HAMILTON – While the vultures encircle a faltering Canwest Global Communications, most of whom are trying to pry the company’s valuable specialty channels away, the 100 or so people working for the company’s Hamilton TV station are working on their own bid to save their small piece of the lot.
Sources with knowledge of the discussions say that both Corus Entertainment and Astral Media are working their hardest to tempt Goldman Sachs (the U.S. investment bank which owns most of the equity – if not voting control – of the group of specialties which used to be the Alliance…
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A GROWING SENTIMENT AMONG many industry folks is that the carefully (and sometimes not-so-carefully) constructed, heavily regulated, TV system we have built here in Canada can not withstand the global media environment of the 21st century.
So, is it time to completely de-regulate television in Canada? Do we need to re-write the Broadcasting Act and just blow it all up?
Yesterday I talked with two people with long histories in Canadian television with diametrically opposed points of view. I think they’re both right about a number of things and if they are, our regulatory system is in for some…
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OTTAWA – As the CRTC considers how the scope of April’s OTA licence renewal hearings might be “significantly narrowed or reduced”, given the severe economic fallout on broadcasters’ balance sheets, panelists at the annual film and TV producers’ conference presented their own suggestions at a session during the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association Prime Time conference last week.
The panel took place after the regulator had issued a February 13 notice of consultation outlining economic and other issues to be resolved or better understood before it can issue long-term renewals, and requiring licensees to answer a series…
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada is again inviting its members to apply for the CTAM Canada Fellowship to CTAM U 2009.
One successful applicant will be selected by a jury to attend CTAM U at Harvard in Boston from June 14 to 19, 2009, with all costs covered by CTAM Canada, other than travel to and from Harvard. It’s a near-$9,000 value.
In order to be eligible, candidates must be senior level executives, current members of CTAM Canada and must follow the application procedure outlined on the CTAM Canada web site. Another of the key selection criteria is active participation…
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OTTAWA – Before the “economic downturn,” before the impressive decline in advertising revenues and even before the 2008 upfront ad sales began in earnest, the volume of Canadian television production was sliding, according to figures released today at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) annual conference.
09 Profile, the CFTPA’s annual economic report on the Canadian TV and film industry, says between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008, production volume totaled $2.3 billion, a 7% decline compared with 2006-07. It adds that although the drop can be linked to lower production volumes in both TV and…
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TORONTO – With several reporters pursuing tips and rumours asking if and when Canwest Global will seek bankruptcy protection (this reporter, too), company CEO Leonard Asper sent a memo to staff today that tried to sound hopeful.
The Globe and Mail ran a story Friday saying the company was looking for a cash infusion of $300 million and speculation has begun on which companies would pick up the pieces of a bankrupt Canwest needing to sell more assets than just its foreign operations and E!.
“Over the last week or so – and likely into this weekend – you…
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OTTAWA – Gordon Ritchie had a lot more success negotiating the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement than he has had trying to inch Canada’s broadcasters toward a Terms of Trade agreement with producers.
Ritchie, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s (CFTPA) principal advisor as it seeks an agreement on the terms under which producers sell content to broadcasters, was a panelist discussing the state of the negotiations at the CFTPA’s annual conference this week in the nation’s capital. He says he’s been “surprised and disappointed” by the months of stagnant talks. “Absolutely nothing has been agreed at the bargaining…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) has announced the winners of the 2009 Indie Awards.
This second annual celebration of Canadian independent producers recognizes outstanding Canadian producer achievement in eleven categories of the film, television and interactive media industry. Winners were selected by a national jury of industry professionals from more than 160 entries.
And the winners are:
– Best Children’s and Youth Programme or Series: Busytown Mysteries, Cookie Jar Entertainment.
– Best Comedy Programme or Series: This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Halifax Film, a DHX Media Company.
– Best Convergent New Media: Anash Interactive, Reel…
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OTTAWA – While stopping short of calling for a wholesale policy overhaul, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein opened the annual conference of Canada’s film and TV producers with a wide-ranging speech repeatedly acknowledging that the conventional broadcasting industry is “in crisis.”
Von Finckenstein has often recognized the financial stress on the over-the-air (OTA) broadcasting sector in the past, however, in his address at the CFTPA’s Prime Time conference, the chair emphasized that a “systemic solution to the problem” is in order.
The CRTC, he says, is rethinking the system “in light of technological, economic and industrial reality. This requires…
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VANCOUVER – Telus Corporation reported a 6% growth in revenue to $9.65 billion, and a 5% growth in EBITDA for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2008.
Revenue for its fourth quarter was $2.45 billion, an increase of 5% from a year ago, driven primarily by a 7% growth in wireless revenue and 13% growth in wireline data revenue. Net income for the quarter was $285 million, and consolidated EBITDA decreased by $16 million, due to increased investments in operating efficiency initiatives that resulted in restructuring costs increasing by $32 million, the company’s press release detailed.
"The very fact we are…
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