Nearly 18 months since the CRTC adopted its Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) policy, industry experts are divided on its effectiveness in securing net neutrality. Some suggest that the commission needs more powers to investigate and enforce the policy. Others say the CRTC has not faced serious enough cases to warrant the use of a full stable of existing powers. The CRTC adopted its regulatory policy for Internet service providers’ (ISPs) traffic management practices in October 2009. It recognizes that “some measures are required to manage Internet traffic on ISP networks” and allows ISPs to manage Internet traffic at the retail level without prior approval....
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) called on the CRTC Monday to maintain a minimum quantity of local news hours as broadcasters push the margins of the commission’s new group licensing policy. Peter Murdoch, vice-president of the CEP, told commissioners at a hearing Monday that broadcasters should gradually increase their local news hours over their licensing periods, arguing that local programming is essential to the public. “Since 2002, private English language TV stations have cut local news hours by 37 per cent,” Murdoch said. “From 899 hours per week in 2002, to 565 hours in 2010.” Under the CRTC’s existing policy, broadcasters must provide a minimum of seven-to-14 hours of local programming per...
Following the release of the top five political parties’ campaign platforms for the 2011 election, Canadian voters and policy experts are weighing in on who’s out front on digital policy issues. But the results are a little underwhelming. “In a word: yawn,” Ottawa technology consultant Bill...
Canadian writers, directors and performers warned the CRTC Friday not to heed the broadcasters’ call for more “flexibility” in the licence renewals, saying that the word is just a synonym for “more U.S. programming.” “Broadcasters are asking for even more flexibility than the 2010 TV...
GATINEAU--In response to the potentially disruptive forces of Netflix Inc. in the Canadian broadcasting system, the CRTC should hold firm on its Canadian content spending requirements in its new group-based licensing system, encouraging more support, not less, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) told the...
The Quebec broadcasting market could soon go from one sports channel to four following Rogers Communications Inc.'s application for a French-language sports station, but experts say they don’t expect all of the channels to succeed. “I'm not sure there's room for as many stations, but at the same time...
Shaw Media Inc.’s English-language TV station in Montreal deserves access to the Local Programming Infrastructure Fund (LPIF), the company says. But one CRTC commissioner says that would open the door to difficult discussions with other broadcasters in the country. On Monday the CRTC started two weeks of hearings on licence renewals for the major, private broadcasting groups, and in presentation before commissioners Wednesday, Shaw officials outlined requested changes to a number of its television broadcast licences. Charlotte Bell, Shaw’s vice-president of regulatory and government affairs, said the criteria for determining LPIF eligibility for its Global station in...
Internet policy is expected to be in the foreground in the 2011 election campaign as lobby groups push candidates and parties to put their issues onto the political agenda. Advocacy group OpenMedia.ca says it plans to build on the success of its “Stop the Meter” petition with another...
Rogers Communications Inc. says the CRTC’s new licensing framework for large broadcasting groups could hurt its business and that the commission shouldn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to regulating the industry. The CRTC launched a public hearing on the licence renewals Monday, and in its...
Green party Leader Elizabeth May will not participate in the televised leaders’ debates after the federal court rejected her request for an expedited hearing to review a CRTC broadcasting regulation. Federal Court of Appeal Justice Marc Nadon declined a request to hear May’s application for judicial...
CTV Inc. is calling on the CRTC for more regulatory flexibility in its Cancon and music video licence requirements for the broadcaster’s MuchMusic, MuchMore More and Access channels. At a hearing in Gatineau on Monday, where the CRTC launched its licence renewal hearings for large broadcasting groups, CTV...
Although critics say broadband at speeds of 1.5 Mbps may not be ambitious enough, the federal Liberals say they would deliver it to the entire country within three years by investing $500 million in proceeds from upcoming spectrum auctions. “Using proceeds from the upcoming spectrum auction slated for 2012, a...
The Green party says it wants the CRTC to issue explicit guidelines for the televised leaders’ debates so that all leaders of the federal political parties participate so long as they received at least two per cent of the vote in the previous election. On Tuesday, the Federal Court of Appeal is scheduled to...
Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. announced Friday that, with the final acquisition of its media division, the company now supports value for signal. “[T]he model planned by the CRTC allows TV broadcasters and TV service providers to negotiate VFS [value for signal] on a level playing field,” Bell said in a release...
The CRTC’s “state of the union” forum last week sought to bring together key industry leaders outside of a hearing and gain input on new, broad policy directions, say those who attended. “They made much about having broadcasting and telecom people in one room. That never...
Netflix Inc. is taking up customers faster than expected and is stocking up its online library in an effort to attract one million Canadian subscribers by the summer, Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey says. “That's a faster trajectory than we expected,” Swasey said in an interview Wednesday. “The more people have to watch, the more they're going to be excited about the service, the more they're going to join and stay, and the more they're going to tell their friends. The more people we have on the service, the more revenue we generate to be able to buy more content. It's an [upwards] cycle.” At the one million customer mark, Netflix is expected to reach...
The dissolution of Parliament and the failure to pass the federal budget has left the Canada Media Fund (CMF) without guaranteed government funding of $100 million. The issue is causing concern among the broadcasting and production community, which says some producers now have to wait in a period of uncertainty before new...
Future titles from videogame maker Ubisoft Entertainment will analyze players’ skill levels to automatically adjust the game's difficulty. The development comes in part from a new partnership between the company, the Université de Montréal and the federal government. On March 15, Ubisoft...
Following the CRTC’s rejection of a CBC application about its over-the-air television service for Fredericton and Saint John, N.B., the broadcaster says it intends to re-file an amended application that would still see the end of an over-the-air signal for Saint-John. “We studied the option of installing a...
Canada’s highest court said Thursday it will weigh in on the thorny issue of whether Internet service providers (ISPs) carry on broadcasting activities and qualify for regulation by the CRTC. A coalition of cultural groups had appealed the issue to the Supreme Court, which said Thursday it will look at whether the...
OTTAWA—The CRTC's new vice-chair of broadcasting, Athanasios (Tom) Pentefountas, says the controversy swirling around his appointment to the commission is the result of political tensions. “I think there's a overheated, political, highly partisan period right now. I can't imagine why that's the case, but I'd say that seems to be the case. But that's politics, and that's not what I'm interested in,” Pentefountas told reporters following an appearance before the House of Commons heritage committee Wednesday. “I'm interested in serving and trying to find solutions for broadcasting in Canada.” The heritage committee is studying the appointment of Pentefountas...
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and the House of Commons heritage committee are among voices now calling on the CRTC to open a proceeding to look at the emergence of foreign-owned digital broadcasting players like Netflix Inc. In a report tabled Monday, which looks at the impacts of private...
The opposition parties on the House of Commons heritage committee have recommended that the government exclude copyright policy from trade negotiations and focus on developing international copyright policy through bodies like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). A committee report tabled in the House...
OTTAWA—The federal Conservative government says its 2011 budget lays the groundwork for its upcoming digital economy strategy—but the budget document makes no mention of broadband initiatives, foreign ownership or spectrum issues. “Budget 2011 sets the stage for the release of Canada’s Digital...
OTTAWA—Uncertainty surrounding the future of Canada’s copyright law is impeding Internet service providers’ (ISPs) attempts to deal with infringing content online and is leading to a “cat and mouse game” in their pursuit of alleged infringers, ISPs told the House of Commons legislative...
Quebecor Media Inc. has filed a motion with the Federal Court of Appeal to contest a CRTC decision in January that forces the company to share its exclusive video-on-demand content with Bell Canada and Telus Corp. “The CRTC exceeded its powers, by-passed the applicable test, and improperly applied inapplicable...
The CRTC’s new media working group has finalized some of its reporting requirements for new media broadcasting services, which are now preparing revenue reports for the commission. “The only way we can know if there is a need for regulation on [the new media broadcasting] side is if we have...
Last year, a 17-year-old Berlin author, Helene Hegemann, published a teen bestseller that set off something of a controversy about moral rights in the digital environment. Hegemann’s book, Axolotl Roadkill, was comprised largely of passages from other books and works. Writing about...
