OTTAWA—Pandora Media Inc. will not enter the Canadian market if the Copyright Board approves music royalties on a “per play rate” as proposed by copyright collective Re:Sound, said Joseph Kennedy, president and CEO of the online music company. “We have said explicitly that we will not enter a market on the basis of a per-play rate,” Kennedy said as a witness at a Copyright Board hearing Monday. “There is such a disconnect, as has been demonstrated by the U.S. ... between the per-play rate and the fundamental economics of the business.” The Copyright Board is holding hearings to consider a new Re:Sound proposal, called Tariff 8, to collect royalties...
Corus Entertainment Inc. appointed Maria Hale to the position of vice-president of television and head of digital and distribution, and John MacDonald as vice-president of television and head of programming and production, the company said Friday. Corus said in a release that the appointments are effective Oct. 15, 2012. Hale previously held the position of vice-president of television and head of programming and production at Corus. Hale also helped W Network regain its status as the top women-targeted specialty channel, Corus said in the release. Corus said John MacDonald is returning to Canada following a 25-year career in the U.S. where he worked with the Corus team on the Canadian launch of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). MacDonald was chief operating officer of OWN, Corus said. MacDonald will now have “strategic direction” of Corus’ television programming decisions, which include content production, acquisitions, and scheduling strategies across the company’s specialty and pay channels, the company said....
The CRTC approved Radio Haute Mauricie inc. to move an AM radio licence in La Tuque, Que., to FM. In a decision Friday, the commission said the new station, operating at 97.1 FM, will maintain the popular music format of the company’s current AM station in the area, CFLM. The commission said that it was granting the licence on a short-term basis...
A Quebec judge's decision in Quebecor Media Inc.'s satellite piracy lawsuit against BCE Inc. raises questions about the quality and thoroughness of company data filed with the CRTC, experts say. “The whole premise of the regulatory system to date has been that companies are honestly...
The CRTC said Thursday it approved an application from Channel Punjabi Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC) to operate a Category B specialty channel called Asian Connections Television. In the decision, the CRTC said CPBC proposed a niche English- and third-language service devoted to traditional South Asian religion, entertainment, news and community...
Competition Bureau official John Pecman was appointed the new interim commissioner of competition for up to a one-year term, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Wednesday. Pecman replaces Melanie Aitken, whose last day as commissioner passed last week. "With nearly 30 years of experience at the Bureau, Mr....
Copyright collective Re:Sound is pushing for a new proposed royalty on online music services to offset streaming music businesses' inevitable cannibalization of CD and download sales, said Ian MacKay, president of the collective. MacKay, who appeared as a witness at a Copyright Board hearing in Ottawa Tuesday, said popular streaming music services like those offered by Swedish company Spotify AB or Oakland, Calif.-based Pandora Media Inc., allow users to “rent music as opposed to own music” and have evolved to become a form of “core” music consumption. “There is no question that experience and that ability to customize and have portability is leading to...
A rising number of Canadian advertisers are looking at digital videos to support advertising projects and nearly half of them prefer to advertise on the online platforms of traditional broadcasters, a new report by IAB Canada and digital video ad firm BrightRoll Inc. said. The report, titled "Digital Video 2012:...
Production firms Original Pictures Inc. and Partners in Motion are joining forces with marketing firm Veria Search Media Marketing to form a new national multimedia company, the companies said Tuesday. In a release, Ron Goetz, executive vice-president of Partners in Motion, said in a statement that the companies’ new enterprise, Shift Media...
The delay or potential cancellation of the NHL hockey season would “negatively impact” CBC/Radio-Canada’s advertising revenues as the public broadcaster plans for replacement...
Some of the most popular websites used by Canadians are “leaking” their users’ private information to advertisers and other third parties, and may be in violation of Canadian privacy laws, Canada’s federal privacy commissioner said Tuesday. In a release, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said research her office conducted...
The CRTC is expediting VMedia’s undue preference complaint against BCE Inc., the commission said in a letter posted on its website Monday. In a complaint filed with the commission this month, VMedia, a subsidiary of...
The CRTC will consider and expedite a Telus Corp. complaint against Corus Entertainment Inc.’s exclusive handling of Movie Central and HBO content offered on Shaw Communications Inc.'s Shaw...
Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. would lose ticket, merchandise and TV advertising revenues as a result of an NHL lockout that halts the Toronto Maple Leafs' season, Bloomberg reported Sept. 21. Graydon Ebert, a corporate and commercial law expert at Barriston Law LLP in Barrie, Ont., told Bloomberg the lockout could cost each of the...
