The Canadian Association of Broadcasters outlines why it feels the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations should be amended to provide for terms and conditions under which programmers could audit the records of distributors for the purpose of verifying the accuracy of affiliation payments. An excerpt of the association’s May 21 submission to the CRTC appears below.

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John van Driel has been appointed the new general manager and CEO of Trumar Communications Inc., which owns Classical 96.3 FM (Toronto). He replaces Peter Webb, who will resign from the position as of August 15.

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Canadian Heritage earmarks $350,000 for diversity
Canadian Heritage is giving $350,000 to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help finance intergovernmental meetings on the development of the Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expression. "The government of Canada continues to play a leadership role in the development of a Convention on Cultural Diversity," said Canadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer on May 20 when she made the funding announcement. "We recognize how important it is to actively support UNESCO in its efforts. I believe that artists, creators and cultural entrepreneurs must have the means to express themselves, both here and at home and on the world stage. We hope that this convention will strengthen our ability to develop and highlight our respective cultures."

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Two Cogeco Inc. lawyers are calling for an overhaul of the way specialty TV channels are regulated by the CRTC, which has up until now made decisions, they say, that have created an unfair "specialty service caste system." Yves Mayrand, Cogeco’s VP of corporate affairs, and Caroline Dignard, director of legal affairs, argue that it is time for the CRTC to adopt a "back-stop" approach to regulating specialty channels.

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Spike TV complements rather than competes with other Canadian specialty channels, the service tells the CRTC, despite assertions to the contrary by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). In a May 17 submission to the regulator, Spike TV tells the CRTC that its controversial rebranding is simply to keep pace with the changing tastes of its target audience – the 18 to 49-year-old middle class, working male. Spike TV president Albie Hecht writes to the commission that removing the channel from the list of foreign services eligible for carriage in Canada or changing its carriage status is "entirely unwarranted and unfair."

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A two-year-old Montreal company is hoping to help Canadian broadcasters deliver innovative and compelling content through their digital audio broadcast (DAB) infrastructure. Société Radio Numérique (SRN) has developed an applications platform called Servo, which will allow broadcasters to use their over-the-air terrestrial infrastructure to deliver applications such as digital signage or even terrestrial for-pay radio services, as contemplated by CHUM Ltd. (CCR, Feb. 27/04).

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Vidéotron ltée and Astral Media have launched Canada’s first French-language subscripton video-on-demand (SVOD) service. Super Écran sur demande launched May 13 and is available to all of Vidéotron’s illico digital cable TV subscribers. About 30 films will be available each month, with 25% of the selection changing each week and the entire selection rotating each month. The service is priced at $5.99 per month for Vidéotron illico customers who subscribe to Astral’s Super Écran.

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