PARIS – We can likely watch for a renewed wave of stories and blogs about how far behind Canada is when it comes to wireless and broadband as compared to the rest of the world when the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development releases its latest Communications Outlook report, expected some time today.
The wave of negativity has washed over the country several times already due to various such reports, so just make sure you dig deeper than the easy, salacious, headline.
According to a source who has already seen the report, it will make headlines that will make…
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TECHNOLOGY HAS CREATED THIS vast crevasse. On one side is what consumers want. On the other is what the traditional TV industry says they can give them. Nestled in the void, like a big broadcast boogeyman waiting to pounce (for some, anyway), is OTT.
At the Banff World Festival last week, over-the-top video was top of mind and a prominent feature in CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein’s breakfast speech to delegates, although he refused to speculate on its impact, given the fact-finding proceeding that is under way.
But it’s clear that there’s no way to zipline across the divide…
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GATINEAU – When Bell Canada and Telus each spoke to the issue of exclusive content on Tuesday morning during their turns at the CRTC’s hearing into vertical integration of media and distribution companies, we thought to ourselves: “this, we’ve heard before.”
Telus, the biggest carrier in the country without media assets, is worried the likes of Rogers, Bell, Shaw and Quebecor will make acquiring ancillary content for wireless, online, and any other devices that pop up, too difficult or expensive – or give themselves unfair head starts, much to the disadvantage of Telus and other companies like it.
Allowing the Canadian…
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VICTORIA – Cable television engineer Cor Maas passed away on June 7 at his home in Duncan BC after a battle with colorectal cancer. He was 68.
Maas, who had recently retired from Shaw Communications, also held roles at BCTel, Telesat, and Rogers Cablesystems before joining Shaw where he worked on Vancouver Island. He had a lifelong passion for ham radio and was an active supporter of any system using the airwaves.
Long-time colleague and friend Tony van Wouw, who began working with Maas in 1980 at Premier Communications, described him as “a dear friend” and a “walking, talking encyclopedia on…
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GATINEAU – If the Canadian TV industry is to fend off the growing power of unregulated sources of video (yes, especially Netflix), exclusive deals on content must be allowed, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told the CRTC Monday afternoon.
He was appearing in front of the Commission on day one of its hearing into the regulatory framework on vertically integrated corporations (those big four companies which own big broadcast assets and big distribution companies: Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor).
While noting “vertical integration is the only viable tool to allow us to protect the Canadian broadcast system,” Péladeau also…
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IN OUR EVER-MORE connected world, there are fewer secrets. People talk, they e-mail, they SMS, Facebook, tweet and YouTube.
They often use those outlets to speculate, pontificate, fustigate, postulate and guesstimate. Which means those “secrets” are sometimes true. Sometimes not. Sometimes educated guesses. Sometimes hopeful. Sometimes fuelled by less than good intentions.
So, it’s a good idea once in a while to take a few of those secrets and rumours floating around and ask someone in charge about them – and also to put the issues of the day facing our industry in front of someone at the top.
For this Cartt.ca…
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LOOKED AT THROUGH A Darwinian lens, the current Canadian television industry is at an evolutionary crossroads.
Changes in the ecosystem have resulted in a new species of TV-content provider: the non-Canadian, unregulated video sector, known as over-the-top (OTT). Among those migrating into the country are Netflix, Boxee, Apple and Google TV (oh, there are more – and more to come).
Like any addition to an environment, it’s changing the landscape, but the question is whether it’s a threat or will it be assimilated.
“We don’t see a big problem at this point. Look at OTT, whether Netflix or Apple TV or Google….
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BANFF – The independent production community got a close look at the new terms of trade agreement on Tuesday during a standing room only breakfast session with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and representatives from Corus and Bell Media here at the Banff World Media Festival.
The deal, which was struck in April, applies to all independent productions produced by English-language Canadian independent television producers and private broadcasters Astral, Bell Media, Rogers Broadcasting, Shaw Media and Corus. Its terms, which came into effect on June 1st, apply to the entire life cycle of a show – from first…
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BANFF – Vertically integrated media companies in Canada are essential to the long term health and viability of the Canadian production industry, delegates at the 2011 Banff World Media Festival heard Sunday afternoon.
Speaking at a panel discussion called ‘Canadian Media Leaders: The State of the Nation’ here on opening day, it wasn’t a shock that representatives from Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media took that tack. But it was somewhat surprising that CBC and Astral, neither of whom is affiliated with a BDU, would agree so readily.
“There’s a lot to be said for how’s this industry has been working…
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BANFF – CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein is one busy guy these days – just ask him. “We have a hearing virtually every month which is unheard of”, he told Cartt.ca on Monday morning at the Banff World Festival.
A few of the biggest broadcast-related issues on his plate at the moment – the pending digital transition and the impact that the over-the-top services are having in Canada – figured prominently in his annual breakfast speech to delegates here on the confab’s first full day.
Congratulating the country’s TV broadcasters on their efforts to date to comply with August 31st deadline,…
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