The Writers Guild of Canada reached a tentative Independent Production Agreement with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and the Quebec Film and Television Producers Association (APFTG), the Writers Guild said Friday. In a release, the Writers Guild said it will present the details of the new agreement to its members “as it is...
Profit margins for private, conventional television broadcasters are higher in Quebec than anywhere else in the country, a study commissioned by Rogers Communications Inc. said. The study, conducted for Rogers by Strategic Inc. and cited in a Rogers application to the CRTC, found that Quebec’s private conventional broadcasters' pre-tax profits almost doubled over the past five years, rising on average from 5.1 per cent in 2007 to 10 per cent in 2011. Conventional, over-the-air TV stations' primary revenue source is advertising. The Quebec stations' 2011 profit margin...
The Copyright Board opens a hearing Monday on copyright collective Re:Sound's application for tariffs on simulcasting and webcasting services. The hearing is scheduled to start Monday and will...
Canadians download more unauthorized music through the BitTorrent file-sharing network than consumers in all but three other countries, a new Digital Music Index study from MusicMetric said....
The Competition Bureau and the CRTC will not block BCE Inc.'s $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. and will seek concessions from the companies or put conditions on the deal, according...
Stornoway Communications Inc. appointed Don Gaudet as its new vice-president of programming and promoted Cindy Boyd to the position of vice-president of operations, the company said Thursday. Don Pagnutti, Stornoway’s general manager and chief financial officer, said in a release that Gaudet and Boyd will be part of the company’s...
Shaw Communications Inc. launched a new over-the-top TV service that allows its television subscribers to watch premium TV content on the go over their iPhone and iPad devices, the company said Thursday. In a release, Shaw said its new “Shaw Go” service is part of its TV everywhere initiative and will bring premium television content “anyplace and anytime” to customers using Apple Inc.’s iPad and iPhone 5 mobile devices. Shaw said the first phase of the new service will allow users to download a Movie Central mobile app offering HBO Canada and Movie Central...
Netgear Inc. rolled out new over-the-top TV devices that will be available in Canada in November, the company said Thursday. In a release, the San Jose, Calif. company said its new lineup of...
The Conservative government is “considering all options” related to the size of the CRTC and the filling of upcoming vacancies, Heritage Minister James Moore said. “We’re...
A coalition of some of the world’s largest Internet companies launched a new U.S. lobby group to promote their interests and those of the Internet economy. In a release Wednesday, the newly launched Internet Association said it will lobby Washington policy makers on three areas of interest, including “protecting Internet freedom; fostering...
BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media appointed Jon Arklay to the position of senior vice-president for Bell Media agency and brand strategy, the company said Monday. Bell said in a release that Arklay will oversee the “complete design, promotion, brand strategy, and media buying services for all...
Cogeco Cable Inc. has adopted a new organizational structure for greater marketing efficiency for its residential services, Ron Perrotta, vice-president of marketing and strategic planning at Cogeco, said in a release Monday....
Michelle Dubé will be the new co-anchor of CTV News At Six and CTV News At Noon with Ken Shaw, BCE Inc.-owned CTV News Toronto said Monday. In a release, the company said Dubé joined the CTV Toronto News team in...
Quebecor Media Inc. filed an appeal of the damages handed down in a Quebec Superior Court civil judgment related to satellite piracy of BCE Inc.'s satellite TV system, said Serge Sasseville,...
BCE Inc. would redirect $40 million in tangible benefits funding to on-screen television content if the CRTC denies its request to use that money to support northern wireless infrastructure, Mirko Bibic, Bell’s chief legal and regulatory officer, said Friday. As a part of its $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc., Bell has proposed...
The CRTC should throw out BCE Inc.’s “unprecedented” proposal to use tangible benefits money to launch a new, French-language television news service in Montreal, CBC/Radio-Canada said in an intervention filed with the commission Friday. On Monday, Bell told commissioners during the first day of hearings into its proposed $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. that the company would add $41.3 million in tangible benefits pledges to the $200 million package it proposed in May. At the time, George Cope, Bell’s president and CEO said $20 million of that money...
Long-serving Toronto news anchor Christine Bentley is stepping down after 35 years with CTV News, the BCE Inc. subsidiary said Wednesday. In a release, CTV said Bentley has been a part of CTV News since 1977, where she began as a general assignment reporter before she was assigned to City Hall and Queen’s Park. Her last broadcast will be this Friday during the station’s 6 p.m. news program, she said in a CTV...
