A GROWING SENTIMENT AMONG many industry folks is that the carefully (and sometimes not-so-carefully) constructed, heavily regulated, TV system we have built here in Canada can not withstand the global media environment of the 21st century.
So, is it time to completely de-regulate television in Canada? Do we need to re-write the Broadcasting Act and just blow it all up?
Yesterday I talked with two people with long histories in Canadian television with diametrically opposed points of view. I think they’re both right about a number of things and if they are, our regulatory system is in for some…
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TORONTO – Tony Burman, managing director of Al-Jazeera’s English language channel – and former head of CBC News – was in Toronto this week to say that Canadians should be allowed to choose whether or not to get his channel in their homes.
Al-Jazeera the news organization has been a hot potato of a media outlet in the past. It’s Arabic language channels have aired some incredibly objectionable content in the past where virulently anti-Semitic viewpoints have made it to broadcast.
Because of that history and the resultant lobbying in Canada earlier this decade, the Arabic channel can’t really…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications says the economic downturn was a key factor that lead to a fourth quarter loss of $138 million.
The company took a “non-cash impairment loss” totaling $294 million on its conventional television business “to adjust its carrying value to reflect a lower assessment of fair value amidst recent recessionary declines in advertising revenues,” said the press release announcing the company’s financial results.
For the full year ending December 31, 2008, Rogers reported its operating revenues rose 12% to $11.3 billion, operating profits increased 32% to $4.1 billion and net income was up 57% to just over $1…
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TORONTO – The Fan Radio Network is airing a daily feature called ‘Up Close and Personal,’ billed as the “untold stories of Canadian Olympic” athletes as they prepare for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games.
The features are running numerous times each day on 35 Rogers and non-Rogers radio stations across the country, including 10 "official" Vancouver 2010 radio stations. The feature will continue airing daily until the start of the Games on February 12, 2010.
“Every Canadian Olympic athlete has a compelling and inspiring story to share about their personal journey and drive to compete at the Olympic level. These features will…
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TORONTO – Canadians are getting an up-close and personal look at their Olympic athletes thanks to a promotional campaign called ‘Get To Know Your Canadian Athletes’ launched by the Canadian broadcast consortium for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games late last week.
Complementing the group’s ‘Believe’ campaign which launched last month, the vignettes will air nationally in English and French through February 2010 on the Consortium’s television assets and promotional partners, as well as on the websites CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca.
Twenty five English and French Olympians are profiled five different ways, for a total of 125 vignettes, which reveal “surprising” details…
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BACK IN NOVEMBER, on a regulatory panel at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters final convention, I said then that the broadcasting in new media hearing, which is beginning this Tuesday in Gatineau, was a waste of time.
I qualified it, of course. I do think it’s a good idea that the Commission gather information on what new media is and what it’s doing to the regulated system – and generally be aware of what’s up, on line. But I stand by what I said, especially after seeing some of the submissions.
A hearing by a regulator into something that…
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A YEAR IS A LONG time. Or not – depending on how much you need to get done in 365 days.
As of today, Keith Pelley, the hyper-energetic president of the Canadian broadcast consortium for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, has but one year left to make ready “the biggest media event in Canadian history,” he says. He and his team have a lot to get done and just one little year to do it.
Hundreds of people are involved in broadcasting (including 140 on-air folks) those 16 days in February of 2010 in Vancouver, Whistler and…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC decided Wednesday to eliminate restrictions on the broadcast of hits by English-language FM radio stations in English-language markets, but to uphold the restrictions in the bilingual markets of Montréal and Ottawa-Gatineau.
And at least one radio broadcaster is unhappy with the Commission’s decision. Calling the policy “insane, inane and asinine”, Chuck McCoy, executive vice president of programming and marketing for Rogers Radio, said that there is “no logical reason” for the decision.
“If you live in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Winnipeg or Toronto, you can listen to stations that play hits, the music that the consumers…
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TORONTO – The recent cutbacks and sharp shift in focus for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is something that should be re-thought, say its independent broadcast members.
Readers will recall that the group recently cut its size in half and retrenched its focus so that it will be much less involved with the CRTC and spend far more time and resources lobbying government MPs directly instead.
That’s not to say the smaller members don’t recognize some change is required. “I think it’s important to recognize that the CAB leadership had every good intention of being responsible and changing with…
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TORONTO and VANCOUVER – The official “digital hubs” for live coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games – websites CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca – went live on Monday, pledging to provide 2,400 hours of live coverage from Vancouver 2010 in both English and French.
The sites, to be rolled out in five phases over the next year, will feature embedded video, user generated content, interactive and participatory games, information about Canadian Olympic athletes, and “exclusive live online coverage of every single moment of Olympic Games competition”, the press release detailed.
During the Games, which run February 12 – 28, 2010…
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