TORONTO – Every one dollar invested by the Canada Media Fund (CMF) to support Canada’s audiovisual industry generated $3.99 in production activity, the highest leverage ratio since the CMF was created in 2010, according to the CMF’s bilingual annual report for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
The CMF invested $361.6M in Canadian television and digital media projects in 2016-2017, down 2.7% (or $10.1 million) from the previous fiscal year. Despite the reduction in funding, a total of $1.4B of industry activity was triggered, a 0.4% increase from 2015-2016. This high level of production activity is a testament to the CMF’s…
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RECENT MOVES BY GLOBAL MEDIA PLAYERS to go over-the-top (OTT) and direct-to-consumer (D2C) mark a tipping point for the media industry and could have profound, long-term implications for the Canadian media landscape, says a Bay St. analyst.
A research report by BMO Capital Markets telecom/media/cable financial analyst Tim Casey notes that Canada’s traditional television broadcasters, (whose business models rely on “reselling” content from Hollywood), are at a greater risk than television distributors (BDUs) who offer broadband service, which he describes as “a natural business hedge against changing viewing habits”.
“Television distribution is a lower-margin business compared with broadband given roughly half the revenue…
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OTTAWA – Telesat is applauding a new report recommending that Canada’s new space strategy support, promote and prioritize the Canadian space sector.
The report, Consultations on Canada’s Future in Space: What We Heard, was prepared by the Space Advisory Board and identifies the following six issues for the federal government to consider as it develops a new space strategy:
– designating the space sector as a national strategic asset that's essential for Canada's sovereignty, security and economic growth;
– strengthening the capacity of Canada's space sector to compete globally;
– adopting new policies and regulations to capitalize on the development of new space technologies;
-…
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OTTAWA – While the arrival of 5G is widely expected to propel Internet of Things (IoT) applications and self-driving cars to mainstream, it is still unclear whether new business models will arise to provide a return on the massive investments required by telecom carriers, according to The Conference Board of Canada.
5G Networks—The Future is Here! says that it is unlikely that this technological advancement will lead to significant increases in household spending on telecom services in Canada, unless it results in completely new ways to communicate with one another.
With consumer spending plagued by high indebtedness levels and the growing…
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Feds underscore support for CanCon ahead of fall’s ‘Canadian Content in a Digital World’ announcement
GATINEAU – Heeding the outcry from Canada’s creative community, the Governor in Council has ordered the CRTC to reconsider its group licence renewal decisions for large television broadcasters that, among other changes, lowered the amount that major broadcasters must spend on Programs of National Interest (PNI).
The rare move came late Monday, followed by a statement by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly who said that the federal government wants the Commission to review its May decisions to renew the licenses for the television services of…
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TORONTO — Having been given CRTC approval in May to operate its national, multicultural OMNI Regional service as a must-carry, basic-service specialty channel, Rogers Media is building up the channel’s multilingual news content, with daily news in Mandarin and Cantonese scheduled to begin September 1.
A Rogers Media spokesperson has told Cartt.ca that the company has reached a service agreement with Fairchild Television to provide studio and production support for 30-minute daily national news broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese. Under the editorial direction of Rogers Media, these half-hour news broadcasts will be produced by Fairchild TV and televised exclusively on…
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Adult content broadcast too early in the day
OTTAWA — A number of broadcasts in November 2016 on specialty channel HIFI violated the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics and Violence Code by airing adult content before 9:00 p.m. and not providing adequate viewer advisories, the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBSC) announced Wednesday.
Several broadcasts of HIFI programming, including the 10,000 BC reality show, the Trailer Park Boys comedy series and The Mechanic action movie, contained adult language, violence and sexual content that should not have been broadcast before 9:00 p.m., the CBSC concluded in its decision.
In addition, the…
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MONDAY, IT WAS ANNOUNCED CBS All Access, the over-the-top VOD service from the American television network, would launch in Canada next year. Leslie Moonves, chairman and CEO, CBS Corporation, was quoted as saying, “By going direct-to-consumer around the world, we will facilitate new connections between the global audience and our industry-leading premium content.”
So where does this leave Canada’s private broadcasters?
Canadian private, English-language broadcasters have had a long and profitable run being middlemen for American content producers. For decades, their core business strategy was to purchase popular foreign programming, primarily from U.S. networks, and resell it into the Canadian marketplace,…
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TORONTO — Bell Media announced Wednesday it plans to acquire four FM radio stations in Ontario from Larche Communications Inc., bringing the total number of stations in Bell’s iHeartRadio network to 109.
Larche’s The Dock- and KICX Country-branded stations in Ontario operate in Sudbury, Midland, Orillia and Owen Sound. Subject to CRTC approval, Bell Media will acquire the following four stations from Larche:
104.1 The Dock (CICZ-FM) — Classic hits format in Midland
92.3 The Dock (CJOS-FM) — Classic hits format in Owen Sound
KICX Country 91.7 (CICS-FM) — Country format in Sudbury
KICX Country 106 (CICX-FM) — Country format in Orillia
“We look forward to welcoming these award-winning…
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Bidding starts at $1.54 billion
OTTAWA – The auction of 600 MHz wireless spectrum, when it happens, will favour the smaller newcomers like Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron and looks to offer no payments to TV broadcasters which will be forced off the band.
While the Canadian bandwidth plan is to be harmonized with the United States (something we’ve known for a while), our auction for the valuable low frequency spectrum sure won’t be the same. In its consultation paper released late Friday (Ed note: right before the long weekend, so no questions, media!) Innovation, Science and…
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