OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada applauds the CRTC’s decision to have satellite television providers carry more local television stations, noting it could be the shot in the arm that some of them need.
Responding to Wednesday’s revised satellite distribution policy, the Corp called the new rules “a critical step” in strengthening local programming in Canada.
“Local stations provide a fundamental public service to their communities”, said Steven Guiton, VP and chief regulatory officer, in a statement. “They help citizens connect with their local government, businesses, schools and community organizations. They help define, build and sustain the local culture and local democracy. Our five-year strategy,…
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TORONTO – Quebecor’s Sun News was removed from the Bell TV satellite lineup at 10 a.m. this morning (Tuesday, May 3).
While the channel slot itself remains, the feed has been replaced with text telling customers that the channel “has been taken down at the request of the owners of Sun News."
According to Sun News head of development Luc Lavoie, Bell forced Quebecor’s hand and it had to demand signal removal. “They have carried the signal on their satellite without trying to even have an agreement with us,” he told Cartt.ca this morning.
When Sun News launched last month, it…
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TORONTO – Quebecor’s Sun News was removed from the Bell TV satellite line-up at 10 a.m. this morning (Tuesday, May 3) but it turns out that this is but one of multiple disagreements that the companies have with each other.
While the Sun News channel slot itself remains, the feed has been replaced with text telling customers that the channel “has been taken down at the request of the owners of Sun News."
According to Sun News head of development Luc Lavoie, Bell forced Quebecor’s hand and it had to demand signal removal. “They have carried the signal on their satellite…
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TORONTO – GlassBox Television has named Jennifer Mason as its marketing and communications director.
Mason (pictured) was most recently senior manager of marketing strategy for Shaw Media’s specialty television division. Prior to that, she held roles with Alliance Atlantis, CFC and at CBC. In her role at GlassBox, Mason’s responsibilities include building awareness for the company’s media brands Bite TV, Aux TV and Travel and Escape Channel.
“Jennifer’s extensive marketing experience and success in building strong awareness of specialty brands, together with a great track record of working…
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HAMILTON – The tribute evening for Mountain Cable founder, the late Owen Boris, will take place this Thursday, May 5 at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton from 4-7 p.m.
Boris died of a heart attack at his home on April 9 and the family wanted to plan a celebration of his life in a place that could accommodate the number of people sure to want to pay tribute, as well as celebrate one of Owen’s great loves, flying.
Also this week, the family will be confirming a sizable donation to a Hamilton hospital to launch new research into alcoholism,…
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OTTAWA – Children’s channel BBC Kids has been officially sold to Knowledge-West Communications Corporation (KWCC) after the CRTC approved the transaction Friday.
KWCC is a subsidiary of Knowledge Network Corporation, British Columbia’s educational broadcaster. While KWCC paid $500,000 to Jasper Junior Broadcasting Inc., a division of Shaw Media, for the channel, the Commission agreed to waive any tangible benefits associated with the transaction, noting that the channel “has never achieved profitability” and that its distribution agreements with Canadian BDUs “had either expired or were on the verge of expiration”. The CRTC also acknowledged that KWCC “needs significant cash resources…
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THE INCENTIVES FOR THE great, big vertically integrated Canadian cabletelbroadcellcasters to act unfairly towards everybody else has become too great to ignore and new protections against potential perils are needed, say many companies in their submissions to the CRTC ahead of June’s hearing into vertical integration.
(Editor’s note: This preview originally ran on April 29th. We’re re-running it here as a preview of the hearing, which gets under way Monday in Ottawa with Rogers first up. As usual, Cartt.ca will be there. But if you can’t be there, it will be streamed live on cpac.ca – and available for…
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OTTAWA – Canadian television viewers need protection from the “anti-competitive practices of the large broadcasting companies”, according to Telus.
The telco made the comments Wednesday in reference to the “concentration of content ownership” as a result of the recent mergers of Shaw/Canwest and BCE/CTV. Telus suggested that the CRTC implement safeguards designed “to protect consumer choice and competitive pricing” as the Commission prepares to examine the issue of vertical integration at a hearing scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011.
Telus’ proposed safeguards include:– Distributors should not withhold content from competitors in order to prevent anti-competitive programming blackouts;– Preferential…
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TORONTO – Rogers confirmed Wednesday that it will launch its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network this year and roll out commercial services in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. The company then plans to launch in what it described as “the top 25 markets across Canada” by 2012.
"The world is moving to LTE and we’re thrilled to be leading the way by bringing this next generation technology to our consumer and business customers", said Rogers Communications president and CEO Nadir Mohamed, in a statement on Wednesday morning. "LTE is the critical foundation to deliver a world increasingly being defined by connected…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media announced last week that Andrew Eddy has joined Shaw Media as vice-president of content and distribution. He will be a member of the Shaw Media Management Team and will report to president Paul Robertson.
“Andrew brings over 20 years of media experience, most recently as vice president of content distribution and strategy for Corus Entertainment, where he was responsible for distribution strategy and sales for both linear and non-linear programming for specialty and premium television,” noted Robertson’s introductory e-mail to staff.
Eddy reported to Robertson when the latter was president of Corus Entertainment’s TV division before he…
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