Big concessions on NAFTA cultural exemption unlikely, experts say

Media | 09/07/2018 2:40 pm EDT

As cultural protection emerges as a last-stretch NAFTA sticking point,...

Joly out at Heritage as Pablo Rodriguez named new minister

Media | 07/18/2018 5:00 pm EDT

Former chief government whip Pablo Rodriguez is the new heritage minister,...

Numeris’ new digital measurement a ‘necessary step’: expert

Media | 07/16/2018 5:07 pm EDT

Broadcasters with multiplatform properties are expected to benefit from a...

CRTC calls for ISPs to pay for CanCon, ‘equitable’ OTT contributions

Media | 05/31/2018 11:18 am EDT

GATINEAU — The CRTC is recommending the government undertake a bevy of...

Creative Canada ‘cultural policy, not tax policy’: Joly

Media | 11/02/2017 9:39 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Opposition MPs continued their criticism of Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s cultural strategy during Joly’s appearance at the House standing committee on Canadian Heritage late Thursday afternoon, including questioning the minister about imposing sales tax...

Future reviews to determine much of DigiCanCon strategy: experts

Media | 09/28/2017 11:25 am EDT

OTTAWA — While the response to the long-awaited results of Heritage...

New OTT offerings pose threat to BDUs, opportunity for producers

Media | 08/17/2017 4:47 pm EDT

A proliferation of new streaming TV competition in Canada is set to benefit...

Blais evokes praise, criticism as he leaves CRTC

Media | 06/19/2017 5:36 pm EDT

Now that former chairman Jean-Pierre Blais has departed the CRTC after five years at the helm, he leaves...

Cultural exemptions at risk in NAFTA renegotiations: Nantel

Media | 05/04/2017 8:42 pm EDT

NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel is raising the alarm that cultural protection could be on the chopping block if a wholesale renegotiation of the country’s trade agreement with the United States and Mexico occurs, and is asking the heritage minister to take a stand. In an opinion piece published in French-language...

As Shomi shuts down, experts point to strong competition in OTT

Media | 09/26/2016 9:55 pm EDT

Shomi, the joint Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. over-the-top (OTT) video service, will shut down on Nov. 30, the service...

CRTC funding changes threaten Canadian content creators, critics say

Media | 08/29/2016 9:51 pm EDT

By lowering the requirements for obtaining Canadian content funding, the CRTC is pushing Canadian content creators to the curb, according to opponents of the regulator’s move last week to rejig...

Millennials driving OTA growth in Canada: report

Media | 07/20/2016 8:52 pm EDT

The over-the-air (OTA) market has been slowly growing over the past three years, according to data collected by Media Technology Monitor, a trend industry observers said doesn’t come as a surprise. According to a report...

CanCon review panel announcement draws mixed reaction

Media | 06/28/2016 9:19 pm EDT

Heritage Canada’s announcement of an expert advisory panel for its review of Canadian content in a digital age, which includes representatives from a number of broadcasters, was met with both praise and...

Rogers proposes ‘not-for-profit’ national OMNI channel

Media | 06/14/2016 9:12 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. is changing tack with its beleaguered OMNI ethnic stations, announcing Tuesday it’s applied for a licence for a national ethnic channel, which it asked the CRTC to include in skinny-basic packages, promising to restore previously cut ethnic programming if the proposal is approved. The channel’s business model would change from previously relying on ad revenue from U.S. programming to relying on the subscriber fees that come with mandatory carriage, or 9(1)(h) status, Colette Watson, vice-president of broadcast and TV operations at Rogers, said in a phone...

Sweeping government review to include CRTC, Broadcast Act, CanCon

Media | 04/25/2016 10:56 pm EDT

Industry insiders and observers are calling Canadian Heritage’s impending study of Canadian content in the digital age — which could potentially affect CBC/Radio-Canada, legislation like...

As streaming services grow, is TV-everywhere still relevant?

Media | 04/08/2016 4:00 pm EDT

When companies launched TV-everywhere products a few years ago, they did so as part of an effort to compete with then-new streaming services — but now that many of those same companies have...