The Songwriters Association of Canada’s (SAC) latest proposal for a licence fee on Internet services to legalize music file sharing isn’t getting a lot of love from record labels, Internet service providers (ISPs) and screenwriters. In the latest version of its policy proposal, updated in January, the SAC calls...
Music copyright collectives defended the tariffs that radio stations pay to transfer music files Thursday against charges from the government that the royalties are “punishment” for the adoption of new technology. Music copyright collectives, which administer the collection and distribution of royalties for rights holders, are stepping up their pressure on the government and the opposition parties in an attempt to change a proposal in the Conservative government’s copyright reform bill, which would eliminate a mechanical tariff that radio stations pay to transfer and format digital music. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says private stations pay...
Quebecor Media Inc. is conducting an internal legal analysis to determine the CRTC's authority to implement a moratorium on exclusive content agreements for mobile and online platforms, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau says. “We're asking ourselves, and we're going to go through a legal review,...
OTTAWA—A subsidy program to assist television viewers affected by the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting could cost more than $200 million, Jean-Pierre Blais, assistant deputy minister of cultural affairs at the Heritage Department, told the House of Commons Standing...
OTTAWA—The Bloc Québécois and the Conservative government are in talks about a potential deal to amend, fast track and pass copyright bill C-32. The Bloc’s proposed deal would meet conditions that the bill be amended to close some user exceptions in the bill. Although the Bloc is asking that the...
The future of satellite radio in Canada depends on the successful merger of the industry’s only two competitors, Sirius Canada Inc. and XM Canada, company executives told the CRTC at a hearing Monday. “Your approval of this application will provide Canadian satellite radio with...
The CRTC addressed concerns about potential anti-competitive behaviour for vertically integrated companies in a decision Monday, imposing a moratorium on exclusive content deals for vertically integrated carriers until the commission deals with the issue in a hearing this spring. In a decision that approved BCE Inc.’s acquisition of CTVGlobemedia Inc., the CRTC imposed a three-month moratorium on new exclusive content deals for vertically integrated players that own both broadcasting and broadcasting distribution assets. The CRTC held a public hearing on the BCE transaction in early February, where Telus Corp. and Cogeco Cable Inc. told the commission that it should implement...
MediaTube Corp. is counting on the differentiated offerings of Internet protocol television (IPTV) to help launch a competitive new broadcasting distribution service in the greater Toronto and London areas this year. “We have similar capabilities with what you have with cable, but we’ll also open up the full...
OTTAWA—Facing tough resistance from all three opposition parties about a change to the Copyright Act to eliminate mechanical royalties for radio broadcasters, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is airing a coast-to-coast advertising campaign that points the finger at the Liberals. The radio spot, which is...
French-language TV network V Interactions Inc. would be a logical acquisition for BCE Inc., experts say. “Considering that over 50 per cent of their market share is probably in Quebec. They're going to need French-language content,” Richard Paradis, president of consulting firm Groupe CIC and an instructor in...
OTTAWA—Lobbying on the Conservative government’s copyright reform legislation is intensifying as the country’s largest music industry groups now say they don’t support the bill’s passage, and that if passed as-is, it will do more harm than good. Influential music industry groups the Canadian...
OTTAWA—The CBC is not asking for any additional funding for its transition to digital, over-the-air television broadcasting, even though the move will leave at least 10 communities across Canada without access. Even if it received funding, the CBC probably wouldn’t spend it on the digital transition,...
In a victory for broadcasters Monday, the Federal Court of Appeal issued a split decision that said the CRTC has the power and jurisdiction to implement its controversial value-for-signal regime. The commission released its policy decision in March 2010, but referred it to the Federal Court of Appeal for a determination on...
The popularity of personal video recorders (PVRs) and the power of television viewers to fast-forward through ads is leading to new advertising strategies. Although experts say the PVR won’t kill the 30-second spot, it may make conventional advertising more sophisticated. PVR devices allow viewers to record...
Media companies are pondering their digital sales strategies after Apple Inc. announced it will take a 30 per cent share of all content sold through its app store’s new digital media subscription service. Observers say the sector’s new entrants can plan around the charge—but it’s not very good news...
