Commission is told small TV stations are living on borrowed time
GATINEAU – The local TV environment is so bad for some small independent over the air broadcasters that they risk shutting their doors in the coming months if they don’t get financial assistance from the CRTC. A case in point is Dougall Media’s Thunder Bay Electronics, the owner of two stations in the northwestern Ontario city.
VP and GM Don Caron explained during a closing statement to the Small Market Independent Television Stations Coalition (SMITs) appearance that his two stations (a CTV and Global affiliate) have remained open…
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OTTAWA – The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund will award $723,500 in grants to seven projects designed to advance accessibility to broadcasting content for Canadians with disabilities.
The projects represent the first ever selected by the Board of Directors for grant awards. The inaugural recipients are:
– Accessible Media Production Course, Mohawk College: $80,000 – Student journalists will receive mandatory, intensive training in producing content that is accessible across all media platforms.
– Making CBC Radio Accessible, CBC: $62,000 – New speech-to-text conversion technology will be used to post daily transcripts of CBC’s award-winning radio program The Current to CBC.ca. The Current reaches some 2.3 million Canadians each…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media is eliminating 4% of its workforce starting next month.
A Rogers’ spokesperson confirmed to Cartt.ca on Monday that approximately 200 positions will be impacted, primarily in its conventional TV, radio, and publishing divisions, as well as some back-office positions.
“We have identified cost efficiencies in production, operations and procurement, and have made the difficult decision to reduce headcount”, reads the emailed response. “This was not an easy decision, but was right for our business long-term. While difficult, these changes are essential to delivering on our Rogers 3.0 plan and to position us for continued success…
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TORONTO – New Rogers channel Viceland will debut in more than 7.5 million Canadian households when it launches on February 29, the company said Friday.
The millennial-focused linear channel, which replaces Rogers’ Bio specialty channel, will be available through more than 20 TV service providers out of the gate, including Shaw and Shaw Direct, Telus, Videotron, Cogeco Connexion and Eastlink, in addition to Rogers Cable.
Kicking off with a three-month free preview, content includes Gaycation with Ellen Page and friend/co-host Ian Daniel, and original music documentary series Noisey, hosted by Vice correspondent Zach Goldbaum. Viceland will also air original series produced…
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MONTREAL – With just days to go before Bell Let's Talk Day on January 27, Bell issued a public thank you to the Canadian organizations supporting the initiative and promoting its messages around mental health.
"A huge thank you to all the individuals and organizations joining the Bell Let's Talk team to help get everyone talking about mental health. What better way to fight the stigma than having Canada's finest brands actively promoting the cause?" said Clara Hughes, national spokesperson for Bell Let's Talk, in the news release. "When you send your own messages on Bell Let's Talk Day, you not only let…
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Bell argues at Federal Court the CRTC made a jurisdictional mistake
TORONTO — Bell Mobility finally had its day in Federal Court on Tuesday, a year after the CRTC ruled the wireless provider had violated the Telecommunications Act by giving undue preference to its Bell Mobile TV subscribers when it exempted the mobile TV service from the data caps generally applied to customers of its wireless services.
Shortly after CRTC Decision 2015-26 was issued in January 2015, Bell Mobility filed for leave to appeal the decision. (In the same decision, the CRTC also found Vidéotron was in violation of…
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TORONTO – Sportsnet and Samsung Canada are teaming up on a new multi-media NHL media sponsorship agreement.
The deal, announced Wednesday, includes Samsung product integration into all NHL on Sportsnet national broadcasts, and includes exclusive video content available on Samsung devices. It also includes sponsorship of Sportsnet’s online fantasy hockey pool, various digital video features, and the interactive studio known as ‘The Situation Room’ featured as part of Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour.
In addition, 10,000 Samsung customers will receive a free 30-day trial of online streaming-service Rogers NHL GameCentre Live.
“This deal is a reflection of our commitment to delivering the best hockey experience to Canadians,…
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TORONTO — The race to deliver live 4K sports events to TV customers in Canada heated up significantly in the last week, with Rogers slightly ahead of Bell at achieving major firsts in the industry.
Thanks to an agreement with BT Sport in the UK, Rogers Sportsnet broadcast the National Basketball Association’s first-ever live NBA game in 4K, when the Toronto Raptors played against the Orlando Magic at The O2 Arena in London, England on January 14. That was six days before Bell’s TSN network is scheduled to broadcast its first NBA game in 4K (a.k.a. Ultra HD), when the…
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GATINEAU – Four and a half months after Vidéotron announced it would exempt certain music streaming services from its wireless data caps, prompting two complaints to the CRTC mere days later, telecom companies, consumer rights groups and others are still debating the interpretation of the Telecommunications Act, Internet traffic management policy and the wording of a recent CRTC decision.
The Unlimited Music offer applies to higher-end data plans offered by Vidéotron Mobile. It exempts a list of music streaming services, including Songza, Spotify, Google Play Music and Stingray Music, from…
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TORONTO — Although the proposed sale of Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment was top of mind for financial analysts Thursday afternoon, Wind Mobile and FreeRange TV was a big deal, too
Calling the Shaw Media sale to Corus “a significant milestone for both companies,” Jay Mehr, EVP and COO of Shaw Communications, said during the Q1 conference call with financial analysts that the transaction along with Shaw’s acquisition of Wind will position Shaw “as a leading pure-play connectivity company with a strong growth profile.” The Wind wireless business complements Shaw’s existing Business Network Services and Business Infrastructure Services segments, Mehr…
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