CCR Update

CFTPA calls on gov’t to preserve secure place for Canadian programmingThe government must ensure a continued place for Canadian programming in the Canadian broadcasting system, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage studying the state of the broadcasting system on May 9. "From the CFTPA’s perspective, the single most important element of the Broadcasting Act is its encouragement of the creation and exhibition of Canadian programming," said CFTPA chair Julia Keatley. "Otherwise, the system would be driven purely by commercial forces and we would end up with the same proportion of foreign content on our television screens that we see in our movie theaters, where the offering is 98 per cent foreign."Also appearing for the CFTPA, documentary producer and past CFTPA chair Stephen Ellis called on the government to maintain foreign ownership limits for broadcast programming undertakings. "We believe that this is the only mechanism that will ensure a place on our broadcasting system for Canadian programming," he said.CFTPA president and CEO Elizabeth McDonald urged the government to provide long-term stable funding for the Canadian Television Fund, and to streamline administrative procedures for application for funding and tax credits. The CFTPA also noted that it was essential that broadcasters continue to provide access on their channels for programs created by independent producers. Supreme Court to rule May 16 on CCTA’s leave to appeal in utility pole access caseThe Supreme Court of Canada is to decide on the Canadian Cable Television Association’s leave to appeal application on a Federal Court of Appeal decision on access to utility poles. The federal court agreed with a consortium of 19 Ontario power companies that the CRTC did not have the jurisdiction to set the annual rate of access to poles at $15.89 per pole because the companies are provincially regulated (CCR, Oct. 26/01, Aug. 2/01). More details. Court declines to extend injunction preventing enforcement of Supreme Court ruling on black, grey marketAn Ontario Superior Court judge has turned down a request to extend an injunction that would have continued to stop police from seizing satellite dishes or shutting down grey and black market satellite TV dealers. B.C.-based Can-Am Satellites had previously received an injunction preventing police from acting on an April 26 Supreme Court of Canada decision that determined that grey and black market satellite activities are prohibited under Section 9 (1)(c) of the Radiocommunication Act. The initial injunction was in effect until May 7. An extension to the injunction was being sought until a challenge to the Supreme Court ruling on Charter grounds is resolved. As well, lawyer Ian Angus, representing a group called the Canadian Association of Freedom of Information and Ideas, failed in an attempt to bring a case before a Winnipeg court on the grounds that the ruling infringed on the rights of Canadians to free choice, granted under the Charter (CCR, May 9/02). Astral says Competition Bureau has no jurisdiction over radioAstral Media Inc. argued in Federal Court this week that the Competition Bureau should stop stepping into the jurisdiction of the CRTC. The bureau is trying to block the Quebec portion of Astral’s $225-million deal to buy 19 radio stations in Quebec and the Maritimes from Télémédia Communications Inc. The CRTC has approved the deal, with some conditions. Astral was the first up May 13 in a two-day Federal Court hearing that included comments from lawyers for the bureau. René Duval responded on May 14 that the Competition Bureau’s role was to ensure a competitive marketplace exists. Rogers unveils new digital cable, Internet bundlesFor the first time Rogers Cable Inc. is offering Ontario residents bundled packages combining various digital cable options with high-speed Internet or high-speed lite. Consumers must own digital boxes to take the bundles. The bundles are priced at $79.99 and $99.99 per month. More details. Look’s TV subscriber base continues to declineLook Communications Inc. says its digital TV subscriber base dropped to 55,000 at March 31, 2002 from 60,000 at December 31, 2001, as expected. The wireless cableco adds that the decline is largely a result of cutting off non-paying subscribers. As well, it states in first-quarter financials released May 13 that customers are taking higher value programming packages. Look has introduced two new programming packages: Look Plus, which includes up to 104 channels at $30.95 a month, and Look Super, which costs $45.95 a month and includes Look Plus channels as well as The Movie Network and the U.S. superstations. More details. TVA Group acquires Publicor in Quebecor restructuringTVA Group Inc. has acquired Publicor, the magazines division of Quebecor Media Inc. The transaction is expected to close May 17. TVA, which is owned by Quebecor Media, will pay $36 million in cash for Publicor. TVA president and CEO Raynald Brière says television and magazine publishing are converging naturally and logically. Plans are to share content as well as sales and marketing resources. More details. Bell Globemedia teams with free impressions on online advertisingBell Globemedia Interactive has joined with Free Impressions Inc. (www.freeimpressions.net) to offer discounted online advertising across the Bell Globemedia Interactive properties, including Sympatico.ca, TSN.ca, CTV.ca, and the globeandmail.com group of sites, to charities and non-profit