GATINEAU – Now that the two new Canadian satellite radio companies were scared into committing to more French language channels (going from three to four, or half of the Canadian channels they each will have), the federal cabinet issued a statement today saying it won’t interfere with the CRTC decision on the matter.
After two months of enormous lobbying pressure from all sides, as reported extensively by www.cartt.ca, Minister of Canadian Heritage Liza Frulla and Minister of Industry David Emerson late this afternoon said that cabinet decided to let the decision stand.
After looking at several…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CCTA has asked the CRTC to add nine more Asian TV channels to the eligible satellite list for digital distribution in Canada.
Dragon TV, Southeast TV Station (SETV), CCTV-4, Beijing TV (BTV), Southern Television, Guangdong (TVS Satellite), China Yellow River Television Station (CYRTV), CCTV- Entertainment, Hunan Satellite TV (HTV), Jiangsu International TV have all been sponsored by the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
"The new CRTC policy on foreign third-language services has opened the door to offering consumers more choice. Providing consumers with increased diversity in television programming," said Michael Hennessy, CCTA president, in a release. "These services…
Continue Reading
LET’S SAY YOU’RE AN MP, a cabinet-member even. You’re no dummy, despite the reputation politicians have. You know a lot about a lot of things. As a cabinet member, you’ve probably been elected more than once. You understand the voting public.
You also have a good grasp on what you don’t know and foremost, you probably know a quagmire when you smell it. And the battle which has arisen the past two weeks over June’s CRTC satellite radio decision (and just landed on your desk thanks to much lobbying) has descended into just such a confusing mess.
You can tell by…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Direct marketer Torstar Media Group Television has been nominated for an Electronic Retailing Association Award in the category of Best International DRTV Production, the company announced today.
The nominated production is a short form spot created for AIG Assurance entitled Photo Album.
AIG Assurance’s agency OgilvyOne Worldwide selected TMG TV Productions to produce the spot, the first to be shot in High Definition by this major Canadian Insurance provider.
"We are seeing an increasing number of clients wanting the new ‘it’ look of HD" said Deborah Kelly, TMG TV’s manager of production. "High definition provided the client with…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Veteran radio newshound Stephanie Smyth is back on Toronto radio.
Smyth was with 680 News from its 1993 launch as an all-news outlet until 2003 when she bolted for Global Television as news director. That particular marriage didn’t last as Smyth was let go by Global earlier this year.
She returns to 640 Toronto as a reporter.
“With more than 16 years of news and news programming experience to her credit, Ms. Smyth is an award-winning media veteran who brings a wealth of experience to her work in the…
Continue Reading
THERE IS SO MUCH on the docket for lawyers working the telecom file in Canada these days, it’s almost hard to keep track.
The CRTC begins its hearings into forbearance from regulating the local phone market on September 26th (same week as Cable Week) while at the same time Industry Canada is deep into its Telecom Policy Review. Then there’s the Federal Court appeal of the CRTC’s telecom win-back rules and the ILECs’ VOIP decision appeal to cabinet, among other things.
So how will a coherent national telecom policy be developed from this muddle of related…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Down Under, Kazaa and other like services are now illegal, and the Canadian recording industry would like to see the same moves here.
A press release on Labour Day celebrated an Australian court ruling which effectively outlaws free (or thieving) file-sharing service Kazaa and other such counterparts.
“The Federal Court of Australia today ruled that Kazaa is an illegitimate business that deliberately profited from mass-scale copyright infringement,” says the release from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA).
The judgment, coming 10 weeks to the day after the unanimous United States Supreme Court ruling against the file-swapping operator…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Standard Broadcasting has hired interactive veteran Rob Bolton to the position of national content director for Standard Interactive, the company announced today.
Bolton has over a decade of experience in the music industry creating unique and exclusive entertainment content for the likes of Sympatico, Yahoo!, Rogers, and others. A pioneer in online radio and webcasting, Bolton was instrumental in the growth of Standard’s Iceberg Radio and Virtue Broadcasting – early adopters of audio and video streaming technologies.
He recently returned from London, U.K., where he acted as a corporate communications and streaming media consultant to BT (British…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Canadian Satellite Radio isn’t operating in Canada yet, but it’s soon to be on the air in the United States.
CSR will help its U.S. partner, XM Satellite Radio, broadcast French content to its dedicated New Orleans emergency information channel. An estimated tens of thousands of Louisianans speak French, and it’s essential they get the information they need in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, CSR says.
"One of the benefits of satellite radio is that it can go where land-based radio cannot go,” says André Di Cesare, CSR’s head of French talent and industry relations. “With so…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The satellite radio debate rages on, with the music industry today urging the federal government to force the CRTC to reconsider the licences it recently awarded to Sirius Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio, as it is rumoured will happen.
Groups representing the major and independent Canadian recording labels say the Canadian content requirements in the licences are too lax, and they released results of a poll they commissioned showing that three-quarters of Canadians think Cancon “is a good idea,” one-third think the quotas should be higher, and nearly 80% think that Cancon has helped Canadian artists become…
Continue Reading