The CRTC should launch a proceeding to examine the rates consumers pay for their television services after a new survey found increasing dissatisfaction among Canadian TV subscribers, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)...
The CRTC has given Colba.Net Telecom Inc. permission to extend its Internet protocol TV (IPTV) into some of Ontario and Quebec’s largest municipalities and the areas that surround them, the commission said in a pair of...
The CRTC has approved an application by My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) to operate a commercial FM radio station in Alliston, Ont., the commission said Wednesday. In its decision, the commission said the new English-language FM...
Consumer-friendly content distribution platforms are more important than scale to Canadian broadcasters and broadcast distributors competing against large, over-the-top (OTT) service providers like Netflix, Ken Engelhart, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., said Wednesday. As the weeklong CRTC hearing into BCE Inc.’s intended $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. continued in Montreal on Wednesday, Engelhart told commissioners Bell’s...
Canadian independent broadcaster Channel Zero Inc. has applied for licences to operate a chain of over-the-air television stations in England and Scotland as U.K. lawmakers attempt to kick-start a local-TV industry. In May, U.K. regulator Ofcom responded to a government order to encourage the development of a local TV industry by releasing a call for...
BCE Inc.’s proposed $3.38 billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. would give the company a “monstrous” share of subscriber revenues for French-language specialty channels and could deplete Quebec’s conventional TV networks of vital advertising revenues, Quebecor Media...
Members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) have voted to ratify a series of television and radio agreements with CBC/Radio-Canada, ACTRA said Tuesday. In a release, ACTRA said 99.4 per cent...
Rogers Communications Inc. has reached a deal with Sony Corp.’s Canadian video game division to become the exclusive carrier of wireless services for the portable PlayStation Vita gaming system in Canada, Rogers said Tuesday. In a release, Rogers said the deal will allow gamers to play mobile games on a new...
The CRTC has awarded a coveted Toronto FM radio slot to independent broadcaster Rock 95 Broadcasting Ltd. to offer an “indie-rock” music station that will target the city’s young adults, the commission said...
BCE Inc.’s intended $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. will protect Canadian content producers from increasingly competitive online, foreign services that are not bound by Canadian...
BBM data submitted to the Copyright Board earlier this summer provides the first comprehensive update of Canadian “distant viewing” statistics since 1994, Peter Grant, a broadcasting expert and partner with McCarthy Tétrault, said in a Copyright Board submission. The data, which was submitted as a part...
CBC/Radio-Canada has reached a deal to acquire the host and domestic broadcast rights for the Toronto 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games, the public broadcaster said Friday. In a release, CBC said the deal includes television broadcasting rights in both official languages, as well as online content, mobile content and...
The CRTC approved on Friday an application for Asian Television Network Ltd. (ATN) to operate a Category B service called ATN South Asian Cooking Channel 1. In the decision, the commission said ATN said the new station would offer programming devoted to South-Asian cooking shows from the Asian sub-continent. Programming would also be aimed at the South-Asian community, ATN said. The CRTC said ATN proposed to broadcast a minimum of 90 per cent of it’s the channel’s programming in the Hindi-language. The remaining 10 per cent of its programming would be in one or both official languages, the commission said. The commission also approved ATN’s request to broadcast a maximum of six minutes of local advertising per hour on the channel. The CRTC said the channel’s licence will expire on Aug. 31, 2019....
Rogers Communications Inc. has applied to convert its G4TechTV specialty station from a Category A station to a Category B station. In an Aug. 30 application that was posted on the CRTC’s website Thursday, Rogers said G4, a...
The CRTC released a plan Wednesday outlining the activities it intends to carry out over the next three years. In the release, Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC, said the commission will focus its activities on three...
Consumer interest insoftware for “jailbroken” Apple TV units has grown over the years as pricing for the product has fallen, James Abeler, director of business development at FireCore, said in an interview. FireCore, based in Denver, Colo., sells software called aTV Flash for jailbroken...
Corus Entertainment Inc. will be a lead investor in the expansion of Fingerprint Digital Inc.’s Fingerprint Play learning and entertainment platform, the companies said Wednesday. In a release,...