Industry leaders who met last Friday to discuss the role of online streaming site Netflix Inc. in the Canadian broadcasting system are looking at the power of the CRTC to implement new conditions on its regulatory exemption for new media. Industry and regulatory sources say that at last Friday’s meeting—where industry leaders discussed the role that over-the-top services like Netflix should play in the Canadian broadcasting system—attendees discussed the power of the CRTC to attach new conditions to its new media exemption order. Those conditions could require a foreign-owned player like Netflix to pay contributions to support the Canadian broadcasting system. Under Canada's broadcasting regulatory regime, online content sites benefit from the CRTC’s new...
The Winnipeg Free Press’ new online video portal puts newspapers and TV stations in closer competition for advertising dollars, industry observers say. Accessible via the Free Press website, the new platform, WFPtv, offers four-minute-long video stories on sports, cars, culture and other content not driven by hard...
Canadian video game developers are divided over the impacts that usage-based billing has on their industry. Senior industry insiders would not comment on the record but told The Wire Report in background interviews that some developers feel bandwidth caps hinder digital distribution and others say it protects against game...
Independent broadcasters are calling on the CRTC for greater regulatory flexibility as the commission prepares to apply its group-based licensing policy to Canada's large broadcasting groups. “Independent programming services compete with the large broadcast groups for viewers, programming, access to distribution...
The Federal Court of Appeal’s decision Friday to turn down a request to appeal the CRTC’s regulatory exception for Cogeco Inc. has for now “closed the file” for competitor Astral Media Radio Inc., the company says. In a decision on Dec. 17, the CRTC granted Cogeco a regulatory exception to operate...
OTTAWA—Concern about the role of over-the-top broadcasting service Netflix in the Canadian broadcasting system is mounting as broadcasting and telco industry leaders met behind closed doors Friday to discuss regulating online broadcasters. Industry sources told The Wire Report that the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), film and television industry leaders, and representatives from major Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) were meeting Friday afternoon to look at ways that online broadcasters like Netflix could make monetary contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system. In December Shaw Communications Inc. told the House of Commons heritage committee that...
OTTAWA—CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein says the commission tried to stall the amendment to its prohibition on false and misleading news for 10 years, but eventually gave into pressure from the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations when it proposed its amendments in...
OTTAWA—Broadcasters will bear significant “collateral damage” in the move to vertically integrated communications companies that will inevitably fail, Richard Stursberg, Telus Corp.'s new senior advisor on media and entertainment strategy, said Thursday. “The track record so...
OTTAWA—The House of Commons heritage committee issued a report on digital media Thursday that called for increased access to the Canada Media Fund (CMF) for digital media projects. “What we’ve heard again and again is to open up the Canada Media Fund so that new digital forms of culture can be accessed...
OTTAWA—Facing mounting public pressure, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, a committee of the House and Senate, agreed Thursday to withdraw advice to the CRTC to water down a regulation prohibiting the broadcast of false and misleading news. Some observers now expect the CRTC, which is...
OTTAWA—The Conservative government will make its policy clear on multi-year funding for the CBC in the upcoming federal budget, Heritage Minister James Moore told the House heritage committee Wednesday. “I understand the concern, I understand the needs, I understand the request and ... You'll see the...
Broadcasting players and industry groups are quarrelling over a CTVglobemedia Inc. proposal to apply common Canadian content spending obligations to all large broadcasters under the CRTC's new licensing policy for television groups. “Rogers strongly disagrees with this position,” Rogers Communications Inc....
The CRTC disagrees with its own proposed regulatory change about false and misleading news—an amendment spearheaded by a parliamentary committee that has drawn national public attention and criticism of the commission. The CRTC opened separate consultations in December and January that said it intends to amend a...
A merger between Canada's two satellite radio players will shift their focus from battling each other to competing with traditional radio and new media platforms, industry observers say. “[Sirius Canada Inc.] is a company that looks like it's doing well enough to try to get a larger part of the market,” Richard...
OTTAWA—The CBC continues to wait for a move to stable, multi-year funding as recommended by the House heritage committee in February 2008, CBC president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix said Monday. “We have asked the government for years during conversations with the [heritage] minister to extend or prolong the $60 million [in funding] so we don't have to ask them for it every year,” Lacroix told reporters following an appearance at the committee. “I'm still waiting to see what the minister will do with the $60 million for this year.” On Monday, Lacroix, joined by Kirstine Stewart, the CBC's executive vice-president of English services, and Sylvain Lafrance, executive vice-president of French services, appeared before the heritage committee to...
