OTTAWA – Last week Ottawa’s city council said it would spend a million dollars on helping speed broadband access to all parts of rural Ottawa.
The city will move forward with a private-public partnership to develop the broadband infrastructure needed to reach every rural home, farm and business within the city limits by fall 2007.
“This is important for farmers, small businesses and families in all our rural communities," said mayor Bob Chiarelli in the press release.
Before 2003, broadband was only available to about 2% of rural residents and businesses in the Ottawa area. Great progress has been made as…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) on Friday announced the election of two independent directors to its board: Michel J. Carter and Anne-Marie Jean.
Jean is a former television producer and currently serves as executive director for Culture Montréal. Carter is an experienced finance and broadcasting executive and former president and CEO of TQS Inc. and Cogeco Radio-Télévision Inc.
As part of its commitment to accountability and governance best practices, the CTF board screens all independent candidates to ensure they pass the CTF independence test, including Carter and Jean. In accordance with the corporation’s bylaws, the process includes…
Continue Reading
CANADIANS NEED TO PAY MORE for their TV, according to additional submissions to the CRTC on its conventional television policy review.
Filed last Wednesday three months ahead of the November 27th hearing, we could only plough through a few submissions at first, but having had a bit more time to read some more, it’s clear that TV distributors are in tough against many players who want to see wholesale subscriber fees paid to conventional broadcasters.
CTV, Quebecor Media (owners of TVA and Videotron), the Canadian Media Guild, ACTRA, and the Canadian Coalition of Audio-visual Unions all said they were…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Calling her "a committed news lover," Global Quebec announced today Karen Macdonald has been appointed news director.
Currently serving as the station manager at CKMI in Quebec City, Macdonald officially takes over the position on November 1st. She will be based in Montreal but will oversee the station’s three news bureaus located in Montreal, Quebec City and Sherbrooke.
"A committed news lover, Macdonald (pictured) brings more than 20 years of editorial and management experience to the position. In her career, she has worked on both sides of the camera, from anchoring a local newscast to producing specials…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Looking at the top line results released Monday from the BBM S3 radio ratings book, some big-name stations are on the rise while others have seen their numbers free-fall.
In Toronto, Corus Radio’s Q107 saw its A12+ overall rating go from 7.0 to 7.9 in successive books and when compared to the S3 2005 ratings, the Mighty Q is well ahead of last year’s 5.8, and solidly into third place in the market.
Of course Rogers’ CHFI and CHUM-FM are still neck and neck atop the ratings at 8.6 and 8.7 (A12+), respectively.
The biggest T.O. decliner…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Media announced plans to launch the PersonalWeb Internet service in Canada, allowing surfers to customize their online experience when visiting its branded sites.
Rolling out here in early 2007, PersonalWeb will tailor content such as sports, news, music, video, ads, and product recommendations based on the users’ profiles.
As users surf, they’ll “teach” the PersonalWeb software what they like as it builds pages based on their interests. It will link to their favourite sites, their email, and a multi-engine search bar on one page. The software promises to target advertising based on customer preferences.
"Rogers Media…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has confirmed its lineup of speakers and panellists at its upcoming annual convention in Vancouver.
Appropriately for its 80th anniversary gathering, the CAB has booked more than 80 panellists, including keynote speakers Heritage Minister Bev Oda and outgoing CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen, who will likely be giving his last major address to broadcasters before his terms ends in December.
Along with top broadcasting execs (including Rick Arnish of The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Norm Bolen of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., Catherine Bridgman of CanWest MediaWorks Inc., Kathy Dore of CanWest MediaWorks…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – National radio ad sales rose 6.3% in this broadcast year compared with the year before, according to Canadian Broadcast Sales, but adding too many licences in markets could hurt sales as it has in the United States, the group says.
The fourth quarter of 2006 saw a “robust” revenue growth of 19% among Canadian stations, CBS said.
“The four year horizon for radio looks promising,” said Patrick Grierson, president of CBS. “As conventional television declines as a reach medium and the digital and specialty channels further carve up the audience, radio continues to deliver the ability to…
Continue Reading
IT’S NO WONDER THERE couldn’t be a CAB submission to the CRTC on the TV policy review.
While there is some agreement on what must be done to alter the course of conventional television in Canada, along side the regularly substantial chasms in opinion between the usual suspects – distributors and broadcasters – there are also substantial variances between fellow broadcasters on what must be done to secure the future of conventional television stations and companies.
So, for this most important of policy reviews, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters had to step aside and tell its members that since…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters today announced the finalists for its annual Gold Ribbon Awards, honouring excellence in private broadcasting.
The awards will be presented during New Realities, New Rules the CAB’s 2006 Convention in Vancouver, November 5-7, 2006.
The Gold Ribbon Awards honour achievement in broadcasting in various categories including community service, breaking news, humour, public affairs, and promotion of Canadian talent. The CAB received a record number of Gold Ribbon entries this year, with a total of 518 – an increase of more than 10% over 2005. All three sectors submitted a record number of…
Continue Reading
