WHERE IS JIM SHAW? is what CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein wanted to know Wednesday morning when he moseyed into the hearing room in Gatineau and spied the Shaw Communications panel, minus its CEO, facing him.
It’s more than a fair question. The Shaw Communications CEO has lobbed several virtual grenades into Ottawa of late, most notably challenging the existence of the Canadian Television Fund throughout 2007, and then declining to appear at the hearing into the CTF earlier this year – telling a newspaper that since von Finckenstein wasn’t leading that hearing, it amounted to a Commission…
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OF ALL THE CONFLICTING complaints we’ve heard so far about the hearing still ongoing in Gatineau which will decide the future policies to govern specialty channels and BDUs, the question in the headline has been the most often repeated – from all sides of the debates.
The issues are so numerous, so complex, then again so connected to each other, it’s a wonder the five-member CRTC commissioner panel can make sense of everything. And there are just so many unanswered questions.
Last week at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, one couldn’t help but marvel at the utter sense…
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GATINEAU – They compete aggressively for U.S. programs, audience share, and advertisers, but in an exceptional show of unity, executives from CTVglobemedia Inc and CanWest Global Communications sat shoulder-to-shoulder Thursday to persuade the CRTC to open up new sources of funding.
Together, the two networks argued the economic viability of conventional television is “under threat”, because of lack of fair access and fair compensation. They attacked cable and satellite distributors, saying that if their vision were adopted, they and not consumers would control television programming.
“The outcome of this review will decide who will program the remote controls of…
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TORONTO – BMO Financial Group has acquired the title sponsor rights to all 30 Toronto FC Major League Soccer TV broadcasts during the 2008 season, on CBC, Rogers Sportsnet and The Score.
The one-year agreement marks the first broadcast sponsorship for Toronto FC, and a further extension of BMO’s relationship with Canada’s Major League Soccer team. BMO already holds the naming rights to BMO Field, home of Toronto FC, and is the sponsor of the team’s jerseys.
At the same time, BMO has also extended its agreement to be the official bank of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors,…
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GATINEAU – Bragg Communications, the east coast cable and telecom company that claims to be “small in a big way,” wants the CRTC to take on a similar persona, by making big steps towards a smaller regulatory burden.
In its presentation Wednesday to the CRTC’s broadcast hearings, Bragg co-CEO Dan McKeen gave his support to the Commission’s stated overall approach in its review that would see a reduction in regulations and increased reliance on market forces. However, he also sought CRTC help on behalf of small BDU’s which he suggested are occasionally bullied when they try to negotiate access to programming…
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TORONTO – The interests of small and independent Canadian broadcasters are at risk of being trampled by the industry’s giants in the current regulatory proceeding on the future of the broadcast system, warns Bill Roberts, president and CEO of S-VOX, which operates the multi-faith and multicultural specialty television service VisionTV.
"This hearing has so far been a war of the giants, with conventional broadcasters and broadcast distribution undertakings to make certain that smaller players do not get caught in the crossfire."
S-VOX…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Jim Prentice says he can’t place a throttle on the new practices of telecommunications companies that target bandwidth hogs who constantly download movies and share files over the Internet.
This week Rogers informed its Internet customers it will begin billing based on usage instead of connection speed. This follows a similar announcement by Bell where it plans to restrict certain types of online traffic on its own networks and those it provides to third-party ISP wholesalers.
Speaking before the House of Commons, Prentice downplayed the concerns of Charlie Angus, New Democratic Party spokesman for digital issues, who charged…
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CALGARY – Calgary’s 24/7 all sports radio station The Fan 960 has announced it has extended its broadcast agreement with the Calgary Flames hockey club. The Fan 960 is also extending its broadcasting agreement with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.
"We are delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with the Calgary Flames Hockey Club," said Kevin McKanna, executive vice-president, Rogers Radio, Alberta and Manitoba. "We are proud to bring hockey fans in Calgary and Southern Alberta the play-by-play, home and away games, of the Calgary Flames all season."
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications Inc. today announced that high school students from 15 cities across Canada collected over 18,500 used wireless devices as part of the inaugural Rogers Phones-for-Food High School Challenge. 45 high schools in cities from coast to coast entered the challenge to help reduce e-waste and help fund local food banks by collecting as many used wireless devices as possible over a five week period.
"These are inspiring results from students across the country," said Rob Bruce, president, Rogers Wireless Inc. "They have proven they can make a big difference in our communities by making a…
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BELOW ARE SOME QUICK QUIPS, a few lines – and their explanations, that we found interesting over the first four days of the CRTC’s hearing in broadcast distribution undertaking and specialty service policy.
Broadcasters as babies (1) “There is an opportunity for the over the air broadcasters to help themselves. If they were embracing the on demand platform, if they had a CTV on demand or a Global on demand, then we could have a very serious discussion about incremental value for the customer and compensation for that. But we are not having those discussions because we seem to…
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