The CRTC made the right move this month when it denied Corus Entertainment Inc.’s application for a new specialty channel that leaned more towards weather than news and information, Pelmorex Communications Inc. says. “It was a weather service, and I think the commission upheld their own policy,” Paul...
Canadian radio stations are starting to use new Internet analysis tools to mine online audiences for targeted promotions and additional advertising revenues. Astral Media Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc. are using a web content management system and online audience tracking platform from Emmis Interactive, a subsidiary of...
Shaw Communications Inc. will start deploying only fibre cables next year in a defensive move to increase its Internet service speeds and network reliability. “We have a strategy that involves extensive fibre-to-the-home deployments beginning next year,” Dennis Steiger, Shaw's group vice-president of engineering, said in a phone...
Canada’s major broadcasting distributors are lining up against Pelmorex Communications Inc.’s request to renew its mandatory carriage order for The Weather Network for a seven-year licence term. The CRTC is now considering Pelmorex’s application to renew its broadcasting licence for The Weather Network...
A small and seemingly technical regulatory change under way at the CRTC about the broadcasting of false and misleading news has inadvertently drawn thousands of public comments directed at the commission. But as CRTC staff sort through unhappy messages about a “completely unacceptable” amendment that would create the ability to “manipulate” the news, it was a parliamentary committee that, as recently as December, has spearheaded a push for the regulatory change. The Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, an obscure joint House and Senate committee that scrutinizes regulations to ensure they are enacted correctly and consistent with Canadian law,...
OTTAWA--Opposition MPs and industry observers are criticizing the Conservative government’s appointment of Athanasios (Tom) Pentefountas to the position of vice-chair of broadcasting at the CRTC, pointing to the new appointee’s lack of broadcasting experience. “We’ve never seen [Pentefountas]...
OTTAWA—Productivity at the C-32 legislative committee appears to have slowed to a crawl as partisan gamesmanship takes centre stage and political parties fail to sit down and negotiate possible amendments. Liberal MP and heritage critic Pablo Rodriguez, a member of the C-32 committee, said in an interview Thursday...
Mind-based game interfaces could become more prevalent within a few years following the debut of a “thought-controlled” video game from Toronto software company InteraXon Inc., industry observers say. InteraXon unveiled a thought-controlled version of Zen Bound 2 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las...
GATINEAU—BCE Inc. presented the CRTC with a final offer for its benefits package Friday, removing funding for the production of high-definition local news content and lowering the amount for satellite conversion. Lobby groups and companies had previously called some of the proposals, including a satellite upgrade to...
GATINEAU—Cultural groups and competitors continued to weigh in Thursday on how to spend the tangible benefits derived from Bell Canada Enterprises Inc.’s acquisition of CTVglobemedia Inc. Thursday was the third day of the CRTC’s hearing on the transaction. At issue is the size and contents of BCE’s...
GATINEAU—Quebecor Media Inc. is asking the CRTC to establish a new regulatory framework to prevent the exclusive ownership of broadcasting rights for sports content, arguing that BCE Inc. is on the verge of holding a monopoly in the Quebec market. “By preserving the status quo, BCE will hold a monopoly...
GATINEAU—Telus Corp. and Cogeco Cable Inc. told the CRTC Wednesday it should implement safeguards to protect them from undue preference under BCE Inc.’s acquisition of CTVglobemedia Inc., noting they have already experienced a competitive disadvantage in negotiations with Bell. “Telus has filed a...
GATINEAU—BCE Inc. is taking heat for a revised tangible benefits package it has proposed as part of its acquisition of CTVglobemedia Inc.’s broadcasting assets. Competitors and cultural groups describe some of the spending as “self-serving.” “There are always many other things...
