IT MAY BE 41 YEARS since he made the statement in that headline – during the famous first hearing into making Canadian radio and TV far more Canadian in content and ownership, but former CRTC chair and CBC CEO Pierre Juneau stands by it.
“All broadcasting should be Canadian, should be owned by Canadians, and should contain a percentage of Canadians,” he said just last week in an interview with Cartt.ca.
The Cancon argument dates back well past that historic 1970 hearing and has, amazingly, not abated or seemingly changed one bit as broadcasters this week freshly and further picked…
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TORONTO – Now that the largest Canadian broadcast and specialty networks are owned by the big four distributors, look for them to start to push harder at monetizing their online presences – while trying not to negatively impact their traditional TV advertising revenue and access provider programming fees – which totalled about $6.23 billion in 2010, says a new report from Convergence Consulting.
As it currently stands, online does little to improve broadcast and specialty networks’ bottom line, says the report, the latest instalment of the company’s ongoing “Battle for the North American Couch Potato” series. Most private Canadian broadcasters…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Media’s proposed Canadian program expenditures and programs of national interest spending drew the ire of the CRTC during the second day of hearings into the group-based licence renewals.
“When I listened to what you both said on CPE and PNI, you are really asking for a policy change. That’s as simple as that. It’s like a review and vary application, saying we like what you did but we want you to change it so it fits better to ,” said CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein. “I don’t understand why you feel we should change the basic…
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GATINEAU – Corus Entertainment must be included in the group-based licensing regime so as to better compete with its fellow broadcasters, the company said during its licence renewal hearing on Tuesday.
John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus, explained that despite the fact it only owns a couple of small local broadcasters (CHEX Peterborough and CKWS Kingston) the group approache enables the primarily pay and specialty company to more flexibly spend money where needed.
“What this group-based licensing approach would allow us to do is to allocate our programming to those areas that have either the greatest strategic need or the…
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TORONTO – Former Rogers Communications company director and well-known lawyer John A. Tory died early Sunday morning. He was 81.
Tory helped to co-found the Toronto-based law firm Tory and Associates (now Torys LLP) in 1954 which went on to represent such notable Canadian clients as Thomson Corp. and Rogers Communications. He later served on the board at those companies.
"Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy go out to Liz Tory and all her family at this time for their loss," said Alan Horn, Rogers’ chairman of the board, in a statement early on Monday. "John was a great man who was kind,…
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TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet has signed a four-year agreement to broadcast live cricket matches from the Indian Premier League, beginning this Friday.
The agreement gives Sportsnet exclusive Canadian television and pay-per-view rights to the league, which will play Twenty20 cricket, comprised of 10 teams competing in 12 venues across India. Sportsnet One will air 36 group-stage matches while Rogers Sportsnet will show another 38 matches on pay-per-view, including 34 from the group stage, three playoff games, and the championship match.
“Cricket is a premiere sport whose multinational flavour is felt across the globe,” said Rogers Broadcasting president Scott Moore, in the…
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OTTAWA – Canadian independent producers and the country’s major private broadcast groups reached an agreement in principle over terms in trade on Monday.
The framework deal, which is still subject to final approvals, will apply to the entire life cycle of a show – from first pitch, through to development, production and broadcast on all platforms, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) said. Once fully executed, it will apply to all independently produced projects developed and commissioned by Astral, Corus, CTV, Rogers and Shaw Media.
“Terms of Trade will bring greater clarity and certainty for both broadcasters and independent producers in…
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MONTREAL – Shaw Direct has become the latest operator to offer the Galaxie on-line music player to its customers.
Available now as part of Shaw Direct’s new on-line video-on-demand (VOD) library, the service allows users to stream their choice of the same 40 Galaxie channels currently available on Shaw Direct, view the album cover art of the current, next and previously played songs, or check a list of the songs played in the past 24 hours.
“Galaxie has been the preferred source of music for Canadians for more than 12 years and every day our listeners ask us how…
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WINNIPEG – Rogers and MTS Allstream flipped the switch on their joint HSPA + wireless voice and data network in Manitoba on Thursday.
Covering 97% of the province’s population, the network offers download speeds of up to 21 Mbps plus supports the iPhone, many Android and BlackBerry devices, and mobile Internet solutions.
"Our new high-speed 4G network offers MTS customers faster and more reliable service as well as more wireless device choices," said MTS president Kelvin Shepherd, in the announcement. "Looking to the future, our investment in 4G technology will allow us to focus on delivering more services that meet our…
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BANFF – Media leaders from five of Canada’s major broadcast media companies will come together to kick off this year’s Banff World Media Festival.
Phil Lind, vice chairman of Rogers Communications; Paul Robertson, group vice president, broadcasting and president of Shaw Media; Kevin Crull, COO at CTVglobemedia; Kirstine Stewart, executive vice president of English services at CBC; and John Riley, president of Astral Television Networks, have been confirmed for the event’s Media Leaders panel.
Moderated by Gordon Pitts, senior reporter for The Globe and Mail, the executives will speak to the issues they find most pressing for today’s media ecosystem, plus…
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