TORONTO – The new Canada Media Fund (CMF) puts private companies in charge of a "key Canadian cultural fund", worries The Documentary Organization of Canada/l’association des Documentaristes du Canada (DOC).
DOC said in a statement that cable companies have argued in the past that the special levies they collect from Canadians are ‘theirs’, and that they should have the ability to influence the content of programs produced and to spend the money on their own in-house productions. This would effectively give them “full control” over content, copyright and distribution of Canadian programming paid for by public funds.
The…
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TORONTO – We know you’ve heard this before, but Canadian radio executives believe that they are well-positioned to weather – and then quickly recover from – the recession, because of… their local focus.
That was the message Thursday afternoon during the radio executive session at Canadian Music Week at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. On the panel were Denise Donlon, CBC’s executive director of radio; Paul Ski, head of Rogers Radio; CHUM Radio EVP Chris Gordon; Newcap CEO Rob Steele; Corus Radio Ontario head Chris Pandolf; and Ian Lurie, who oversees Astral Radio’s English language stations. CBC journo…
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TORONTO – New York-based music subscription company Dada Entertainment launched its year-old service in Canada Tuesday, naming former Rogers Wireless exec Christopher Lam as its general manager.
The service, called Dada.net, offers ringtones and wallpapers from artists affiliated with Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI, allowing consumers to personalize their mobile phones.
Lam is Rogers Wireless’ former content and business development manager, and was brought on for his experience in the mobile industry which includes managing large portfolios for ringtones and off-deck strategies, product enhancement, placement and content merchandising, deal negotiations and label relations, said the…
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GATINEAU – The broadband video portal Rogers Communications will launch later this year will not only be a boon to Canadians looking for high quality broadband video, it will dramatically reduce the heavy transport and promotional costs for Canadian broadcasters which are making their content available online, company officials said today.
Cartt.ca has previously reported on Rogers’ planned portal but Rogers Cable’s vice-president and general manager, television, David Purdy, put some more meat on the bones in front of the CRTC’s broadcasting in new media panel this morning in Gatineau.
“Today, over-the-air broadcasters distribute much of their content…
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TORONTO – Students from Canadore College, Centennial College, Fanshawe College, Humber College, Loyalist College, Mohawk College, Niagara College, Ryerson University, Seneca College and Sheridan Institute attended the Ontario Association of Broadcasters Career Development Day today at Rogers Media’s HQ in downtown Toronto
Hosts who volunteered their time for this event included: Scott Metcalfe, 680 News; Kelly Colasanti, Omni Television; Mark Dailey, Citytv; John McKenna, CH TV; Gene Stevens, AM740; Chris Pottage, Rogers Radio; Sabrina Pirillo, Proud FM; Steve Kassay, Durham Radio; Laurie Graham, Astral Radio G.P., Niagara; Geoff Thrasher, CHCH and E!; Ashleigh Myers, Astral Radio G.P., Niagara; Don Gaudet,…
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TORONTO – Getting funding to make television in Canada is about to get a whole lot different.
Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced today the Canadian Media Fund, a combination of the existing Canadian Television Fund and the Canadian New Media Fund.
The new fund, according to the Minister will be “reformed and rebranded” through a radically different partnership with the groups who provide the funding (government, DTH, cable and telco TV providers) and those who spend it (the production community). Its mandate will be to ensure the production of quality content and to make it available on multiple…
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TORONTO – Reaction to the new Canadian Media Fund (CMF) was predictably mixed, but the consensus seems to be that the distributors got what they wanted.
For starters, the CMF’s new “streamlined” and “independent” board will be made up of seven members – two appointed by the government, and the other five nominated by the fund’s five largest contributors, namely Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Videotron and Cogeco. The old board had 21 members, and was dominated by producers and cultural groups.
Minister Moore confirmed that the five members cannot be current employees of these companies, but, as to whether they…
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TORONTO – After combining what Canadian private conventional broadcasters had asked for in their license renewal applications in January with the number of layoffs in the sector and at least $3 billion in collective asset writedowns by the OTA companies, the CRTC slammed the brakes on full license renewal hearings in May for a smaller proceeding meant to more directly address the most pressing concerns of CTV, Canwest, Citytv, and TVA.
The current global economic crisis is making an already bad situation worse for conventional broadcasters. A fragmented ad market could be managed if General Motors, for example, was spending…
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TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet will continue to be the exclusive Canadian TV broadcaster of Major League Baseball’s All-Star game and postseason play, including the World Series, through 2013.
The network also announced that it will air at least 250 regular season baseball games across its four channels each year.
"Sportsnet is proud to continue as the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of Major League Baseball (MLB) jewel events,” said president Doug Beeforth, in the announcement. “There is no more compelling summer sports property than MLB – and this renewal of our long-term partnership coupled with Sportsnet’s four channels ensures Canadians will see more…
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GATINEAU – The dangling carrot of more money for the Canadian TV system is always what’s at stake when the Regulator considers letting broadcast distribution undertakings sell the ad time that’s available on American cable channels.
U.S. channels like CNN, A&E, Speed and the Golf Channel make two or three minutes per hour available for U.S. cable, satellite and telco carriers to sell ads on. It’s a multi-billion-dollar business in the States. That time is also available to Canadian carriers but they can’t sell it. Regulations say that 75% of the time must be made available to Canadian broadcasters…
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