TORONTO – The gross, the overly sexual and the misleading were – as usual – the top types of advertisements Canadians complained about in 2005.
Advertising Standards Canada today released its 2005 Ad Complaints Report. ASC received 1,271 complaints from consumers about 804 advertisements (a drop of 17.5% over 2004) and:
* 58 complaints concerning 52 advertisements were determined to contravene the Advertisers’ Code by the independent volunteer Consumer Response Councils (Councils) * The retail advertising category garnered the highest number of complaints (209) * 46% of all complaints related to advertising on television.
Click here for the report…
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ORLANDO – A dozen leading radio companies are this week kicking off the first phase of a massive, US$200 million advertising campaign to accelerate the adoption of HD digital radio.
Demonstrating they are making good on their commitment to this new technology, broadcasters will air specially-created ads nationwide on more than 250 stations in the first 28 markets where HD Radio has been launched. The campaign is spearheaded by the HD Digital Radio Alliance and includes spots developed by longtime radio advertising specialists Dick Orkin and the Radio Ranch.
More than 700 radio stations are currently broadcasting primary signals…
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OTTAWA – While CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen said little to surprise independent producers in his annual address at the CFTPA’s national conference, he did hint at something that could delight them.
With CBC up for licence renewal this year, followed by the major private ‘casters, and with handheld digital media starting to shift industry revenue streams, Dalfen told producers “a bigger TV policy review might be timely” and he’s welcoming suggestions.
Any re-think of the TV policy, cursed by almost all stakeholders except broadcasters since it took effect in the fall of 2000, would begin after the review of…
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TORONTO – The former home of Open Mike with Mike Bullard, downtown Toronto’s Masonic Temple, will play host to MTV in Canada, as well as the new show that will anchor CTV’s version of the channel in Canada, MTV Live.
MTV is a Canadian-led partnership between Bell Globemedia’s CTV and Viacom’s MTV. CTV’s existing specialty service talktv will be re-branded MTV in Canada, as the main portion of the deal. However, CTV will also air a block of MTV programming on the main CTV network.
With a commitment to 71 per cent Canadian programming in primetime, MTV in Canada…
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"TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO, the CCTA board tasked Dean MacDonald, a small working group and I to develop a vision that would become the basis on which to build our public policy priorities," Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association president and CEO Michael Hennessy said in a note to association members sent out Wednesday.
What follows below is the rest of that final memo to members of an association which will soon be wound down.
In response, the working group and the CCTA team described a vision of an integrated broadband future where consumer choice regulated the market…
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WHEN PEOPLE FIND OUT I AM the president of Babytel, an independent provider of high-speed Internet phone service, the first question I get is about our name, (most love it), followed closely by “how in the world can you compete against the big guys?”
How we compete is quite simple: we are finding unique opportunities, such as being the VOIP backbone for partners like independent cable companies and ISPs, and we are selling to niche markets like Asian and African communities in Canada.
(I will refer the genesis of our name to later.)
There is incredible opportunity. VOIP opens…
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VIDEOTRON’S ROBERT DÉPATIE RECENTLY shared with readers his view of competition in today’s market (See "A new phone plan from Ma Bell", www.cartt.ca, February 1, 2006).
In his world, competition only works when his company is free to price and market services as it wishes while his main competitors (the phone companies) remain subject to artificial constraints. Strangely, Mr. Dépatie seems to actually consider these constraints to be “special favours for Bell”; favours that he says no cable company has ever received. He is at least half right.
No cable company ever needed regulatory permission to change prices or…
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DESPITE THE IMMINENT SHUTDOWN of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, a move which will cost 26 jobs, Canada’s smaller independent operators have already decided they must have a continuing presence in Ottawa.
As reported first by www.cartt.ca early Friday afternoon, Rogers Cable, the largest remaining member of the CCTA, decided to rescind its support of the association, effectively killing it – even though no other member wanted to pull the plug. Even Rogers didn’t really want to do it.
However, no CCTA member is blaming Rogers for the demise of the 50-plus year-old association. Indeed, the CCTA’s board of…
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Yesterday, former Bell Canada executive Michael Neuman resigned as president and chief operating officer of number two U.S. satellite company EchoStar Communications.
A short announcement yesterday by the company said Neuman’s duties will be assumed by Carl Vogel, vice-chairman of the company, and Michael Dugan, CTO and former president and COO of the company.
Neuman landed the gig in only in June of this year and EchoStar gave no reason for his departure. Neuman was president of Bell Mobility until early in 2005 when he was forced out after the wireless unit endured a series of…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Media Directors’ council has lined up a large, interesting, diverse slate of senior executives to speak at its upcoming conference.
The CMDC’s March 28 conference is called "Mining Growth – Discovering Potential in Media Mayhem" and will likely attract more than 800. The annual get-together is the Canadian marketing industry’s largest single-day event.
The keynote speakers include: Michael Grimaldi, president, General Motors Canada; Maurice Lévy, Paris-based CEO of Publicis Groupe SA; and Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO, Quebecor Inc.
The outlook for growth from media outlets will be presented by five Canadian media leaders:…
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