groups. "We’re asking our network of sites that reach more than 60 per cent of online Canadians each month to help extend the reach of charitable organizations and to generate traffic for their sites," said Gary Fearnall, VP of sales at Bell Globemedia Interactive. More details. Cabletel has major backlog in productCabletel Communications Corp., a distributor of a variety of products to the Canadian television and telecommunications industries, had a backlog at the close of the current fiscal quarter of $8.77 million, more than triple the backlog during the same period a year earlier. "We are hopeful that capital spending by our customers will increase as the economy recovers and that the company’s efforts will result in continued and enhanced profitability," said president and CEO Greg Walling, in a May 14 news release reporting company financials. Cabletel’s net sales were down 9.3 per cent to $13,183,686 in the first quarter ended March 31, 2002. Despite the lower net sales, Cabletel recorded net earnings of $60,951. More details. Radio-Canada offering to introduce 152 permanent positions, to increase payManagement at Radio-Canada says it has offered a $1,000 signing bonus and pay increases to unionized employees from Quebec and New Brunswick. A three per cent raise would come into effect on June 1, 2002, a 1.5 per cent increase in January 2003, and 2.5 per cent increase in June 2003. It has also offered one per cent for harmonization with the English CBC agreement. It is offering to create 152 permanent positions – 132 permanent jobs for journalists, anchors, and technicians currently on contract and 20 permanent positions at the Centre d’information. Twenty-five of the new permanent positions would be in regions outside Montreal, management said. Employees at Radio-Canada have been on the picket line since declaring a 24-hour strike on March 21 and then being locked out (CCR, March 28/02; CCR Update, March 20/02). More details: CBC increases its monetary offer to 10% Radio-Canada dépose des offres finales et globales CBC offers SCRC members an additional 152 permanent positions Bell ExpressVu introduces movie weekendsSatellite TV operator Bell ExpressVu LP introduced this month MegaVu! weekends, which gives customers more frequent movie start times. Subscribers can view first-run movies every 30 minutes on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The movies on the current schedule include K-Pax, Spy Game, and Ocean’s Eleven. More details. INTERNATIONAL NEWS SonicBlue wants court decision requiring it to monitor use of digital recording devices overturnedSanta Clara-based SonicBlue Inc. wants a court order overturned that requires it to monitor users of its ReplayTV 4000 digital recording devices and share viewing data with major studies and television networks. It argues that the practice would violate privacy rights. SonicBlue called the May 2 order from Central District Court Magistrate Charles Eick "unprecedented" and in contravention of the First and Fourth Amendments. The studios and networks claim that they need the data to build a copyright infringement case against SonicBlue. More details: SonicBlue balks at court order SonicBlue seeks reversal of data collection order AOL Time Warner to introduce set-top boxes with PVR features while protecting advertisersAOL Time Warner’s cable unit will introduce set-top boxes that let consumers pause and play back TV programming while it’s being broadcast, but that would not have ad-skipping features. The company is also considering including copyright-protection technology in the devices. Leo Hindery Jr. warned that widespread deployment of the PVR could destroy the advertising model of broadcasting at the Canadian Cable Television Association’s annual convention in Vancouver last month (CCR, April 25/02). More details. Murdoch, Britt to attend first meeting of FCC media security panelNews Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, Time Warner Cable chair Glenn Britt, EchoStar Communications Corp. chair and CEO Charlie Ergen, Walt Disney Company chair and CEO Michael Eisner, and Viacom Inc. president and COO Mel Karmazin are among those scheduled to attend the inaugural meeting of the Media Security and Reliability Council (MSRC) on May 17. The first meeting is expected to last two hours and include discussion of practices that will ensure that the broadcast industry remains functional in the time of crisis. The MSRC was created by FCC chair Michael Powell after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. More details. FCC expected to propose penalties for missing digital TV deadlineThe Federal Communications Commission is expected to propose at a meeting this week that television stations that haven’t met the May 1 deadline for going digital face sanctions. Those sanctions could include fines or the revocation of licences, according to Multichannel News. About two-thirds of U.S. stations missed the deadline (CCR Update, March 20/02). More details. Turner Broadcasting rethinking repurposing modelTurner Broadcasting System Inc. is rethinking its plans to repurpose shows on its cable networks after lower than expected support from advertisers, according to Multichannel News. Its Charmed program only drew between 50 per cent and 70 per cent of the cost per thousand homes on TNT’s cable network that the series garnered on the WB Television Network. More details.

CCR Update

News | 05/15/2002 4:00 am EDT

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