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) appointed Tom Anselmi to the position of president and chief operating officer, the company said Tuesday. MLSE said that in his new role, Anselmi will oversee all MLSE operations and report in the interim to the MLSE board through the chair. Anselmi previously held the position of executive vice-president and COO with MLSE, the organization said in the release. Vertically integrated broadcasters BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. completed a $1.32 billion deal last month to purchase a joint-controlling stake in MLSE, which owns and operates the Toronto Maple Leafs and its minor-league affiliate the Toronto Marlies, as well as the Toronto Raptors and Major League Soccer's Toronto FC. Before they could complete that deal, Bell and Rogers were required to obtain the CRTC’s permission to transfer control of the broadcasting licences to operate specialty channels Leafs TV, NBA TV and Gol TV, which are owned by MLSE....
The CRTC has opened consultations on 23 broadcasting applications, including Rogers Communications Inc.’s bid to acquire a Montreal-area over-the-air station, the commission said Wednesday. In a notice of consultation, the...
The CRTC has re-opened its consultation on CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence renewal applications in advance of a twice-rescheduled hearing now expected to begin on Nov. 19, the commission said Wednesday. In the updated notice of...
Annual broadcast industry data released by the CRTC “confirms” that BCE Inc.’s bid to acquire Astral Media Inc. would put the company’s English-language TV audience share...
Blue Ant Media Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. have reached an agreement to offer the Travel+Escape specialty channel over Shaw’s cable and satellite-TV packages, Blue Ant said Tuesday. Blue Ant said in a release that the...
BCE Inc., Quebecor Media Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. are scheduled to appear before CRTC commissioners on the first day of a five-day hearing to determine the fate of Bell’s $3.38-billion...
Canadians are watching and listening to more content across both traditional and new media platforms, but still turn to TV and radio for the bulk of their media consumption, the CRTC said in an annual...
In his first decision as the new CRTC chair, Jean-Pierre Blais appointed a chief consumer officer to the commission and renamed the commission’s research bureau to reflect consumer priorities, a...
The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group has promoted Leo Baggio to general manager of its Cranbrook/Fernie division, the independent broadcaster said Thursday. As the division’s general manager, Baggio will oversee Jim Pattison’s CHBZ-FM country music station in Cranbrook, B.C. and its co-branded CHDRFM & CJDR-FM “The Drive”...
CBC/Radio-Canada is looking to sell off a series of “surplus transmission assets” following the public broadcaster’s move this summer to decommission 607 analog transmitters across the country. In a notice posted on the website of Capital Canada Ltd., an independent investment bank, CBC said it is looking for buyers for “land, transmission towers, analogue television transmission equipment, and related buildings, located at 100 different sites across the country.” It said the sale is related to the public broadcaster’s decision to shut down its analog,...
Rogers Communications Inc.'s Sportsnet purchased the Grand Slam of Curling and will establish a new events division, the company said Thursday. Sportsnet said in a release that it will own and operate the Grand Slam of Curling, part of the World Curling Tour and featuring the best curling teams from Canada and around the world. Sportsnet said the...
John Lawford will become the Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s (PIAC) new executive director and general counsel as of Sept. 1, PIAC said Thursday. In a release, PIAC said Lawford will replace Michael Janigan, who has held the executive director and general counsel position since 1992. Janigan will replace Toronto counsel Michael Buonaguro as lead counsel representing PIAC’s clients before the Ontario Energy...
Astral Media Inc.’s outdoor advertising division teamed up with Nova Scotia’s Ad-Dispatch to roll out the “first ever universal augmented reality application” for outdoor signage ads. Augmented reality applications allow smartphone and tablet users to view computer-generated sounds and 3D images and...
CBC/Radio-Canada said it will hold a series of regional events across the country to hear from Canadians for programming ideas to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017. In a release Thursday, CBC said its “2017...
Industry Minister Christian Paradis referred to the independence of the CRTC and the Competition Bureau when asked about the federal government’s role in approving BCE Inc.’s $3.38 billion bid to acquire Astral Media Inc. “As far as I understand, this is within the jurisdiction of CRTC and the Competition bureau,” Paradis said Tuesday when asked about campaigns against the pending acquisition. The minister spoke to media in Toronto following a speech at a breakfast event hosted by the Economic Club of Canada. “These are arm’s length organizations, so I believe that these institutions will do what they have to do according to the law,” he said. First announced in March, Bell’s proposed acquisition of Astral has sparked opposition from rival...
ESPN Inc., operator of America’s largest sports television network, has agreed to pay a record-breaking $5.6 billion US for the television and digital rights to Major League Baseball content from 2014 through 2021, Reuters reported Tuesday. Under the terms of the deal, ESPN, a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, will pay an average of $700 million US a...