Hubert T. Lacroix says he wants to take CBC/Radio-Canada further into Canada’s regions. And he’s going “to do what is necessary” to ensure that Hockey Night in Canada remains with the CBC. Lacroix, president and CEO of the public broadcaster, released a $33-million, five-year strategic plan Tuesday that aims to reallocate the broadcasters’ resources and develop a new media strategy to better connect Canadians across the country through the CBC. In a phone interview with The Wire Report, Lacroix talked about the broadcaster’s new strategy, as well as other issues like Quebecor Media Inc.’s access-to-information requests about the CBC and the broadcaster’s desire to hold onto its NHL broadcasting rights when they expire in 2014. The...
Content creators and advocates told the legislative committee on Bill C-32 Tuesday that a “lock and litigate” formula in the Conservative government’s copyright reform bill will curb artistic production. “Every creator wants their content to be widely distributed, not...
GATINEAU—BCE Inc. president and CEO George Cope told the CRTC Tuesday he can’t guarantee the company will not use exclusive content after it completes its acquisition of CTVglobemedia Inc.’s broadcasting assets. “We’re not prepared to make the same categorical commitment that Shaw...
As an increasing number of customers use their mobile handsets to watch online video, carriers are starting to move to new video optimization technologies for higher quality streaming. Patrick Lopez, chief marketing officer at Vantrix Corp., a Montreal video-optimization software company, said the technology is...
A CRTC ruling Wednesday that said Quebecor Media Inc. acted with undue preference when it held back competitor access to exclusive content for video-on-demand services has set a precedent for similar issues on mobile and online platforms, Telus Corp. says. “I think it very much sets a precedent for both wireless and...
Quebecor Media Inc.’s Sun TV News channel is expected to receive carriage with the major broadcasting distributors by its launch deadline of March 31, industry sources say. Several senior industry sources told The Wire Report in background interviews that major television distributors Shaw Communications Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Communications Co., have little reason not to carry the channel. Unless there are serious disagreements about the fees distributors will receive for carrying the channel, industry sources say Sun TV News is expected to launch on all or most television distribution systems before the end of March. “We’re still planning to launch during the first quarter of 2011,” Serge Sasseville, vice-president...
Cable companies should upgrade their network infrastructure to fibre so they can offer Internet protocol television (IPTV) and keep up with telcos now offering the technology, analysts say. “For the first time, cable is the incumbent, telcos are the insurgent, and arguably they have a better technology,” Dvai...
OTTAWA--At a copyright forum at the University of Ottawa Tuesday, advocates argued the question of whether students and universities should have to pay once or multiple times for the use of digital works in various formats. The forum, hosted by the by the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA), focused on the educational...
TORONTO—Canada’s new anti-spam legislation, which will require companies to pay close attention to securing consent from customers before sending commercial messages, is poised to push firms to tread lightly when advertising via mobile, experts said at a conference last week. The federal government's anti-spam...
The Heritage Department emphasized the interests of consumers and questioned CRTC data about the health of the over-the-air television industry in a politically sensitive cabinet memo about fee for carriage last year. The Wire Report obtained the memo, for Heritage Minister James Moore and dated April 9, 2010, through an...
Canadian broadcasters are taking a “quality over quantity” approach to producing Canadian content in an effort to compete with American programming, industry experts say. “We're trying to have a product that will go get the audience that's watching the neighbour,” Richard J. Paradis, an instructor...
In a nod to public pressure, the CRTC on Friday asked the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) to review its Jan. 12 decision that said the word “faggot” in a Dire Straits song breaches the council’s code of ethics. The CRTC said it received 250 letters from across Canada about the council’s...
Broadcasters and advocacy groups are at loggerheads over the need for widespread public service announcements (PSAs) to inform the public about the upcoming transition to digital television broadcasting—and it’s not clear where the two sides might agree. Broadcasting advocacy groups say the CRTC should create a...
Television distributors are calling on the CRTC to establish confidentiality protection measures and safeguards against exclusivity for BCE Inc.'s acquisition of CTVglobemedia. “As a vertically integrated company, BCE would gain access to very detailed and highly sensitive information about its competitors in the BDU...
