LIVING IN THE BIG CITIES, it’s easy to forget – or to never think about – what it’s like in smaller, more remote communities.
A few months ago, I mentioned to a small operator how a far larger MSO still had some substantial 330 MHz and 450 MHz cable systems remaining to rebuild (with just a little mocking disdain in my voice). His response was a little bit sarcastic, wondering what’s wrong with systems like that, since much of his programming and data was still being delivered over such plant to presumably happy customers.
It cleared my head and…
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EDMONTON – According to the Telecommunication Workers Union (TWU) and the B.C. and Alberta Federations of Labour, four Calgary radio stations refuse to run radio spots in support of locked-out Telus workers. The radio campaign calls on customers to disconnect from Telus.
The 30-second radio spots, which start today, will run four-to-five times daily in Edmonton, Fort McMurray and throughout B.C. It’s considered a “heavy rotation,” notes Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) President Gil McGowan, of the three week campaign, with a substantial budget of over $250,000 ($120,000 going for Alberta placement).
The four radio stations allegedly refusing to…
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TORONTO – For the first time in Canadian broadcasting, a made-in-Canada pay-TV program will get a second window on a conventional broadcaster.
Season one of ReGenesis will premiere Monday, August 29 on the Global Television Network following the two-hour premiere of Prison Break (except in Alberta and the Maritimes where ReGenesis will air beforehand).
Global, which has also committed to air season two (which will debut on Canadian pay-TV this fall), will air it in high definition, as well.
The popular one-hour dramatic series follows a team of scientists at the NORBAC (North American Biotechnology Advisory Commission) lab responsible…
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TORONTO – In what could be kind of a dress rehearsal for the companies’ Olympic coverage, Rogers Sportsnet, with TSN and CTV, today announced the three channels will jointly televise all 64 matches from the 2006 FIFA World Cup of soccer in Germany
Sportsnet acquired the Canadian broadcast rights for the event last November.
(CTV acquired the rights to the 2010 and 2012 Winter and Summer Olympics earlier this year, and will air the Games on the main network and TSN – and also brought in Rogers Media for Sportsnet, OMNI and its radio properties – as a partner.)…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC Thursday asked the industry how it should – or if it should – regulate TV on the mobile phone handset.
As reported last month by www.cartt.ca, this issue has been emerging from behind the scenes throughout 2005 as both Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Look Communications announced plans to offer television channels to its mobile customers.
When those announcements happened earlier this year, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters sent a letter to the Commission asking it to make a determination as to how TV to the handset should be regulated under the Broadcast Act.
“In…
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VANCOUVER – As Internet-using Canadians spend more and more of their time online, it appears as though radio listenership is suffering the most because of that, according to a recent report from Ipsos Reid.
Internet-using Canadians averaged 12.7 hours per week on the web in 2005 (up 46% from 8.7 hours in 2002). The increase appears to have come at the expense of radio, primarily, as the typical Internet-using adult reports spending 11 hours per week listening to the radio, down from 16 hours per week in 2002, says the survey results.
While weekly Internet usage has surpassed radio…
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TORONTO – Unless things start happening very soon, like today, 5,500 CBC TV and radio employees could be off the job Monday, affecting dozens of hours of programming.
The CBC says the union quit the bargaining table on Monday and has yet to return. “Monday night the union walked away from the table and since, we’ve been ready, willing and able to negotiate with them,” CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald told www.cartt.ca.
The strike/lockout deadline is midnight Sunday. “At 12:01 Monday morning there could be a strike or lockout,” added MacDonald, who declined to say whether or not CBC would…
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TORONTO – While rookies and veterans sweat out their two-a-days in training camp, Rogers Cable will let its Ontario digital customers have a pre-season free look at NFL Network.
The free preview will run from today until Thursday, September 1st. The NFL Network is a league-owned 24 hour, seven-day-a-week television network solely dedicated to NFL.
With the free preview, customers can catch action from 55 games during the NFL’s four-week pre-season, including 5 live games:
* Oakland at San Francisco (Saturday, Aug. 13, at 10 p.m. ET) * Cleveland at Detroit (Saturday, Aug. 20, at 1 p.m. ET) *…
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GATINEAU – Thanks to the NHL lockout, both TSN and Rogers Sportsnet couldn’t make their required Canadian content spending obligations and were granted license exemptions today by the CRTC to reflect that.
Normally, in any broadcast year, Sportsnet and TSN are allowed to spend up to 5% less than the minimum required expenditure for that year. If that happens, the channels must then spend in the next broadcast year of the licence term, “in addition to the minimum required expenditure for that year, the full amount of the previous year’s under-expenditure,” says their licenses.
However, with no hockey to broadcast,…
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TORONTO – In what would qualify as the worst-kept secret in radio, 98.1 CHFI made an official announcement today on the return of popular morning host Erin Davis.
She will begin re-hosting the 98.1 CHFI Morning Show, starting Tuesday September 6th 2005.
One of the most popular and respected broadcasters in Canada, Davis spent 15 years at CHFI before she was surprisingly fired in June 2003 and replaced with Jay (formerly Mad Dog) and Billie – who have since left the station.
Mea culpa, says management of the Rogers-owned station,
“At the time, we were looking to rejuvenate the…
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