The CRTC granted the Smithers Community Radio Society a broadcast licence to operate a low-power community FM radio station in Smithers, B.C., the commission said Wednesday. In its decision, the commission said the nonprofit community group can air popular music and special interest music on the new channel in addition to talk radio programming...
The CRTC issued five notices of consultation calling for comments on 123 radio licence renewal applications. In one notice, the commission said it is taking comments on applications to renew and amend eight radio station...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and advocacy group OpenMedia.ca formed a “broad-based coalition of groups” to oppose BCE Inc.’s $3.38 billion bid to acquire Astral Media Inc., the groups said Tuesday....
BCE Inc., the country's single largest broadcast and telecom company, cited the CRTC's approval of the sale of sports company MLSE as evidence that the commission's existing regulatory framework to prevent abuses of market power is working. In a reply comment filed Aug. 20 for the CRTC's consultation on...
A provincial politician in Newfoundland and Labrador asked the CRTC to review whether CBC/Radio-Canada violated the Broadcasting Act by not warning the public earlier before shutting down its analog transmitters. Jim Bennett, a Liberal member of the provincial legislature, said in a letter to the commission that CBC’s decision to shut down its...
Rogers Communications Inc. will leverage the Score Television Network to deliver more sports programming on multiple platforms and seeks to sell advertising geared to younger Canadian sports viewers,...
Retail Internet encryption services are growing in popularity as a means for average Internet users to bypass “geoblocks” that deny access to online video content outside their national...
Spotify Technologies SA is planning to bring its popular music-streaming service to Canada, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. According to the news report, Luxemberg-based Spotify said in an April 23 financial filing that it will move into Canada and possibly “countries in Asia and South America” to further its position as the world’s largest music streaming service. Spotify established a Canadian subsidiary last year as well as subsidiaries in Singapore and Hong Kong, neither of which currently offer Spotify services, the Wall Street Journal said. Spotify, now available in 15 countries, would compete in Canada against other music streaming services such as Rdio and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BBM Music, as well as Apple Inc.’s iTunes. Spotify reported a loss of $56.6 million US last year despite $235.9 US in revenues and 32.8 million registered users worldwide at the end of 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported....
Crowdfunding is becoming an attractive tool for content creators seeking project funding but there remain risks and regulatory limitations in Canada, a new report commissioned by the Canada Media Fund said. The report by consulting firm Nordicity Group Ltd., released Thursday, said crowdfunding—where project creators...
Stornoway Communications president and CEO Martha Fusca stepped down from day-to-day management of the company, Stornoway said in a release Wednesday. Fusca retired from her existing role at the company effective Aug. 10 to lead a new Stornoway venture called Fusion, the release said. “Stornoway is synonymous with Martha, and we are delighted...
CBC/Radio-Canada specialty channel CBC News Network hired Sarah Galashan for the position of breaking news reporter with its Vancouver news steam, the public broadcaster said Thursday. CBC News said in a release that the...
The CRTC approved an application from Cogeco Diffusion Inc. to operate French-language station CJMF-FM Quebec, or FM93, in a new talk radio format. In the decision Wednesday, the commission said Cogeco applied to amend its broadcasting licence to devote more than 50 per cent of its weekly programming hours to spoken word. The CRTC said that in...
CBC/Radio-Canada appointed David Walmsley as its new director of news content, the broadcaster said Tuesday. Walmsley, an award-winning editor, producer and journalist, previously held the position of managing editor of news and sports at The Globe and Mail. In a release, CBC said that in his new position Walmsley will drive CBC’s foreign and domestic newsgathering across all platforms. In another announcement Tuesday, The Globe said it promoted three senior editors ahead of its digital subscription rollout this fall. The Globe said on its website that Elena Cherney, who previously held the position of editor for the Report on Business, was appointed to the position of managing editor of the newspaper. The Globe said Cherney is a graduate of Yale University and held reporting...
The CRTC approved an application Tuesday from the Voice of the Shuswap Broadcast Society (VSBS) to operate a low-power community FM station in Salmon Arm, B.C. In the decision, the commission said the English-language station can...
The strength of available apps and platform simplicity will be key factors determining the success of Apple Inc., Google Inc., Roku Inc. and Boxee Inc. as they compete for customers in the emerging...
A CRTC decision to allow a Southern Ontario broadcaster to “multiplex” its over-the-air channel is the first of its kind in Canada and may pave the way for other conventional broadcast stations to offer more services at a lower cost, industry insiders said. In a decision Friday, the...
