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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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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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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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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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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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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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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