TORONTO – Rogers Sports & Media today announced a program that includes giving a minimum of $10 million in free advertising and creative services over the next five years to charities and small businesses which support “equity-seeking communities.”
The broadcasting and sports division of the communications giant says it has listened to and learned from its own employees and partners “about a variety of systemic racial issues inherent in our society, and these learnings have acutely shaped” this plan, the company is dubbing “All IN”.
“All IN is dedicated to taking actions that will drive much-needed positive change as we address…
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TPIA wholesale fee decision must account for art, and science
By Len Katz
WHEN IT COMES TO the federal government’s response to the appeals of a CRTC order which, yet again, set final rates to be paid by internet service providers who lease network access from the cable and telecom companies’ networks, some well-respected industry experts have said the CRTC should just stick to its original decision.
They say the Commission should ignore the recent statement from the federal government that the Regulator should take into account potential negative impacts on network investments, especially in rural Canada, as part of…
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Ad spend down 60%, says broadcast association
By Ahmad Hathout
VICTORIA – A little over a month after a radio station in Kelowna went off the air due to pandemic-related advertising declines, the head of the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters (BCAB) sent a letter in May to the premier with a plea.
Pointing to relief measures introduced by the Quebec and federal governments, which include the waiving of licensing fees and consistent ad buys on local stations, Rob Bye requested a virtual meeting to discuss possible options.
“We’ve got positive verbal responses,” he said in an interview with Cartt.ca on Wednesday, adding…
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By Catherine Tait
THE PAST SIX MONTHS have transformed Canada and the world. It has changed how we work, how we shop, how we interact with friends and family. It has been an unsettling lesson in how quickly everything we take for granted can change. And as we head into autumn and winter, we are all worried about a second wave, and the health of our families and our society.
At CBC/Radio-Canada, Covid-19 has redoubled our attention on what is most important about serving Canadians: trusted news, serving local communities, and supporting Canadian creators who depend on us.
Canada’s media industry was…
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But industry still has work to do
GATINEAU — The CRTC released today the findings of its first-ever secret shopper project, which was launched in response to the Commission’s 2019 report on misleading or aggressive sales practices among telecommunications service providers.
While the secret shopper report concludes the vast majority of enlisted shoppers’ interactions with the providers’ sales staff were perceived as positive, approximately one in five shoppers perceived they may have faced misleading or aggressive sales practices.
The report also says misleading or aggressive sales practices occur at a higher rate for certain vulnerable segments of the Canadian population, such…
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TORONTO and LONDON — Julie Bristow, the former CEO and president of factual and kids content maker Bristow Global Media, has launched the Content Catalyst Fund (CCF), a development and funding company focusing on content developed, delivered and designed by women and about women.
Based in Canada but with an international reach, the CCF will develop and invest in unscripted and scripted content, but with an initial focus on unscripted, says a press release on Tuesday. To help female creators find an audience for their work, the CCF will invest in end-to-end strategic support in viable female-led projects, says the…
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MONTREAL — Propulsion Québec, the electric and smart transportation (EST) cluster, announced today a new three-year partnership with Quebecor that will see the communications company expand its involvement in developing the EST transportation ecosystem. In addition, Propulsion Québec will support the electrification of Quebecor’s Videotron vehicle fleet.
In January 2020, Quebecor joined the cluster and announced its action plan to accelerate the electrification of its entire fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles, which already includes almost 40 electric cars. The plan revolves around the conversion of the gasoline engines of the company’s light trucks to electric motors and the…
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TORONTO — The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) announced today seven NFB works will be featured during the online imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which takes place October 20-25. The NFB is also partnering on an industry panel for Indigenous virtual reality creators.
Michelle Latimer’s award-winning documentary Inconvenient Indian (pictured, 90th Parallel Productions/NFB, 90 minutes) will be joined by six NFB French-language short films at the festival. Inconvenient Indian won both the People’s Choice Documentary Award and the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary brings to life…
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GATINEAU — As the CRTC continues a Review and Vary of its August 2019 order which slashed the wholesale rates third-party Internet access (TPIA) companies pay to the incumbent network owners, the Commission announced today it is approving a stay of the order’s implementation while it completes its review.
The stay was requested by Bell Canada and cable companies Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron when those incumbents requested in December 2019 that the Commission review and vary its Telecom Order 2019-288 decision.
The Commission’s announcement today comes after the Federal Court of Appeal on September 10 dismissed the…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL — CBC/Radio-Canada announced today it is partnering with the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) to launch new fellowships for Black journalists.
The CJF-CBC/Radio-Canada Black Journalism Fellowship (open to all genders) and the CJF-CBC/Radio-Canada Black Women’s Journalism Fellowship will provide early-career Black journalists with mentoring and training in a CBC News or Radio-Canada Info newsroom. Early-career journalists are defined in the CBC press release as those with one to 10 years of experience.
Over a six-month period, selected fellows will receive mentoring and training in video and audio editing, writing, research and investigative reporting. Each fellow will receive a…
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