TORONTO – Canadian Broadcast Sales founder and president Patrick Grierson will retire from the national radio sales organization on May 31, 2017. Details on his successor will be announced in the coming months.
Grierson has been at the helm of CBS for the past 23 years after founding the organization in 1993. Following his retirement, he will remain part of the CBS family in an advisory role until May 2018.
Jointly owned by Rogers Broadcasting and Corus Entertainment, CBS is Canada's largest radio representation company, representing 43 broadcasters and more than 400 radio stations (including repeaters) in 221 Canadian markets.
"A true…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has revised the results of its inaugural national study on broadband performance in Canada after determining that Bell's broadband speeds were not as fast as initially reported.
The Commission said Monday that the data published in its initial Broadband Measurement Report in September showed that Internet service providers (ISPs) largely met or exceeded their advertised download and upload speeds, and that this conclusion is still valid.
A CRTC spokesperson told Cartt.ca that the Commission was contacted on October 24, 2016 by “industry stakeholders” who noted possible discrepancies between the Bell DSL advertised speeds and those that…
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TORONTO – The rumour mill in the TV business was spinning overtime on this one lately, but today Rogers Communications made it official – it is killing its long-awaited IPTV solution in favour of Comcast’s X1 platform.
The move means the company will take a pre-tax non-cash asset impairment charge in the range of C$475-$525 million in its fourth quarter.
Friday morning’s press saw Rogers tout a new “long-term strategic partnership” with Comcast to bring Rogers customers Comcast's X1 IP-based video platform. However, it will not launch until 2018.
As we have reported, Rogers was hoping to have its IPTV solution (built…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will release its decision on basic telecommunications services late next Wednesday.
The Commission confirmed that it will stage a media “lock-up” from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM ET on December 21 at its Central Office, where “subject matter experts” will give an overview of the decision and answer questions. The decision itself will be released at 4 p.m. followed by a short statement by chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
The main focus of 14 day basic service objective (BSO) public hearing, dubbed #TalkBroadband by the Commission, was determining Canada’s minimum target broadband speed, and to what…
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TORONTO – Former Gusto TV GM Mark Prasuhn will take on a new role in January as SVP of operations & strategic partnerships at CMU College of Makeup Art & Design in Toronto.
For over 30 years, CMU College has provided training in character design and makeup artistry, preparing graduates to work in the entertainment industry.
Prior to his role at Gusto TV, acquired by Bell Media in September, Prasuhn (pictured) held senior leadership roles in broadcast and independent production/distribution companies including Zoomer Media, VisionTV, Minds Eye Pictures and TVO, plus was Film Commissioner for the province of Saskatchewan.
“I’m very…
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“Arbitrary and discriminatory”
WASHINGTON – In a letter to the Canadian Ambassador to the United States, the National Football League has taken the unusual step of asking the federal government, through its top diplomat in the U.S., to prevent the CRTC order suspending simultaneous substitution of the Super Bowl broadcast, from coming into effect.
Banning simultaneous substitution of the Super Bowl, annually the most-watched single TV show in Canada, was announced in January of 2015 as one of the first decisions to come out of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process. Every year, some Canadians complain to the CRTC that they…
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(Notes on a Very Silly CRTC Dustup)
Did you hear the one where a six-figure-earning chair of the CRTC hijacked his own hearing to go after some guy who hurt his feelings on “The Twitter?”
In the world of content creation it wasn’t the most important twist to come out of the group license renewal hearing last week, but it sure was the most surprising.
Here’s what happened at the end of the Writers Guild of Canada executive director Maureen Parker’s thoroughly-researched presentation to CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais, on November 30:
THE CHAIRPERSON: Ms. Parker, we’ve known each other for a while. And,…
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Privacy chiefs say current laws are just fine
OTTAWA – Canadian wireless carriers shouldn’t be stuck with the bill if new legislation or regulations require them to buy new equipment to intercept or collect subscriber communications or metadata, says an industry group.
As part of a public consultation on updating the country’s national security framework, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), which lobbies for most of the country’s wireless carriers, wrote to Ottawa last week to say that giving police and intelligence agencies more timely access to basic subscriber information “must consider the impact on service providers…
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TORONTO – The focal point of CTAM’s annual Broadcaster Forum conference is the consumer trends reveal.
Presided over by Gord Hendren, a principal with Charlton Strategic Research, the CTAM consumer survey illustrated key changes to consumers’ pay TV subscription loyalty and attitudes and their intentions toward new TV service options.
Broadly speaking, the overall marketplace read is that half of Canadians are considered “at risk,” — meaning they are thinking about trimming or cutting their TV services. “But those considering trimming aren’t saying they’re cutting,” Hendren stressed, “only that they’re looking to rearrange their service” often citing price as the issue.
Pay…
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TORONTO – Part social powwow and part professional revelation, the annual CTAM Canada Broadcaster Forum unspooled a ribbon of timely data points and commentary on new technology trends, a VR state-of-the-nation and even reflections on CBC’s unsullied broadcast of Tragically Hip’s summer concert.
Technology and television Innovation
A quartet of industry experts—Tom Elam, VP and GM with TiVo’s service provider business; Jay Gardner, VP of product development with Shaw; Joel Orvis, director of TV product management with Bell Canada; and Matt Nelson, director of strategic alliances with You.i—unpacked the latest developments in television tech on a panel moderated by Norm…
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