Independent IPTV provider VMedia Inc. told CRTC commissioners that, if the regulator decides to reject the mandatory carriage application for Starlight: The Canadian Film Channel, the company plans to launch a new Canadian film app of all Canadian films. VMedia chief executive Alexei Tchernobrivets told CRTC commissioners Friday that the company would develop an app at its own cost that would “allow Canadians to watch Canadian movies on all their screens, at any time.” “It will collect and store, for unlimited access through that app, every single Canadian feature film and...
Four American “Afrotainment” specialty channels would benefit, not hinder, Afromedia Communications Inc.’s African Movies and Entertainment Television (AMET TV) service if they are allowed to launch in Canada, the company applying to bring the channels to Canada said. In regulatory documents filed with the CRTC this week, Soundview Entertainment Inc. said interventions that objected to its request for Canadian distribution of the Afrotainment channels, which include Afrotainment Music HD, Afrotainment HD, TV Naija and movie service Africa Box Office, “do not raise any argument or present any evidence.” Those interventions, filed with the commission earlier this month, argued that the Afrotainment channels would cater to a similar audience as AMET TV, an...
BCE Inc.’s Bell Media division launched a new apprenticeship program designed to help develop the “next generation” of TV producers in Canada, the company said. In a release Wednesday, Bell Media said it will provide up to $1 million a year to the Producer Accelerator Lab program, which will provide hands-on training in both the...
Filmmakers and producers backing a proposed all-Canadian film channel faced questions from CRTC commissioners about why the Canadian public should fund their channel and whether they considered launching the service on an online platform. A 19-member panel of backers for the service, called...
A Waterloo-region CBC/Radio-Canada radio program that was pulled this week due to a regulatory hurdle will be back on the air Friday after the CRTC approved an FM radio application for Paris, Ont., CBC said. CBC said Tuesday that...
The CRTC opened consultations on seven broadcasting applications, including one renewal and six requests to operate new services. In a notice posted on the commission’s website Tuesday, the commission said it is seeking comments on Canadian Teen Television Network Inc.’s application to renew its specialty channel licence, which is set to...
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) published a new standard designed to give broadcasters, TV providers and cable operators greater control over when users can fast-forward through on-demand content and advertising, the group said. In a release Tuesday, SCTE said the new standard, called SCTE 130-10 and published in a document called “Stream Restriction Data Model (SRDM),” will define “how programmers and operators can selectively disable Fast Forward functionality when needed or desired.” The group suggested that operators could use the standard to prevent consumers from skipping through advertisements in on-demand content. “SCTE 130-10 enables implementation of business policies that can preserve the value of sponsors’...
MTS Inc. will begin deploying its fibre-to-the-home FiON network in Stonewall, Man., this summer and expects the service to be available in the area later this year, the company said. In a release Thursday, MTS said its rollout...
Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary Videotron Ltd. released an illico.tv on-demand TV application for Google Inc.'s Android platform. In a release Wednesday, Videotron said the launch of the illico.tv Android app follows that...
The Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. faced questions Wednesday about what it would do if it lost its 9(1)(h) mandatory carriage fee as the channel puts more programming free online and sees TV...
The CRTC launched into two weeks of hearings Tuesday to consider a number of “exceptional” channels applying for mandatory carriage on basic TV packages. At least that's how the applicants for the special licences describe their proposed or existing channels. They would make exceptional contributions to...
Quebecor Media Inc.’s Sun News Network should receive regulatory protection as a “new entrant” in Canada’s broadcasting market, said Kory Teneycke, vice-president of the specialty channel. “What we’re asking for is very similar with what happened in the wireless spectrum auction, which...
Production companies spent $1.2 billion in on-location filming in Toronto in 2012, up 5.9 per cent from $1.13 billion a year earlier, a new report by the city said. In a “Film, Television & Digital Media: 2012 Year in Review” report presented to the city’s Economic Development Committee on Tuesday, Toronto’s economic...
The CRTC approved an application by Newfoundland Capital Corp. Ltd. subsidiary Newcap Inc. to operate a commercial English-language FM station in Wainwright, Alta., the commission said. In a decision Tuesday, the CRTC said it approved Newcap’s request to open a new FM station to replace its CKKY Wainwright AM station. The commission noted Newcap...
Radio broadcasters should build their brands and be willing to innovate to maintain listeners in a changing media environment in which traditional broadcasters “no longer rule the roost,”...
GATINEAU, Que.—CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais opened the regulator’s hearing on mandatory distribution applications by warning broadcast companies applying for the special licences that consumers are concerned about affordability in their TV services and that they want more choice in the channels they receive. “These services also have a direct impact on consumers’ bills and on the choice of services they receive,” Blais said at the start of a hearing Tuesday, referring to mandatory carriage on basic TV packages as “a great privilege.” “The CRTC is well aware of the impact of the decisions that it could take in this proceeding and recognizes...
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is looking at Bill C-475, a private members bill put forward by NDP MP Charmaine Borg that amends the Privacy Act. The private members bill was read a first time in the House of Commons on Feb. 26, and would require organizations to notify the federal privacy commissioner of any incident where there was...
Rogers Communications Inc. reported higher first-quarter revenues and profits as the company’s wireless data revenues rose on smartphone customer additions, Rogers said in a quarterly financial statement Monday. In a...
Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN) launched Star Network-India channels Star Utsav and Star Jalsha, the company said Monday. In a release Monday, ATN said it signed licensing agreements under which it has been granted exclusive rights to the two channels that are part of Star Network-India, affiliated with Fox International Channels, a...
Southshore Broadcasting Inc., which plans to become Canada’s first “multiplex” TV broadcaster later this year, says other local, over-the-air TV stations can use the technology to save spectrum, money and better serve viewers in their communities. Multiplexing, a practice widely...
