OTTAWA – The answer to the question of what’s going to happen to the Canadian Television Fund won’t be coming from the CRTC after all.
Less than two weeks after hearings into the fund and a CRTC task force report written on it late last year, the federal government announced late Wednesday it will decide what to do.
In her speech marking the opening of the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association 2008 Conference, “Prime Time” Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, Josee Verner said that while it wants recommendations from the CRTC, which took…
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CALGARY – Shaw Cable said this week it has added Speed HD and will soon add NASCAR Hotpass to its available content.
Until June 1st, all Shaw HD customers will enjoy a free preview of Speed HD on channel 222. Speed HD programs include the Daytona Speedweeks, Gatorade Duel 150’s, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, and many other NASCAR events.
In addition, Shaw is also launching NASCAR Hotpass on February 17 with the 50th running of the Daytona 500. NASCAR Hotpass will be available as a free preview to all digital subscribers on February 17. The Hotpass season…
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GATINEAU – “The CTF is gratified that the great majority of interveners strongly support the Canadian Television Fund and emphasize that one of the Fund’s greatest strengths is its adaptability to new challenges faced by the industry,” said Douglas Barrett, chairman of the board of the Canadian Television Fund, in closing the week-long hearing on the future of the fund today.
“When considering changes to the industry’s funding system, the most critical objective is ensuring that, given that the competing demands of stakeholders in the production, broadcast, and distribution system, the interests of the Canadian public, including both taxpayers…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein tells Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw in a letter that the three commissioners overseeing the public hearing on the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) “have the most experience in the broadcasting industry.”
“Their in-depth understanding of television production is essential to achieve the above-mentioned goal ,” states his February 4 letter to Shaw.
Von Finckenstein’s response comes after Shaw sent a letter to the CRTC…
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OTTAWA – The new Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s fight against the sexual exploitation of children received significant support from the Government of Canada this week with an investment of $2 million in new funding for the Centre over the next two years.
"This announcement is another concrete action that our government is taking to protect children from online adult sexual predators, and to prevent them from being sexually abused,” said the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, in a press release.
“This funding follows an investment we provided the RCMP to combat child sexual exploitation, as well…
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CALGARY – The Shaw family purchased a million shares of their own company this week, which would have cost them about $19.5 million.
A month ago, it would have cost them about $25 million, but the stock price – along with many on the TSX, has drifted downwards in the past 30 days. Rogers Communications has dropped from $45 to $38 over the same time frame and Cogeco Cable has tumbled from $48 to the $39 range as well.
The Shaw family now holds 47,669,356 Class A and Class B shares of their company.
www.shaw.ca
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HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of new dollars could pour into the Canadian television system under a new fee-for-carriage plan proposed by Canada’s two main private broadcast networks.
Rivals CTVglobemedia and Canwest made a little history Friday by filing a joint submission to the CRTC’s review of its policies governing broadcast distribution undertakings (cable and satellite companies) and specialty services. Those hearings are set to begin April 7th.
Saying conventional television – thanks to the ever-increasing rate of audience fragmentation driven by specialty services and new media outlets – is in “crisis”, the broadcasters want the Commission to add a subscriber…
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CALGARY – The familiar Shaw Communications logo is now emblazoned on a number of fast-moving Canadians and their specialized vehicles.
This week the company announced its sponsorship of the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton teams with a $225,000 cash donation along with a commitment to employ BSC athletes at Shaw.
"Shaw is proud to sponsor the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton teams," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw, in a release. "We are pleased to be supporting these athletes and look forward to partnering with them on their exciting journey to excellence."
Through its ‘Hire an Athlete’ program, Shaw will provide flexible work…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications bucked the trend among its cable brethren somewhat by growing its number of digital subscribers.
Shaw added almost 40,000 digital cable customers in the first quarter of fiscal 2008, ended November 30, 2007, a 56% increase over last year’s Q1. As reported this week by Cartt.ca, both Rogers Cable and Cogeco Cable saw their digital growth slow over the same or similar time frame.
However, at just 36% digital penetration as compared to basic subs, Shaw has a longer way to go in terms of digital growth when compared to Rogers (59% penetration) and Cogeco…
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TORONTO – After securing carriage on Shaw Cable, Star Choice and Cogeco Cable, Teletoon Retro, a digital channel launched less than two months ago, already has over 4 million subscribers.
That’s within anvil-tossing distance of some analog stations, like BNN, which has just over five million, for example.
The rapid build-up can likely be traced to the channel’s decision, as we reported here, to request digital basic carriage in exchange for very low wholesale rates (free for a year, six cents the following year and five cents for the next three years). So for the BDUs that carry…
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