Canadian television production and distribution company DHX Media Ltd. has entered into a $111-million agreement to acquire Cookie Jar Entertainment to create Canada’s “largest children’s entertainment company,” DHX said Monday. DHX said in the release that the combined companies would create an extensive independent...
Canada's advertisers are placing more ads on mobile and “advanced TV” than their counterparts in the United States, digital video advertising company Videology Inc. said Monday. In the second quarter ended in June 2012, Videology said, more than half of video ad impressions were placed online in Canada with 22 per cent to mobile devices...
Canadians spent less time using their smartphones, tablets and e-readers this spring than they did a year earlier, according to a new poll by Ipsos Reid. In a spring 2012 report for the firm’s ongoing study on mobile use, Ipsos said research collected in March and April of this year found the average Canadian smartphone user spent 2.8 hours per...
Blue Ant Media Inc. reached an agreement to acquire CBC/Radio-Canada’s digital specialty channel Bold, the broadcasters said Friday. The broadcasters said in a release that the transaction for Bold, a channel that focuses...
The CRTC has given independent broadcaster Southshore Broadcasting Inc. permission to multicast four digital signals of its CFTV Leamington over-the-air station, the commission said Friday. In its decision, the commission said it approved Southshore’s request to add a digital transmitter to its Leamington station, as well as its request for...
CBC/Radio-Canada should model its coverage of the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games on the successful multi-platform efforts of this year’s London Summer Olympics, but may still have a hard time turning a profit, Gordon Hendren, president of Charlton Strategic Research Inc., says. In an interview with The Wire Report on Thursday, Hendren said online and mobile coverage provided by Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc., during this...
The CRTC has approved a licence for a French-language, Category B specialty channel that would cater to Quebec’s diverse communities, the commission said Thursday. In its decision, the commission said it awarded a licence...
Quebecor Media Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc. and Eastlink, a Bragg Communications Inc. subsidiary, asked Heritage Minister James Moore to throw out CRTC interventions from Telefilm Canada and an RCMP...
The CRTC has ordered BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. to spend $7.5 million over the next seven years to help finance independent sports-related programming, nearly doubling the value of...
CBC/Radio-Canada and Rogers Communications Inc.-owned Sportsnet have put their assets together across all platforms to provide coverage for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, CBC said Tuesday. In an announcement on CBC Sports, the...
BCE Inc.’s $3.38 billion bid to acquire Astral Media Inc., will drive broadcasting investment, innovation and choice in the province of Quebec, Bell said in a press release Wednesday. In its release, Bell said the TV, radio and digital content production sectors in the province will receive an $80 million investment from Bell as a result of the acquisition, which is currently awaiting regulatory approval by the CRTC. Bell said the new investment will go towards the creation of new French-language programming of national and international interest, new children and youth content, as...
The CRTC should back off its demand that broadcast distributors apply for the commission’s approval to run social media functions on top of traditional TV programming, Ann Mainville-Neeson,...
The closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games was the “most-watched” Summer Olympics broadcast in Canadian history, Canada’s Olympic Media Broadcast Consortium said Monday....
Public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada did not grant itself an unfair advantage by using both public funding and advertising revenues to support its new CBC Music service, the CRTC said in a decision...
A free satellite service offered by the federal government, BCE Inc. and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is allowing northern residents to continue receiving APTN despite the loss of...
The CRTC should require BCE Inc. to sell off the English-language pay and specialty channels it would receive through its proposed purchase of Astral Media Inc. in order for that deal to be approved, Rogers Communications Inc. said in regulatory documents filed with the commission Thursday. In July, the commission kicked...
The CRTC issued a call for comments Friday on proposed standards for non-disclosure agreements and provisions on the conduct of audits. In a release, the commission said it is seeking to establish standards to help in...
A new real-time, online advertising bidding service allows Canadian broadcasters to offer unsold display space, receive bids and display the ads in a process that takes about 100 milliseconds, said...
The CRTC approved an application Thursday from the Cowichan Valley Community Radio Society to operate a low-power FM community radio station in British Columbia. In the decision, the CRTC said the low-power station would operate...
Sixty-one per cent of the traffic connecting to Canada’s Olympic broadcast consortium’s digital platforms came from mobile devices during the first week of the 2012 London Olympic Games, the consortium said Wednesday. In a release, the consortium, made up of Rogers Communications Inc.and BCE Inc., said the percentage is “more than five times the average.” Bell has exclusive mobile rights to the Games. The release said the digital platforms, which include CTVOlympics.ca, RDSOlympiques.ca, as well as the CTV Olympics London 2012 and RDS olympiques pour Londres...