Accessibility in Canadian broadcasting is being hampered by a lack of quality control, poor funding and a mindset of charity rather than opportunity, says Beverley Milligan, president and CEO of Media Access Canada and newly formed accessibility group Access 2020. “Some of the high-level trends show some quality issues around captioning—if captions aren’t readable, is a program really captioned?” Milligan said in an interview. “And descriptive video of four hours a day is quite frankly not enough.” Access 2020 is a coalition comprised of a number Canadian accessibility groups, including the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Canadian Hard...
BCE Inc.’s public benefits proposal as part of its acquisition of CTVglobemedia Inc. is “self-serving” and doesn’t benefit Canadian broadcasters, industry players and advocacy groups say. “Our concern is that quite a bit of the benefits policy is doing things that are self-serving, that...
Cogeco Inc. says it will fight a motion filed by Astral Media Radio Inc. Tuesday with the Federal Court of Appeal that seeks leave to appeal the CRTC's decision to grant Cogeco an exception to its common ownership policy. “We're very surprised by Astral's undertaking, particularly considering Astral's...
Decreasing Canadian content exhibition requirements by a mere five per cent will have a negative long-term impact on the broadcasting industry, Stornoway Communications president and CEO Martha Fusca says. “It's a lot more significant than people realize ... This is really only the first step. We've been reducing it...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) may have retracted its plans to shut its doors, but will no longer advocate on regulatory policy. “[The CAB] is going to stay out of policy and regulatory debates. That’s very telling that they’ve really realized as an industry that they don’t share the...
A new framework for the payment of “mechanical royalties” to music rights holders has emerged from an agreement Monday for Canadian record labels to pay songwriters and music publishers $47.53 million for outstanding uncompensated use of reproductions of their works. “It's very important, we've been seeking a solution to this for a long time,” David Basskin, president and CEO of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), said in an interview. “We believe this is a vital solution to a systemic problem.” Under the current music licensing system, record labels must obtain a licence and pay a royalty to reproduce and create a sound...
New access programming that will rise from the ashes of Rogers Television’s cancelled news show First Local will ultimately benefit community television, the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) says. “The result should be that their staff resources are employed more...
A new conversion technology developed by a federal research centre will facilitate the move towards 3D television broadcasting in Canada. “We turned to 2D-to-3D conversion because when you are doing [our type of] research, you try to figure out what kind of problems the broadcasting industry will have and then try to...
The CBC says Canadian programming costs for specialty services have been increasing annually by 7.1 per cent, and estimates that a rebrand of its Bold channel, which will require the production of more Canadian content, will cost an additional $3 million per year. The CRTC opened a consultation in November on a CBC...
Next year is expected to be a big one for mobile advertising as companies set aside budgets and plan mobile advertising campaigns, industry insiders say. “Mobile is no longer that test or that experimental phase in a campaign. It’s now become the real thing. It’s arrived. Clients are really trying to...
The future of low-power television (LPTV) stations operating in the 700 MHz band remains unclear as Industry Canada consults on their possible displacement following the digital transition next year. “The continued operation of existing LPTV systems in remote and rural areas will be permitted if it does not prevent...
The CRTC announced Friday it has approved Cogeco Inc.’s acquisition of Corus Entertainment Inc.’s 11 Quebec radio stations and agreed to an exception to operate a third FM station in the Montreal market. “The Commission is of the view that Cogeco’s proposal, together with the arguments raised by the parties, forms a...
Following the release of new Liberal party amendments to copyright reform Bill C-32 Thursday, radio broadcasters could see history repeated and again lose the fight to avoid paying digital reproduction fees. “We thought they understood this issue and we’re really surprised and disappointed that they decided to...
New federal government funding for British Columbia’s Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre will now help Canadian developers across the country market their products overseas. “Some of the major hurdles for Canadian developers are access to the resources needed to get products to market, getting them...
The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is often bumped around on the dial, which is leading to the loss of viewers and posing challenges for marketing, Jean LaRose, CEO of APTN Inc., said in an interview. “In Vancouver, as an example, we’ve been bounced all over the place,” LaRose said. He said carrier Shaw Communications Inc. tends to move the channel at least once per year in the Vancouver market. “The problem with Shaw is we’re all over the map. We get two, or in the worst case scenario, sometimes three channel changes a year in any given market.” APTN has 9(1)(h) status under the Broadcasting Act, so that broadcasting distributors are...
