EVERY YEAR AT THIS TIME, both because it’s fun and because we want the weekend off… we re-publish the top 25 stories from the last 12 months.
The other reason why we do it now and not in January is that September, just after Labour Day, is the “new year” for broadcasters. The new fall shows are coming out and speaking from a regulatory perspective, too, the 2009 broadcast year ended August 31st and we are into a new year.
After spending hours pouring over our analytics to identify the top stories, I can say it has been a very busy…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will require the owners of Canada’s biggest distributors and broadcasters to publicly disclose aggregate financial data.
Ownership groups such as Astral Media, BCE, Bragg Communications, CBC, Canwest Media, Cogeco, Corus Entertainment, CTVglobemedia, Newcap, Quebecor Media, Remstar Broadcasting, Rogers and Shaw, must file confidential and public aggregated annual return forms with the Commission by November 30 of each year. The filing requirement for the aggregated annual returns, which will begin with the 2007-2008 broadcast year, are due by September 14, 2009.
The public data will be posted on the Commission’s website. The Commission announced in April that the…
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TORONTO – Cable giants south of the border (Comcast and Time Warner) are pushing their TV Everywhere concept hard and Canadians, according to new data from Solutions Research Group, like the idea, even though Canadian cablers haven’t yet launched anything (but one is close).
Nearly 7-in-10 Canadian TV viewers say being able to access their cable channels on the web or mobile is an “excellent” (26%) or “good” (41%) idea, says SRG, with a younger demographic liking it even more.
Among the key findings of SRG’s Digital Life Canada research:* Web TV may be an important tool to stay…
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FIVE OF Canada’s biggest cable companies have complained to the CRTC for extending a filing deadline – two days after the deadline had already passed.
Calling it “both unprecedented and unacceptable”, the heads of regulatory affairs from Bragg Communications, Cogeco Cable, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media on behalf of Videotron, (collectively, the Cable Carriers), sent a sternly worded letter to CRTC Secretary General Robert Morin on Thursday expressing their collective “deep frustration” with Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-261-4.
“…The Cable Carriers want the Commission to understand the deep frustration that the companies feel at having made…
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CALGARY – Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct have become the first BDUs in Canada to launch AMC in high definition.
The US-based movie network, which will air the third season of the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning Mad Men, and Emmy award-winning series Breaking Bad, will launch on September 1st. Shaw HD customers will receive a three month free preview before the channel becomes part of Shaw’s ‘HD Plus’ package and Shaw Direct’s ‘HD Extra’ package in December.
"Shaw is leading the way in bringing high value HD programming into Canadian homes”, said president Peter Bissonnette, in the press release. “We…
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PRINCE RUPERT, BC – CityWest has added seven new HD channels to its digital cable line-up for customers in Prince Rupert, Port Edward and Terrace.
APTN HD, CTV West HD, City-TV HD, TVA HD, Global West HD, Raptors NBA TV HD, and The Score HD will make up a new HD-theme pack available at no extra charge for customers who currently subscribe to all of the company’s digital theme packages.
“Once you’ve seen something in high definition, it’s hard to watch anything else, so we’re committed to continue to add more high definition channels in the future”, CEO Rob Brown said…
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TORONTO – Consultations around the Canada Media Fund (CMF) will be ongoing forever, and any issues not captured in its inaugural guidelines could be incorporated later, Canadian Television Fund (CTF) president and CEO Valerie Creighton noted during a virtual townhall held Thursday.
The guidelines must be finalized and approved by the CMF board by April 1, the date the new fund is set to replace the CTF. The $300-million-plus CMF will have two streams – convergence (TV component with a tie-in to at least one other platform) and experimental (no TV connection needed).
Given the deadline to produce the guidelines, there…
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GATINEAU – One option for getting over-the-air television to every Canadian when the transition to digital happens come August 31, 2011, appears now to be off the table.
Both Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice) and Bell TV (formerly ExpressVu) have told the CRTC that since the Regulator insists on pushing ahead with distant OTA signal charges and increasing the Local Programming Improvement Fund, they no longer have any interest in offering up their satellite platforms to help small market local broadcasters serve everyone in their contours once the transition to digital happens in 2011.
Since Bell has twice presented this “Freesat”…
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VANCOUVER and CALGARY – Novus Entertainment has filed legal proceedings with the BC Supreme Court, and plans to complain to the Competition Bureau that cable giant Shaw is offering major discounts in an attempt to steal its customers in Vancouver.
"Shaw is abusing its dominant position in the market by offering services – which it normally makes nearly 50% margins on – at a sizeable loss as a means to destroy a local competitor," said Donna Robertson, co-president and chief legal officer of Novus, in a press release on Tuesday. "The millions of existing Shaw customers paying full price should…
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VANCOUVER – Novus Entertainment is the latest independent BDU to tangle with Shaw Communications.
The privately owned company said that it is “pursuing a formal complaint” to the Competition Bureau and has begun legal proceedings with BC’s Supreme Court after Shaw allegedly begun offering major discounts on its services to Novus customers in Vancouver.
"Shaw is abusing its dominant position in the market by offering services – which it normally makes nearly 50%margins on – at a sizeable loss as a means to destroy a local competitor," said Donna Robertson, co-president and chief legal officer of Novus, in a press release. "The millions…
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