WE HAVE SOME questions for everyone. Feel free to answer, if you like, at editorial@cartt.ca. Answers will remain confidential – unless you’d like us to make them public… ************ 1. Quick, what’s a two-syllable word, ending in “o” that is a low-cost Canadian wireless brand? With the launch of a new name, Koodo, on the Telus network, we now have three answers to that question – counting Bell’s Solo and Rogers’ Fido. Can someone in marketing can explain to me the reasons why cheap Canadian wireless brand names apparently must end in o? Why is that such a…
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TORONTO – National radio sales continued its strong performance with an 8.8 % increase in the second quarter of the 2008 broadcast year, ended February 29, 2008, according to information provided by Canadian Broadcast Sales (CBS).
“Given our strength at the midpoint of the year, we continue to forecast an overall increase for national radio in this broadcast year of approximately 8%, assuming the Canadian economy remains healthy.” said Patrick Grierson, president of CBS, in a release. “We’re seeing good growth geographically, especially in the west. In Q2, the national retail category continued to lead all sectors, capturing…
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OTTAWA – It will take three weeks to plough through the various issues to be presented by 74 intervenors who wish to speak during the CRTC hearing into the policies governing specialty channels and broadcast distribution undertakings in Canada.
Beginning on April 8th with Rogers Communications, commission staff has estimated it will take until April 28th to get to Lee Weston, the final intervenor (who has community TV on his mind) listed on the lineup released Friday.
The Regulator also released some preliminary financial data on the sector to help people prepare.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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WE ALL LOVE TO BE THE FIRST to declare something cool, or buzz-worthy. It’s fun and exciting to be the first to find something neat-o and let people know about it. Conversely, though, we humans also sometimes revel in declaring that when things that aren’t cool, aren’t on the hot lists, and that they are in fact, dead.
For many new media true believers, radio is part of the old media world, harkening back to the days when people submitted to the hierarchy and let others decide for them what they will listen to, what music is new and…
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ST CATHARINES – Robert C. (Bob) Short, the founding president of the Canadian Cable Television Association, died last weekend. He was 82.
After years in the electrical equipment supply industry, rising to president of Edwards Company, Short was hired as the first full-time president of the CCTA in 1970. Later, he also served as vice-president of Canada Wire and Cable, the first president of Cancom and deputy chairman of CUC Broadcasting (which many will recall as Trillium Cable).
Short fought some of cable’s first battles during his five-year stint heading the association, such as helping win the rights to…
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MONTREAL – After analyzing the spectrum auction rules, meeting with several potential partners and talking business plans, Quebecor Media chief Pierre Karl Peladeau says his company will be a national wireless player.
Well, he didn’t say national for sure, but if he’s going to play the game outside of Quebec, which he did say for sure, it’s more than likely to be a nationwide play. He has already said he likes the advanced wireless spectrum auction rules set out late last year by Industry Canada and that he will bid on spectrum. Today was the first time he…
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GATINEAU – Saying that two proposed purchases would violate its common station ownership policy, the CRTC has denied Jim Pattison Broadcast Group’s application to purchase two more stations in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.
In 2007, Pattison agreed to buy CKIZ-FM Vernon from Rogers Media and CIGV-FM Penticton from Great Valleys Radio for undisclosed purchase prices.
However, Pattison already owns two FM stations in Kelowna, which is less than 60 kms from either of Penticton or Vernon and the proximity means that such concentration of ownership in the valley runs contrary to CRTC policy, says the decision.
“As set out…
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GATINEAU – Reply comments filed with the CRTC on Friday on its broadcasting distribution undertakings and specialty services policy review don’t show anyone has changed their minds. They’ve mostly dug right in, as expected.
(And, we’ll set aside the fee for carriage debate right away for this particular piece. Over-the-air broadcasters and producers who look to see more funds flow their way want consumers to pay a fee for conventional TV stations. Cable and satellite companies do not. We’ll dive deeper into the issue in a later story.)
This story, however, is a tale of two extremes. We looked…
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MONTREAL – Four unnamed suitors have submitted bids for Quebec’s financially strapped TQS television network, but neither Rogers Communications nor RNC Média (Radio Nord Communications), who have been rumoured as suitors for the troubled French broadcaster, are among them.
TQS and the court-appointed controller, RSM Richter, said late Monday that four offers were received by the Monday deadline and they will be evaluated in the coming days. TQS entered bankruptcy protection in December and the courts gave the company until this week to find firm offers.
“The deposit of these four firm offers demonstrates the industry’s interest in TQS…
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MEDICINE HAT – The region is a country hotbed but today Rogers Broadcasting launched new FM radio station Rock 105.3 in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
The first rock station in the local market will feature artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nickelback, AC/DC and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
In order to accelerate the launch of this newly licensed station, Rock 105.3 will initially broadcast from a "boom box" and trailer from the Trans Canada Highway. A permanent facility will be secured in the future. Rogers has appointed Rogers’ broadcasting executive and Alberta native, Tony Marsh, as general manager….
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