Government to consult on impact of ‘digital shift’ on media sector

Media | 02/25/2016 10:12 pm EST

The federal government will hold a consultation on the Internet's effect on Canada’s media industry. According to a transcript, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said in question period...

How could the Netflix proxy ban affect Canadian OTT?

Media | 02/11/2016 7:26 pm EST

The Netflix Inc. crackdown on virtual-private-network (VPN) use could provide an opportunity for Canadian providers to carve out more of the over-the-top (OTT) market, though a lack of firm figures makes predictions difficult....

Shaw’s FreeRange TV first step in transition to IP-based system

Media | 01/06/2016 9:09 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. on Wednesday began publicizing the first phase in a transformation of its television service that it hopes gives consumers reason to choose its TV service over competitors and over the option of having no TV service at all. It announced the availability of an application called FreeRange TV, which Shaw chief operating officer Jay Mehr said will allow the company's TV customers to get the full range of their TV subscriptions on mobile devices within their homes or while out and about. "We think it's a major step forward," he said in a phone interview. "The ability to take everything you subscribe to on your TV, at no extra charge, onto your...

HBO deal bolsters CraveTV against Shomi, Netflix: experts

Media | 11/20/2015 10:15 pm EST

BCE Inc.’s move to acquire exclusive rights to HBO programming on all platforms and become the sole operator of HBO Canada will make its CraveTV over-the-top (OTT) service more competitive...

Are apps the future of TV?

Media | 10/14/2015 4:30 pm EDT

In the past 18 months, Ottawa-based TV app-maker You.i TV has grown from 20 employees to 130, and the company expects that kind of expansion to continue in the next year, according to Matt Nelson, You.i TV’s director of marketing. “Basically, anyone who has a channel, anyone who has a...

TV wholesale code finalized, takes effect in January

Media | 09/24/2015 9:00 pm EDT

The CRTC on Thursday released a final version of its anticipated wholesale code governing the business relationships between TV-service providers and channel operators, which, among other things, bans provisions that would prevent...

Canadian OTT startup looks to take on the world

Media | 08/17/2015 8:01 pm EDT

An emerging Canadian provider of over-the-top (OTT) video content hopes that reaching viewers around the world, and particularly those with very specific interests, translates into keys to success in the fast-changing television...

Are ‘hybrid’ streaming services the future of TV?

Media | 07/27/2015 9:18 pm EDT

Streaming is often perceived as a competitor to the traditional TV system, but the introduction of a new service in the U.S. raises the possibility that instead of one replacing the other, the two could merge into a new hybrid...

Credential sharing could help, or harm, OTT services

Media | 07/17/2015 7:47 pm EDT

The practice of sharing passwords so that more than one person or household can access a streaming service has financial ramifications for the industry, according to a new report, though it could also provide new services with a...

Shomi stand-alone proposal could be financially feasible: analyst

Media | 05/27/2015 9:38 pm EDT

At some point this summer, Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi streaming service will be made available to customers of other TV and Internet service providers...

Proposed BDU code inconsistent with unregulated OTT: consultant

Media | 03/26/2015 9:04 pm EDT

The CRTC’s proposed new code of conduct for television service providers is at odds with the commission’s stance that it won’t regulate over-the-top (OTT) services, according to...

New VOD rules’ effect on Shomi, CraveTV unclear

Media | 03/12/2015 5:01 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The CRTC introduced a new category for video-on-demand services Thursday that allows them to offer content exclusive to certain TV service providers and operate under the digital-media exemption order, as long as they also offer that content online to all Canadians, though the consequences for Shomi and CraveTV remained unclear. In response to an interview question from The Wire Report about how the decision would affect Shomi and CraveTV, CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in an interview: “I think it would be premature to suggest that we know how it would apply.” Blais said that prior to Thursday’s decision, VOD services in Canada could operate under a licence, which carries obligations including those around Canadian content expenditures, and...

Rogers denies exec called for ban on VPNs

Media | 02/27/2015 6:56 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. said Friday that David Purdy, its senior vice-president of content, did not call on government to ban virtual private networks (VPNs) during a media-industry conference in Toronto on Thursday, despite...

Bell Media ‘extremely disappointed’ by Super Bowl simsub decision

Media | 01/29/2015 2:27 pm EST

The CRTC said Thursday that it would prohibit the use of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl, but would otherwise keep the practice in place, in an approach BCE Inc.’s media division...

