TORONTO – Ron Laidlaw, who helped create Canada’s first hour-long evening newscast has died.
Laidlaw passed away last night in London. Ron Laidlaw was 88 years old. Ron served as RTNDA’s second president in 1965-66 and was the first news director of CFPL Television in London, a position he held from 1953 until his retirement in 1985. Under his leadership, CFPL became the first station in Canada to establish an hour-long evening newscast and the first to convert to colour.
"It’s fitting that RTNDA chose to name its award for continuing coverage after Ron," noted current RTNDA President Cal…
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HAMILTON – The Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) Canada’s annual board elections are approaching and the marketing organization is reaching out to its members to find individuals who are willing to lead the Canadian chapter in 2009.
CTAM Canada’s board of directors consists of 15 seats. Each new board member will serve a two-year term beginning with our annual planning meeting in the late fall. This year, there will be five vacancies to fill on the board.
In order to be considered as a nominee, you must meet the following criteria:
1. You must be a marketing…
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TORONTO – ACTRA and the Directors Guild have both added their voices to the chorus condemning the federal government’s cuts to arts funding programs.
“These cuts are shocking and short-sighted, and they certainly aren’t business friendly,” said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director. “Support for arts and culture are among the most efficient investments a government can make. Government funding leverages other investments, markets Canada to the world and enriches our society here at home.”
Federal government cuts to cultural programs were announced on Friday, August 8. More cuts were discovered this week. Programs affected in the film and television industries…
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MONTREAL – The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the Association des producteurs de films et de television du Québec (APFTQ) have called for an urgent meeting with the ministers from Heritage and Foreign Affairs to discuss the government’s decision to eliminate cultural programs valued at nearly $18 million.
Last Friday, the Conservative government announced that the A-V Preservation Trust ($300,000), the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund ($1.5-million), the National Training Schools Program ($2.5- million), PromArt ($4.7-million) and Trade Routes ($9-million) will be eliminated as of March 31, 2009.
“These cuts risk diminishing Canada’s international reputation,"…
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IF THERE’S ONE THING distributors don’t like, it’s being told what to do by the CRTC.
As we saw during the April hearings into broadcast distribution undertaking and specialty service policy, cable companies don’t like linkage rules or must-carries or carriage restrictions or much of anything else they “have” to do.
Cable altogether opposed the licensing of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network as a must-carry, 91(h) channel in 1999, but the Commission still licensed it as a channel which all distributors must carry as a basic service. APTN is one of those channels that furthers the goals of the…
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TORONTO – The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) has called for a comprehensive enhancement of all federal programs of direct and indirect investment in the film, television and new media industry in Canada.
The DGC filed its submission to the House of Commons standing committee on finance today and requested to appear before the committee during its annual pre-budget consultations scheduled for this autumn.
Commenting on the current situation, acclaimed director Sturla Gunnarsson, president of the Guild and chair of its national executive board, stated that the industry has been badly buffeted by a variety of factors. “We’re at…
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RICHMOND, BC, – It will take about five months to complete, but beginning this month Rogers Video stores will begin changing their name to Rogers Plus.
"This change reflects our continuing commitment to movies and games while at the same time increasing the presence of Rogers Cable and Rogers Wireless products and services in our stores," says Chuck van der Lee, president and CEO for Rogers Retail.
The transition from Rogers Video to Rogers Plus will take place between August and December 2008 on a city-by-city basis across the country. The intention is to recognize the growing importance of…
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OTTAWA – The CAB is urging Industry Canada to take the lead in establishing a government/industry working group to oversee the implementation and transition to digital television. It wants a consumer-focused working group that will contain representatives from private and public broadcasters, broadcasting distribution undertakings, Canadian and U.S. electronic industry representatives and the responsible government departments and agencies.
At stake it says are the estimated 3 million Canadian viewers who operate analog television sets that are not compatible with digital signals and not currently connected to cable or satellite, as well as licensees of more than 750 over-the-air analog…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Jim Prentice says Bell Mobility and Telus have assured him that any customers mistakenly charged for text message spam can have the charges removed from their bills.
Prentice, in a news release, says he met with the CEOs of both companies to express his "serious concerns" with the fact the plans could charge for unsolicited, unwanted spam. He also said the government has “no intention of interfering with the day-to-day business decisions of private companies or with the choices available to consumers” but added that his officials will continue to “monitor market activity.”
"I would encourage consumers dissatisfied…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada will use the Beijing Olympics to launch its new national brand tomorrow, aligning all of its products and services under the Bell name.
"The new Bell brand underlines that we are moving forward as a company and as a service provider, with new services, a new strategy and a new goal," said George Cope, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, in a press release this morning. "It’s a straightforward and customer-focused brand that directly supports the Bell team’s goal: To be recognized by customers as Canada’s leading communications company."
The new Bell logo…
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