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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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media has decided to pull in its horns over the funding of Canadian television productions and will resume monthly payments to the CTF, at least for now.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said late Tuesday he was encouraged by the commitment made earlier in the day by the new CRTC Chair, Konrad Von Finckenstein, to become involved in finding solutions to the issues raised by Quebecor and Shaw Communications.
Von Finckenstein said the two companies had highlighted “serious issues that need to be resolved”, and that Quebecor, with its funding proposal outlined Monday, had…
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MONTREAL – After announcing suspension of its monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), Quebecor Media now says it wants to opt out of the CTF entirely and put all money owed by its cable company, Videotron, into a fattened Fonds Quebecor, under its own control, for the support of home-grown productions destined exclusively for broadcast by its own properties.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told a press conference Monday, broadcast live on the company’s all-news channel LCN as well as on its canoe.qc.ca web site, that the proposal is the “best way to ensure the…
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BY THE MIDDLE OF this year, Canada’s largest satellite operator, Telesat, will be a much bigger company.
When Loral Space Communications and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board said in December it would pay about $3.4 billion for Bell Canada Enterprises-owned Telesat, it moved the Ottawa-based company into a larger playing field. Its seven satellites plus four from Loral and the four the companies currently have in the pipeline under construction or awaiting launch, will more than double Telesat’s size by the end of 2009, when the last bird on the drawing board right now is built.
However,…
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GATINEAU – In his first public statement since becoming chairman of the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein today told Shaw Communications and Videotron that they should resume their required monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund.
However, he also told the leaders of the CTF to start addressing the concerns raised by both companies, which have been reported on repeatedly by Cartt.ca over the past month.
The Commission statement reads:
"The CRTC recognizes the important role that the funds administered by the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) play in supporting the production of Canadian programs. This programming in turn assists Canadian…
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OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union has asked the new CRTC chairman, Konrad von Finckentstein, to launch hearings into the Canadian media landscape.
CEP says it represents approximately 25,000 members in the media, and that ownership concentration has reached exceptionally high levels requiring a public analysis.
"Thirty years ago the Commission was going to look into the issue, but that hearing was cancelled. Nothing has been done since," said Peter Murdoch, vice-president media, in the press release. "As a result, today we have significantly higher concentration of ownership. And given approximately $4 billion worth of transactions waiting…
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GATINEAU – Quebecor Media’s Sun TV has asked the Commission for permission to build transmitters in both London and Ottawa.
The move would dramatically expand the channel’s coverage area, making it a basic cable must carry across most of the province- and Sun TV would then be far more competitive in the lucrative Southern Ontario TV market.
Expect the existing broadcasters in the region, from CTV to Global to the CBC to Rogers to CTS to whomever ends up owning the A-Channels (London, Wingham, Barrie and Ottawa) after the CTV-CHUM purchase, to vehemently oppose any further market additions, just…
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NEW YORK – News Corporation said yesterday it will launch FOX Business Channel in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO, FOX News and Chairman, FOX Television Stations will develop and oversee the new venture.
In order to gain carriage in Canada, the new channel will have to be sponsored by a Canadian broadcast distribution undertaking in an application to the CRTC for addition to the eligible satellite list. (A bigger question would be that with ROBTv, CNBC and Bloomberg already serving the business news market here, how many will want to pay for it?)
Stateside,…
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GATINEAU – As long as it’s a point-to-point transmission and the wireless carriers first have permission from TV companies to carry their signal(s), mobile TV will not be regulated like cable television.
A new exemption order issued Wednesday by the CRTC, which was kicked off by a public notice in April of 2006, allows services like MobiTV continue (even if those types of services, carried by Bell Mobility, Telus and Rogers Wireless, haven’t seen much traction yet).
Click here for the full Commission order.
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SIMCOE, Ont. – Cable pioneer and community TV stalwart William "Barry" Grainger died January 29 after a short battle with cancer. He was 63.
Grainger had a 40-year history in the industry, beginning as a cable technician at Grand River Cable. He worked for a number of cable companies in southwestern Ontario and also spent some 15 years at the CRTC.
But, he really made a mark at independent cable and telephone company Amtelecom, where he was community program co-ordinator at Amtelecom Cable 5 from 1992 until his death.
Grainger (pictured) was known for his can-do spirit. He and his team…
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