OTTAWA – While telecommunications service providers continue to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, the CRTC is seeking more information on how they prepared for and responded to the storm.
The Commission sent a request for information last week to Bell, Eastlink, Rogers and Telus. By Oct. 7, the companies are expected to submit information including “a high-level estimate of the number of customers affected by service outages of 24 hours or more caused by the hurricane, for each of the phone, mobile wireless, and Internet access services,” as well as “The status to date of any…
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Academics explain algorithms and weigh in on whether the CRTC can handle implementing the bill
OTTAWA – If Bill C-11 becomes law the side effects “could break stuff”, Frédéric Bastien Forrest, a Canadian radio personality and content creator, told the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications yesterday.
“That’s what’s scary about the business model we have already… a lot of people assume that digital media works just like traditional media, a top-down approach, but it’s more of a grassroots thing so we need separate ways to address these two industries,” he said.
Forrest called on the committee to keep user-generated…
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CBC NEWS’ CONSUMER AFFAIRS program Marketplace is marking its 50th anniversary this month and will kick off its new season on Friday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) with a special one-hour broadcast, Celebrating Marketplace’s 50th Season, on CBC TV and CBC Gem.
Known for its investigations of popular products and services, Marketplace first premiered on Oct. 5, 1972, with co-hosts Joan Watson and George Finstad exploring the rising cost of food in Canada, a topic familiar to today’s viewers.
“Using innovative testing and hidden cameras, a team of investigative journalists fights for transparency and change in industries across Canada,…
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TORONTO — The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (the Canadian Academy) announced today the appointment of Tammy Frick (above) as CEO, effective Oct. 31.
Her hiring comes after a search led by the Canadian Academy’s board of directors, following the departure of former CEO Beth Janson in April 2022.
Frick is joining the organization after serving as executive director of the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival for the last 27 years.
In her new role as CEO of the Canadian Academy, “Frick will assume leadership for the largest non-profit professional media arts organization in Canada and will oversee both the…
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By Howard Law
DESPITE THE SENATE’S singular focus on Bill C-11’s regulation of user generated content, today’s witnesses shed some light on other issues both important and neglected.
The biggest issue that has been mostly avoided in both the House and the Senate is what the post C-11 broadcasting world will look like when the US streamer/studios are placed under new obligations to make and/or finance CanCon, known in CRTC lingo as “Canadian Programming Expenditures (CPE).”
Debate over that issue immediately invokes a hot button issue: what counts as a certified “Canadian” program?
And debate over what is a Canadian program immediately poses…
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By Leonard St-Aubin
MORE THAN A YEAR ago I wrote in Cartt.ca that it would be no easy feat, under Bill C-10 (now C-11), to integrate global streamers into Canada’s protected domestic broadcasting system, laden with complex regulation and cross-subsidies for Canadian content (Cancon).
And I predicted that high-profile Cancon would be outsourced to global streamers as Canadian broadcasters struggle to compete.
Three recent developments validate those observations.
First is a chorus of calls for flexibility in what qualifies as Cancon, from Disney, Netflix, Spotify, and North American screen workers union IATSE. The issue is that Cancon’s outdated definitions are likely…
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LONDON, U.K. — Global licensing agency WildBrain CPLG announced today its dedicated corporate and lifestyle division, Aspire, has secured multi-territory rights for the British clothing and accessories brand Lyle & Scott.
The deal will see Aspire represent Lyle & Scott in the U.K. and Ireland, Europe, MENA (Middle East and North Africa), Canada, the U.S. and Australia, “with scope to explore additional territories, such as Asia,” a press release says.
Founded in Scotland in 1874, but now based in London, Lyle & Scott is best known for its golf knitwear and polo shirts.
The partnership between Aspire and Lyle & Scott “will…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – There is “no silver bullet” that will put an end to fraudulent phone calls, Ian Scott, chair of the CRTC told the House of Commons Committee on Industry, Science and Technology last Thursday during a meeting at which Commission representatives updated the committee about their ongoing work on the problem.
“There is no single solution – no silver bullet – that will put an end to this scourge,” Scott said. “That is why we have put in place a robust strategy that relies on a number of technical and regulatory solutions.”
Back in March 2020, the…
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By Konrad von Finckenstein
THE STATED PURPOSE of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, “is to regulate digital news intermediaries with a view to enhancing fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contributing to its sustainability, including the sustainability of independent local news businesses.”
The motivation for the act stems from the idea that local newspapers do not get the appropriate recompense for news that they produce but that reaches the public via digital platforms. These platforms are considered to have inordinate market power that can be misused.
Scheme of the act
To rectify the situation, the act contemplates a mandatory bargaining…
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TORONTO — The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) announced today the appointment of Lisa Broadfoot as vice-president of industry and business affairs.
In this position, Broadfoot joins CMPA’s senior leadership team and will play “a strategic role leading business affairs support for CMPA members across a range of areas including project development, financing, production planning, sales, and business growth,” reads a press release announcing her hiring.
“Lisa has deep knowledge of Canada’s independent production sector, and knows firsthand the hard work our members put in to get projects developed, financed, produced, and sold,” said Reynolds Mastin, CMPA president and CEO,…
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