Early problems emerge with Shomi service

Media | 12/04/2014 4:46 pm EST

Some TV-industry analysts who are among the early adopters of Rogers Communications Inc.'s and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi are detailing problems they've experienced with the streaming service in...

‘Weak’ advertising market here to stay: experts

Media | 11/18/2014 10:18 pm EST

Canada’s largest media companies take it as a given that the current market for advertising on traditional broadcast media is weak, but experts say broadcasting is shifting to a new normal as online advertising becomes the...

Streaming services present ‘exciting’ opportunity: production exec

Media | 11/14/2014 10:03 pm EST

It makes sense that David Cormican is optimistic about the impact new streaming services will have on Canadian producers. He’s halfway through the shoot of a new show called Between. It's a teenager-focused drama about a group of youth quarantined by the government after the outbreak of a mysterious disease. It is the first — and so far only — original Canadian show commissioned by U.S. streaming giant Netflix Inc. and new Canadian rival Shomi. The world of streaming services “is a little uncharted, so you can sort of make some of the rules as you go, or at least be on the first edge of creating those new rules,” Cormican, executive vice-president of...

Rogers takes aim at youth with Vice partnership

Media | 10/30/2014 9:27 pm EDT

When Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence wore a leather jacket to the announcement of his company's latest project —a $100 million joint venture with Vice Media Inc. —the unconventional outfit emphasized...

CRTC to remove Netflix, Google input from Talk TV process

Media | 09/29/2014 9:05 pm EDT

The CRTC said Monday it will remove all evidence presented by Netflix Inc. and Google Inc., including oral and written presentations, from the Let’s Talk TV process, following the...

CRTC in tough spot after Netflix refuses to disclose: experts

Media | 09/23/2014 8:52 pm EDT

Experts say that while CRTC must somehow respond to the refusal of Netflix Inc. to give the commission information it had been ordered to provide by CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais during a hearing...

Broadcast revenue rises as TV subs drop: CRTC

Media | 09/04/2014 8:18 pm EDT

The latest numbers from the CRTC show Canadians are watching more television on more devices, though fewer people are subscribing to TV services and young adults are tuning out. The broadcasting portion of the CRTC's annual...

Conspicuous by its absence in TV review: OTT services

Media | 08/28/2014 9:24 pm EDT

In a little more than a week, the people who make and produce, broadcast and distribute, analyze and report on the Canadian television industry will gather in Gatineau, Que., to spend two weeks talking about its future. The...

Social TV growing, still lacks audience, monetization: experts

Media | 06/24/2014 8:56 pm EDT

While singing competition reality shows have been a mainstay on network television for the past decade, their newest iteration could offer an indication of the direction in which social-TV strategies...

Video-on-demand, pay-per-view revenues fall: CRTC

Media | 04/30/2014 9:38 pm EDT

Television providers earned less from their video-on-demand services last year, according to CRTC data released Wednesday, despite investing in increasing the availability of content. The CRTC said in the statistical and...

Ending simultaneous substitution could be ‘huge financial hit’: analyst

Media | 04/25/2014 8:39 pm EDT

If the CRTC ends the practice of simultaneous substitution, as it has suggested it could as part of its review of television, conventional broadcasters would be in for a “huge financial...

CRTC backs pick-and-pay while acknowledging ‘risks’

Media | 04/24/2014 6:07 pm EDT

The CRTC has officially endorsed a move toward pick-and-pay television, though it has admitted the transition to such a model is unlikely to be pain-free. The commission proposed in a report Thursday that television-service providers be required to allow customers to choose all their channels beyond a basic package that consists of Canadian over-the-air channels, those deemed to be of public interest such as CPAC or the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, provincial educational channels, community channels and services operated by provincial legislatures. It suggested that subscribers be...

VMedia offers cloudy version of IPTV

Media | 04/08/2014 11:01 pm EDT

George Burger wants to give Canadians a more streamlined television experience, yet analysts say the high-tech Internet-protocol TV offerings from his VMedia Inc. might have limited appeal. The IPTV service from VMedia now...