CCR Update

CHUM to introduce enhanced programming on Feb. 8CHUM Television appears poised to be the first Canadian broadcaster to introduce basic interactive elements to its programming with today’s announcement it would introduce Enhanced TV on February 8. Channel-specific news-on-demand will be available on CHUM’s MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic, Citytv and Star! channels. Advertisers on the station will also have the option of introducing interactive elements that will allow viewers to buy a product or get a coupon. CHUM is using Wink Communications technology to deliver its enhanced programming (CCR, Jan. 31/02). More details. Friends recommends changes to the Elections ActThe lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is recommending that the Canada Elections Act be amended to prohibit corporations or individuals with broadcasting licences from making financial contributions to federal politicians or candidates. The recommendation comes in light of the group’s findings that larger political donations are being made by fewer broadcasting companies to federal politicians. An analysis of financial data in the Elections Canada database by Friends reveals that BCE and its subsidiaries were the most generous of broadcasting contributors, donating a total of $279,165 to the Liberals, Conservatives, and Reform/Alliance. Rogers Communications donated $256,962 and CanWest Global Communications gave $94,552. More details: Ever-larger campaign contributions from fewer broadcasters threaten Canadian democracy Follow the money CTV establishes monitoring committee to review complaintsCTV Inc. has created a monitoring committee that will hear complaints over how the network is complying with a pledge to keep the news operations of its print and broadcast holdings separate. The committee will be chaired by former CRTC commissioner Gail Scott. Also on the committee are Daniel Lamarre, president and COO of the Cirque du Soleil’s shows and new ventures group (and former CEO of the TVA network), and Jon Festinger, a lawyer in the Media, Entertainment and Communications Law Group at Davis and Company. Recently, CTV rival CanWest Global Communications Corp. has come under fire for imposing national editorials on its Southam newspapers across the country (CCR, Jan. 31/02). More details. Shaw adds French-language channels to digital packageShaw Communications Inc. is adding eight French-language specialty TV channels on Shaw Digital in Vancouver and Alberta. The channels will be priced at $1.99 each or $7.95 for the package of eight. The channels will be on free preview for two months. The channels are: Historia, Series +, Canal Évasion, Z TV, Canal D, Canal Savoir, RDS, and ARTV. More details. Bell ExpressVu rolling out high-def Olympic packageBell ExpressVu LP is offering its subscribers high-definition coverage of the upcoming Salt Lake City Olympics. The coverage will be available on the satellite TV operator’s special high-definition Olympic channel 288. The feed is coming from NBC. ExpressVu also provided high-definition coverage of the Superbowl. More details. Annual producers conference kicks off tonightThe annual conference of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) kicks off tonight with a reception on Parliament Hill. The two-day conference, running February 7-8, will focus on trade issues. Jack Valenti, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, will give the keynote address on February 7. Also scheduled to appear are Pierre Pettigrew, minister of International Trade, and Jane Stewart, minister of Human Resources Development Canada. Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps, normally a regular at the event, will not be in attendance this year as she’s attending the Olympics in Salt Lake City. Once again this year at the conference, the CFTPA will release its annual report on the state of the industry. More details: CFTPA annual prime time in Ottawa conference Jack Valenti to address Canadian producers Pettigrew and Stewart to speak at producers conference Telefilm Canada expected to release film fund guidelinesA source at Telefilm Canada tells CCR that if all goes according to plan, new guidelines for the Feature Film Fund could be released as early as today. Film and media complex set for TorontoThe Toronto Economic Development Corp. announced on February 6 the construction of a $150-million film and media complex in the city’s waterfront area. Toronto mayor Mel Lastman bills the complex as Canada’s largest film and television production facility. Construction is anticipated to begin in March 2003. It will be funded by the private sector. More details: Canada's largest film and television production facility to be built on Toronto waterfront Major film studio to be built in Toronto Heritage committee sets date with broadcastersThe Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) argues that the regulatory and policy framework established under the 1991 Broadcasting Act should be changed so private broadcasters can maintain and strengthen