CCR Short Takes

Results for the Canadian Television Fund’s Broadcaster Performance Envelopes – 2006 to dateENGLISH BROADCASTER PERFORMANCE ENVELOPES (including CBC and affiliates, all figures rounded)Total CTF funds available through English-language Broadcaster Envelopes for 2006-2007$167.2 millionAmount requested from applications received to date$33.2 millionAmount remaining for 2006-2007$134 millionPercentage of funds that have not yet been requested to date80%Percentage of funds that had not yet been requested at this time last year (2005)62%FRENCH BROADCASTER PERFORMANCE ENVELOPES (including SRC and affiliates, all figures rounded)Total CTF funds available through English-language Broadcaster Envelopes for 2006-2007$74.8 millionAmount requested from applications received to date$37.1 millionAmount remaining for 2006-2007$37.7 millionPercentage of funds that have not yet been requested to date50%Percentage of funds that had not yet been requested at this time last year (2005)42% CRTC issues decisions on a Québec radio marketThe Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has made its determinations on 10 competitive applications for licences or licence amendments for commercial radio stations in the Québec area. Of the 10 applications considered at a public hearing on March 20, six were for licences to operate new FM stations, three proposed to change the authorized contours of FM stations in the Québec area and one proposed to operate a new AM station in Lévis, QC. The commissions determinations included: approving the proposal by Radio-Classique to operate a new French-language classical music station; renewing the license for CKNU-FM Donnacona and its transmitter CNKN-FM-1 Sainte-Croix-de-Lotbinère; approving Radio Nord’s proposed amendments to the condition of licence concerning the solicitation of advertising and to the station’s technical parameters; and approving the application by Corus/Montmagny to change the technical parameters of CFEL-FM Montmagny.The commission also gave reason for denying some of the applications. Specifically, in turning down the application of Standard to operate a new English-language FM radio station in Québec, the CRTC noted: "Québec has a very small Anglophone population and that the advertising pool to support such a station is limited." The commission also noted that it denied the application from Radio Charlesbourg to change its frequency and authorized contours to encompass the city of Québec on grounds that there are other technical means by which the station can better serve the communities it is currently licensed to serve. "Average annual growth in radio advertising revenues in the Québec market over the next five years will not be any better than in the past five years," added the commission in its market assessment. " ability to accommodate new services while allowing existing services to expand will be fairly limited." SaskTel to offer programming from NBC UniversalSaskTel has entered into a multi-year distribution agreement with NBC Universal Cable to add CNBC and MSNBC to its digital network lineup as well as films from Universal Pictures. The movies will be offered a la carte via SaskTel’s Max Front Row video-on-demand service. "This agreement with NBC Universal Cable expands the choices our Max Front Row service has to offer our more than 45,000 Max customers," said SaskTel’s president and CEO Robert Watson in a news release. "SaskTel will continue to focus on Max product enhancements and value-added services that will increase overall quality and selection." MuchMusic teams up with Kids Help PhoneKids Help Phone, the 24-hour anonymous phone and web counseling service for children and youth, has launched a new public service announcement created by national media partner MuchMusic. The 30-second spot titled Alone in the Crowd was produced for free by MuchMusic Creative Services with production and post production services donated by Crush Inc., William F. White and Greg Foad DP. The PSA shows how a secret, seemingly shared between two friends, can spread until it becomes a rumour among many and ends with the line: "Need someone to talk to? Your secret is safe with Kids Help Phone." MuchMusic and other Chum Ltd.-owned stations are donating airtime to run the spot. "Since our launch in 1998, MuchMusic has been an invaluable partner in helping Kids Help Phone reach Canadian youth," said Graham Lute, VP of marketing and fund development for Kids in a news release. Cité-Amerique options fiction trilogyCanadian production company Cité-Amerique, a subsidiary of FRV Media Inc., has signed an option for the adaptation and film production of the three novels from the Filles de Caleb (Caleb’s Daughters) series from Quebec novelist Arlette Cousture. The company plans to create an adaptation of the three books – Le chant du coq, Le cri de l’oie blanche, and L’abandon de la mesange – that would be produced for release in movie theatres. Cité-Amerique previously produced a 20-episode television series based on Cousture’s first two volumes which aired in 1991 and was later sold for broadcast in 40 countries. In 2005 Le Trente magazine published a list of the 12 most popular shows in the history of Quebec television with an episode of Les Filles de Caleb finishing second. Crime series The Wire returns to Astral, CorusThe Wire, a critically-acclaimed crime series from HBO that’s told from the perspective of both the police and their targets, will kick off its fourth season on Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central and Astral Media’s The Movie Network on September 10. The new 13-episode season will focus on the lives of four young boys as they navigate adolescence in the drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The show doesn’t follow the typical formula of painting police as heroes who destroy villains, said David Simon, series creator and executive producer, in a news release. This season is in large part based on the experiences of writer and producer Edward Burns, who taught social studies in the Baltimore school system after serving 20 years as a police detective. Cogeco finalizes Cabovisao-Televisao buyCogeco Cable Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Cabovisao – Televisao por Cabo SA, the second largest cable operator in Portugal. "The completion of this acquisition represents a significant step for Cogeco Cable in our strategy to secure growth opportunities for our shareholders," said Louis Audet, president and CEO of Cogeco, in a news release. "We are now squarely focused on quickly seizing the attractive opportunities this transaction has created for us to increase top-line growth, to increase customer satisfaction and to solidify our competitive position while soundly controlling cost." Cogeco is the second largest cable operator in both Ontario and Quebec based on the number of basic cable service customers served. Fall line-ups from MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic and RazerChum Ltd. televisions stations MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic and Razer have released their fall programming line-ups which include 12 new series, four of which are in-house productions. MuchMusic fall highlights include two Much original series premieres, Music is My Life and Much Adrenaline, as well as season two of So You Think You Can Dance. MuchMoreMusic will feature two original series – Nosedive and Back In…Love – in addition to Celebrity Duets, Supergroup, A Different World and Fame. World of Stupid, Pushing the Limit and Madison, which will all premiere on Razer, round out the fall highlights. Decode creates new shows for Teletoon, YTVToronto-based Decode Entertainment has been commissioned by Teletoon Canada and CITV in the UK to make new episodes of the animated series Planet Sketch, and is also creating the CGI series Urban Vermin for YTV. International pre-sales for the second season of Planet Sketch have already been secured with ARD of Germany, LUK in Spain, SVT of Sweden, NRK in Norway, Denmark’s TV2, Nickelodeon France, Australian Broadcasting Corp. and VRT of Belgium. Numerous other international deals are already in place for Planet Sketch, which follows a cast of recurring characters including the Street Rappers, Gnaughty Gnomes and Parping Ponies. Urban Vermin, which was developed by Decode, is a YTV original production that stars two racoon brothers caught in a game of garbage-one-upmanship. Shaw to acquire NorcomShaw Communications Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire Norcom Telecommunications Ltd., subject to CRTC approval. Together with CTV television station CJBN-TV in Kenora, Norcom operates cable and Internet systems located in the Northwestern Ontario towns of Kenora, Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, Ear Falls and Ignace. "Shaw has been proud to serve customers in Winnipeg and Northwestern Ontario, including Thunder Bay, Fort Frances and Dryden, for many years, and we look forward to providing the same leading entertainment and communications services to Norcom’s customers," said Shaw’s president Peter Bissonnette in a news release.

CCR Short Takes

News | 08/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

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