By Steve Faguy
IN CANADIAN BROADCASTING’S regulatory system, the industry is represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the broadcasters who always want less regulation, and the interest and artist groups who always want more. These are their demands.
Canadian content
In its commercial radio policy, which the CRTC is reviewing, and what much of this series has been about, the most famous content quota requires 35% of popular music broadcast on Canadian radio stations be Canadian.
Unsurprisingly, major broadcasters want a lower quota. They have taken aim at this particular bullseye before. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters proposes 25%. For…
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CNOC says the company didn’t remove older modems from compatibility list
By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Rogers Communications is suggesting an application to allow third party internet access (TPIA) providers who lease access to its networks to sign-up new subscribers on legacy DOCSIS 3.0 modems past June this year would delay its upgrade plans and cost it millions of dollars.
The cable giant said it gave members of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) a full year to adopt the newer DOCSIS 3.1 modems, which it said will allow it to introduce greater network capacity, faster upload and download speeds, and…
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By Robert Brehl
Long-time former president of Rogers Cable, Colin Delacourt Watson, died from acute leukemia this week. He was 79. Mr. Watson had been in Florida for the winter with his wife, Barbara. Less than two weeks before his passing, he had been playing golf and posting on Instagram (right).
“The Rogers family and Rogers Communications are deeply saddened by the passing of Colin Watson,” RCI chair Edward Rogers said. “Colin was a key figure in the building of the cable industry in Canada over three decades. He was instrumental to building Rogers Cable into what it is today. He…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Between losing a fourth wireless player in a merger and difficulty negotiating with big telecoms on leasing wireless network capacity, smaller carriers and their representatives told members of the industry committee Tuesday that the one-two punch of divesting Freedom Mobile in a Rogers-Shaw combination and mandating wireless negotiations with service-based operators could spell the last vestige of hope for a competitive telecom environment.
Appearing before the committee studying the Rogers-Shaw merger proposal, Matt Stein, who is head of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada, an industry group representing smaller internet service providers (as well as president…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) said last week it will invest $364 million in Canada’s television and digital media industries in its upcoming fiscal year. It also published program guidelines for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The breakdown of the 2021-2022 program budget can be seen below.
That cash all comes from Canadians, most through a small percentage of the pay-TV bills Canadians pay every month to the companies you see above, along with some from the federal government.
“Over the past year, our industry has overcome some of the most challenging times in decades,” said Valerie Creighton, president and…
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TORONTO — The Banff World Media Festival announced today it will hold an exclusive “In Conversation With” session on June 18 featuring producer Greg Berlanti, actor-producer Kaley Cuoco (above) and Warner Bros. Television Group chair Channing Dungey, who will discuss in-depth the comedic thriller The Flight Attendant.
The critically acclaimed, globe-trotting dark comedy from HBO Max/Warner Bros. Television (which debuted in Canada on Crave in November) was nominated for multiple Screen Actors Guild Awards, Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globe Awards. The series stars Cuoco, who also served as executive producer along with Berlanti. Dungey will join them to…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Journalism Foundation’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Thaioronióhte Dan David, the CJF announced today.
He is being recognized for launching the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network’s (APTN) news service, the world’s first national Indigenous-led news network, and for his life-long support of journalism initiatives around the world.
“After centuries in which the stories and reality of Indigenous people were oppressed, we Canadians are now living in a time where those realities and those stories are finally being told,” said selection jury member Hamlin Grange, a veteran broadcast journalist, now principal consultant of DiversiPro, in the…
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Submissions to CRTC review shows Quebecor wants into radio, too
By Steve Faguy
TROY REEB DOESN’T THINK this story will be controversial.
Reeb, executive vice president broadcast networks at Corus Entertainment, which owns 39 radio stations, is one of several radio executives who believe the Canadian commercial radio industry needs more consolidation and is calling on the CRTC to reduce or even eliminate restrictions on how many radio stations an owner can control in a given market.
“I don’t know if there are a lot of opponents to further consolidation of radio. I haven’t heard who they are. I haven’t seen an argument…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Underlying witness testimony at Wednesday’s Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology meeting into the proposed merger between Rogers and Shaw was the message that there are things the government can control in the event the massive cable and wireless combination gets regulatory approval.
That includes policies on requiring facilities-based telecoms to negotiate with service-based mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which the CRTC is still reviewing, and which federal cabinet can send back if it doesn’t like the Commission’s call; spectrum transfers and radio wave restrictions on the merging entities; open access to towers and backhaul…
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Merger presents a great opportunity for Minister Champagne
By Konrad von Finckenstein
ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCED on March 15th its intention to buy Shaw Communications for $26 billion, and of course the transaction must be approved by the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and the Minister of Industry, Science, and Innovation.
The three entities will undoubtedly consult with each other and co-operate. Logically the Competition Bureau would go first, the CRTC second and the Minister last.
The CRTC approval should be relatively routine. Shaw is a BDU but has no broadcasting assets, having divested them to Corus. Thus, there are no benefits payable under CRTC…
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