their contributions to the system. The organization is set to appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on February 21 to outline what those proposed changes might be. CAB chair Paul Robertson, president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell, and senior representatives from the private broadcasting industry will appear before the committee. More details. Rogers seeking more basic cable rate deregulation in OntarioRogers Cable Inc. has asked the CRTC for rate deregulation of basic cable in more Ontario systems, including most of the Greater Toronto area. Earlier, Canada’s largest cableco applied for rate deregulation of basic cable for the London and Ottawa markets (CCR, Dec. 6/01). It has already received approval for its St. Thomas and Woodstock ON systems. Regional Cablesystems Inc. and Vidéotron ltée have also applied for similar relief in some of their systems. Monarch Cablesystems is also looking for relief for its Medicine Hat AB system. Shaw has told CCR that applying for basic rate deregulation is not part of its plans. More details. Rogers considers new internet pricingA report in The Globe and Mail says Rogers Cable Inc. is about to institute a two-price policy for its high-speed Internet service. The cableco says the move will make "bandwidth hogs" pay more for the services they use. INTERNATIONAL NEWS Pay-per-view revenues up, but number of events downThe pay-per-view market in the United States generated a record $1.3 billion in revenue in 2001, but the number of events on PPV declined, according to an annual report released by Showtime Event Television on Feb. 4. PPV adult content generated $545 million. More details. $278-million budget proposed for FCCU.S. President George W. Bush is asking Congress to approve $278.092 million, and a staffing level of 1,975 full-time employees for 2003 for the Federal Communications Commission. That’s $22.021 million higher than last fiscal year. Nearly 25% of the proposed increase would cover higher salaries and benefits, while most of the remainder would go toward such things as continued expansion of electronic filing. More details. FCC’s Security Policy Council has new web siteThe Federal Communications Commission has created a web site for its Homeland Security Policy Council, which is charged with evaluating and strengthening measures for protecting U.S. broadcast, telecommunications, and other communications infrastructure from further terrorist attacks. Marsha MacBride has been named director, Peter Tenhula special counsel, and Linda Blair deputy director of the council. More details. Former FCC official says Internet is telecommunicationsA former official at the Federal Communications Commission, Dale Hatfield, says that the regulator will have a hard time avoiding classifying Internet access as telecommunications. According to Multichannel News, the former chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology said at a conference in late January: "It goes through the Internet unchanged. The packet I put in is the packet I get out. Under the act, how that’s not telecom, I just don’t quite understand how you get there." How Internet access should be defined is a contentious, unresolved issue. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the FCC could regulate the price cablecos paid to access poles to string lines for Internet service (CCR Update, Jan. 23/02), Justice Clarence Thomas dissented on the grounds that "Such a determination would require the commission to decide at long last whether high-speed Internet access provided through cable wires constitutes cable service or telecommunications service or falls into neither category." Gulf Power Co. and other utility companies had argued that Internet access should fall under a classification that would have eliminated protection of pole-rate pricing caps. The cable industry wants Internet access classified as a "cable service" so that it would be shielded from access requirements, such as opening the lines to other ISPs. Many experts say the FCC could classify Internet access as "information services," which are not regulated by the FCC under current law. More details. FCC reallocates spectrum used by channels 52-59The Federal Communication Commission has reclaimed the spectrum currently occupied by channels 52-59 in many markets. It will be used "for new commercial services" as part of the transition from analog to digital. Bush administration claims success in reducing digital divideThe Bush administration released a report on Feb. 4 that claims that the poor, minorities, and families in rural areas are signing on to the Internet at faster rates than elsewhere. The report notes that only about 10% of people making under $25,000 annually had Internet access in 1997, while almost 75% of those who made over $75,000 had access. Now, according to the report, just over a quarter of poorer groups use the Internet. But critics say the numbers are deceptive. More details.

CCR Update

News | 02/06/2002 5:00 am EST

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