the over-the-air hearing" held last November, he told Cartt.ca this week.
Retransmission consent has been consistently fought by distributors such as cable, satellite…
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I’LL MISS STUART LANGFORD if he departs the Commission this fall when his current term is scheduled to expire.
We media types love a good quote and while I’ve never met the man, I’ve read enough of the CRTC commissioner’s sometimes entertaining dissents from certain decisions that I will miss his take on things if he goes. (Here are a couple of examples.)
While Drew Craig sounded a little uncomfortable with Langford’s line of questioning Wednesday morning in Calgary during the Commission’s hearings there, the commissioner’s oddball analogies drew some guffaws audible even on the webcast we listened in…
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