TORONTO and OTTAWA – Television industry stakeholders continue to weigh in on the new Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced Monday.
CTV said in a statement that they “welcomed” the Fund, and “applauded the proposal (for) striking down antiquated rules that prevented broadcaster investment in the creation of high-quality Canadian programs for both broadcast and digital platforms.”
"Congratulations to Minister Moore for recognizing the importance of audience success and for putting the audience first in the creation of this fund. All of us in media exist to serve the audience," said Ivan Fecan, president and CEO…
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GATINEAU – The broadband video portal Rogers Communications will launch later this year will not only be a boon to Canadians looking for high quality broadband video, it will dramatically reduce the heavy transport and promotional costs for Canadian broadcasters which are making their content available online, company officials said today.
Cartt.ca has previously reported on Rogers’ planned portal but Rogers Cable’s vice-president and general manager, television, David Purdy, put some more meat on the bones in front of the CRTC’s broadcasting in new media panel this morning in Gatineau.
“Today, over-the-air broadcasters distribute much of their content…
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TORONTO – Students from Canadore College, Centennial College, Fanshawe College, Humber College, Loyalist College, Mohawk College, Niagara College, Ryerson University, Seneca College and Sheridan Institute attended the Ontario Association of Broadcasters Career Development Day today at Rogers Media’s HQ in downtown Toronto
Hosts who volunteered their time for this event included: Scott Metcalfe, 680 News; Kelly Colasanti, Omni Television; Mark Dailey, Citytv; John McKenna, CH TV; Gene Stevens, AM740; Chris Pottage, Rogers Radio; Sabrina Pirillo, Proud FM; Steve Kassay, Durham Radio; Laurie Graham, Astral Radio G.P., Niagara; Geoff Thrasher, CHCH and E!; Ashleigh Myers, Astral Radio G.P., Niagara; Don Gaudet,…
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TORONTO – Getting funding to make television in Canada is about to get a whole lot different.
Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced today the Canadian Media Fund, a combination of the existing Canadian Television Fund and the Canadian New Media Fund.
The new fund, according to the Minister will be “reformed and rebranded” through a radically different partnership with the groups who provide the funding (government, DTH, cable and telco TV providers) and those who spend it (the production community). Its mandate will be to ensure the production of quality content and to make it available on multiple…
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TORONTO – Reaction to the new Canadian Media Fund (CMF) was predictably mixed, but the consensus seems to be that the distributors got what they wanted.
For starters, the CMF’s new “streamlined” and “independent” board will be made up of seven members – two appointed by the government, and the other five nominated by the fund’s five largest contributors, namely Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Videotron and Cogeco. The old board had 21 members, and was dominated by producers and cultural groups.
Minister Moore confirmed that the five members cannot be current employees of these companies, but, as to whether they…
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TORONTO – Registration is now open for the 30th edition of the Banff World Television Festival running June 7-10, 2009 at the Fairmont Banff Springs in Banff, Alberta.
New this year is ‘The Master Class’ which will showcase some of television’s top creators in intimate interviews, providing the opportunity for the ‘master’ to reveal their creative processes and trade secrets to making a hit TV show. Confirmed speakers to date are Kari Lizer, creator and executive producer of ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’, and Emmy Award-winner René Balcer, co-creator and executive producer of ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ and showrunner…
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TORONTO – After combining what Canadian private conventional broadcasters had asked for in their license renewal applications in January with the number of layoffs in the sector and at least $3 billion in collective asset writedowns by the OTA companies, the CRTC slammed the brakes on full license renewal hearings in May for a smaller proceeding meant to more directly address the most pressing concerns of CTV, Canwest, Citytv, and TVA.
The current global economic crisis is making an already bad situation worse for conventional broadcasters. A fragmented ad market could be managed if General Motors, for example, was spending…
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TORONTO – With a 700MHz spectrum wireless auction expected to take place in 2010, independent telcos need to be thinking now about strategies to get their concerns heard during the next few months of public consultation.
That was the advice from Peter Barnes, principal at Ottawa-based Tactix Government Consulting, during a Tuesday morning a regulatory update to delegates at the 2009 Canadian Independent Telecommunications Association showcase and seminars held this week in Markham.
Building relationships with public interest groups and local politicians is just one way for smaller telecom players to get their message out, ahead of Industry Canada’s…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) has bumped up its program commitments for 2009-2010 by almost 14% over last year.
The increases will be directed to the following CTF programs:
– the broadcaster performance envelope has been allocated $285 million, a 7.2% year over year increase ($194 million to English and $91 million to French);
– French-language projects outside of Quebec will increase to $10.2 million from $9.3 million;
– funding to Aboriginal-language projects will increase from just over $3 million to $4 million;
– the allocation for the digital media program will grow to $10 million;
– funds for the production incentive…
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TORONTO – The finalists for Canadian Radio Star, the 16th annual national songwriting competition held at Canadian Music Week, have been named.
The 12 finalists were chosen from radio stations across Canada, and will perform at various locations in Toronto as part of the Canadian Radio Star showcase on Friday, March 13.
Designed to showcase potential stars to the music industry, the winner will be chosen based on the number of online votes that they receive, combined with the decision of a panel of judges chosen by the Songwriters Association of Canada.
For the list of finalists, click here.
www.radiostar.ca…
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