CALGARY – True to its word, Shaw Communications will not be resuming monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund.
On Friday, Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda was informed of the decision by the company which owns Star Choice and Shaw Cable – and is the largest CTF contributor.
"I am disappointed to learn that Shaw is not going to resume their payments to the Canadian Television Fund," she said. "Clearly Shaw does not recognize the importance of abiding by regulations in a regulated world.
"All cable and direct-to-home satellite companies are regulated by the CRTC," continued Oda’s statement….
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media has decided to pull in its horns over the funding of Canadian television productions and will resume monthly payments to the CTF, at least for now.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said late Tuesday he was encouraged by the commitment made earlier in the day by the new CRTC Chair, Konrad Von Finckenstein, to become involved in finding solutions to the issues raised by Quebecor and Shaw Communications.
Von Finckenstein said the two companies had highlighted “serious issues that need to be resolved”, and that Quebecor, with its funding proposal outlined Monday, had…
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MONTREAL – After announcing suspension of its monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), Quebecor Media now says it wants to opt out of the CTF entirely and put all money owed by its cable company, Videotron, into a fattened Fonds Quebecor, under its own control, for the support of home-grown productions destined exclusively for broadcast by its own properties.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told a press conference Monday, broadcast live on the company’s all-news channel LCN as well as on its canoe.qc.ca web site, that the proposal is the “best way to ensure the…
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GATINEAU – In his first public statement since becoming chairman of the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein today told Shaw Communications and Videotron that they should resume their required monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund.
However, he also told the leaders of the CTF to start addressing the concerns raised by both companies, which have been reported on repeatedly by Cartt.ca over the past month.
The Commission statement reads:
"The CRTC recognizes the important role that the funds administered by the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) play in supporting the production of Canadian programs. This programming in turn assists Canadian…
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MONTREAL – Quebec’s film and television producers’ association today lambasted Quebecor’s proposal to re-direct its television program development money from the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) to its own self-directed Fonds Quebecor.
Claire Samson, president of the APFTQ, told a news conference Tuesday that the plan, outlined Monday by Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau, is unacceptable in every regard and should be firmly rejected.
“Quebecor has clearly shown its intentions to reserve its new fund exclusively for its own broadcast properties,” she said, which goes against the whole idea behind the CTF’s creation.
Péladeau’s plan, she said, is…
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GATINEAU – Quebecor Media’s Sun TV has asked the Commission for permission to build transmitters in both London and Ottawa.
The move would dramatically expand the channel’s coverage area, making it a basic cable must carry across most of the province- and Sun TV would then be far more competitive in the lucrative Southern Ontario TV market.
Expect the existing broadcasters in the region, from CTV to Global to the CBC to Rogers to CTS to whomever ends up owning the A-Channels (London, Wingham, Barrie and Ottawa) after the CTV-CHUM purchase, to vehemently oppose any further market additions, just…
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IT’S STARTING TO LOOK like this year could be the final one for the Canadian Television Fund in its current form.
With two of its four largest contributors (#1 Shaw Communications and #4 Videotron) adamant that they will forward $0 to the CTF – and with a Heritage Minister in Bev Oda who may be sympathetic towards their complaints – at the very least, upheaval is a certainty.
Oda, who on Monday renewed her government’s $100 million annual commitment to the fund, met with representatives of the four primary private sector contributors: Rogers Communications’ vice-chair Phil Lind, Bell…
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OTTAWA – In a letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, Telus vice-president, wireless, broadband and content policy, Michael Hennessy, called out Quebecor for what he sees as a double standard.
As a member of the Canadian wireless industry, past president of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association and an ex-director of the Canadian Television Fund, Hennessy said he was "both shocked and troubled," about decisions made by Shaw and Videotron to withhold their CRTC-mandated contributions to the Canadian Television Fund.
"While it is disturbing that such unilateral action could jeopardize thousands of jobs and scores of projects…
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MONTREAL – Heading into a meeting today with Heritage Minister Bev Oda, Quebecor Media told Cartt.ca that it would double its contributions towards making Canadian content – but not under the current Canadian Television Fund structure.
As reported over the past two weeks, both Quebecor’s Videotron and Shaw Communications have suspended their monthly payments to the fund, each citing similar concerns over how it is run.
For example, the companies strenuously object to the amount of money headed towards productions to air on the CBC (37% of the annual CTF payouts is mandated to go towards productions headed to…
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QUEBECOR’S LUC LAVOIE SUGGESTS that CBC/Radio-Canada unfairly benefits from the Canadian Television Fund. But it is disingenuous to insist that private cable companies, such as Quebecor’s Videotron, foot the bill for the public broadcaster’s benefit.
In fact, the federal government supplies a full 40% of the CTF, or $100 million per year. And that’s approximately the share that funds productions that air on CBC and Radio-Canada. Let’s not forget that the CTF emerged on the heels of massive cuts to the public broadcaster’s government allocation during the 1990s. So the CTF was effectively funded with money taken away…
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