Rogers Communications Inc. expanded its Anyplace TV service with an app that works on smart TVs made by LG Electronics, Rogers said. In a release Friday, Rogers said the application is the “first on demand video app of its kind in Canada” to work with smart TVs. The Anyplace TV service, which is also available through personal computers, laptops, smart phones, tablets and on Microsoft Inc.’s Xbox 360 gaming consoles, allows Rogers’ cable subscribers to access channels they subscribe to from Internet connected devices. Rogers said in the release the app will have more than 1,000 hours of content available when it launches, though it did not say when that will be. Other broadcast distributors have built similar TV applications for mobile devices, such as Shaw...
Arris Group Inc. completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility LLC’s “Motorola Home” business from Google Inc., the company said. In a release Wednesday, Arris said it paid Google $2.2 billion US and issued the company 10.6 million Arris shares to complete the deal, which was first announced in December. The deal, the release said,...
Four out of five online Canadians watch YouTube each month, said a new study by Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. (SRG). In an entry on SRG’s blog last month, the Toronto research firm said its most recent Digital Life Canada study found that 80 per cent of “online Canadians” watch YouTube each month. According to the study,...
Twitter Inc. launched a new tool that will allow advertisers to analyze users’ Tweets for keywords to better target their ads. In a post on the company’s advertising blog Wednesday, Nipoon Malhotra, Twitter’s product manager for revenue, said the company’s new “keyword targeting in timelines” product will allow...
The CRTC is encouraging Quebecor Media Inc. and Astral Media Inc. to find commercial terms in a content rights dispute after Astral asked the commission to arbitrate a disagreement over the wholesale prices for its pay and specialty and TV content, including The Movie Network and HBO. In a letter...
CBC/Radio-Canada TV programming will now be available live and on-demand on Bell Mobile TV, BCE Inc. division Bell Media said Friday. In a release, Bell said content from CBC’s over-the-air network will now be available on its mobile platform in addition to CBC News Network and Radio-Canada’s Réseau de l’information (RDI) news...
Quebecor Media Inc. division Contenu QMI announced four new appointments in its brands and multiplatform strategies sector on Friday. In a release, Contenu QMI said Suzanne Laverdiere, who has more than 25 years of experience in the communications industry, was appointed to the position of director, drama and documentaries, brands and multiplatform...
The CRTC approved a VMedia application to expand its IPTV business into new areas of Southern Ontario, the commission said. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said it approved VMedia’s application to serve as a broadcast...
Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN) is launching two new Sikh and Punjabi channels, ATN said Thursday. In a release, ATN said ATN-SIKH would be Canada’s first 24-hour Sikh spiritual channel and the ATN-BRIT Asia channel would be Canada’s first South Asian youth-oriented Punjabi music channel. The two new channels bring...
Traditional broadcast distribution and telecom operators will “lose ground” to over-the-top content providers and voice over IP services over the next four years, a new report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said Thursday. The ITU said in its “Trends in Telecommunication 2013” report that 6.9 per cent of global voice revenues, or $479 billion US, are forecast to move to VoIP services by 2020. “Total OTT [over-the-top] revenues [are] estimated to grow from around US $8 billion last year to as much as US $32 billion by 2017,” the report said. The report noted that though the growth of over-the-top services is occurring, the position of such players is being challenged in the industry, as an over-the-top player was recently required...
Quebec newspaper La Presse, owned by Power Corporation of Canada, launched a new, free iPad app, the company said, following three years of research and a $40-million investment. La Presse said in a release Thursday that readers can sign up for free access to its new digital edition, which will be added to the newspaper's existing print, website,...
A new CRTC “decisions group” will harmonize the look and feel of commission decisions across the broadcasting and telecom sectors and a new alternative dispute resolution and processes group will strengthen its broadcasting dispute resolution team, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in an internal email. In an email Monday, Blais said...
Amanda Cliff, director general of Heritage Canada’s broadcasting and digital communications division, will become the CRTC’s new executive director of communications and external relations, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais told staff in an internal email Monday. Cliff, who will assume the position on April 22, will oversee the...
The CRTC approved an application by Rangtel Inc. to operate an IPTV broadcast distribution service in the Greater Toronto Area. In a decision Wednesday, the commission said Rangtel will be allowed to offer its IPTV service in the areas of Ajax, Aurora, Brampton, Brock, Burlington, Caledon, Clarington, Halton Hills, King, Markham, Milton, Mississauga,...
The CRTC approved an application from Odyssey Television Network Inc. to add Greek Cinema, a 100 per cent Greek-language niche channel, to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution in Canada. In a decision Wednesday, the CRTC said Greek Cinema would offer new Greek-language movie releases as well as classics from the 1960s to 1990s....
OTTAWA—Canadian companies are slow to adopt “big data” technologies that can help them extract large amounts of consumer and business information to better improve their corporate strategies and operations, industry experts said. Colin McKay, global public policy manager at Google Inc.’s Canadian...
Broadcast distributors turned down BCE Inc.'s proposed deals to carry its content on online, mobile and video-on-demand platforms, Bell said, as the company accused...
The CRTC should help existing Canadian specialty channels secure carriage agreements before allowing competing, foreign channels into the country, Brampton, Ont.-based broadcaster Afromedia...
Telesat said it launched its new Anik G1 satellite. In a release, Telesat said the new satellite would be located at 107.3 degrees West and would provide direct-to-home (DTH) TV services in Canada, as well as C-band and Ku-band...
Independent broadcast distributors say BCE Inc. has not addressed the CRTC's concerns about market power resulting from an acquisition of Astral Media Inc. and that BCE's share of all carriage...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and a consortium of consumer groups said they oppose Shaw Communications Inc.’s bid to acquire the remaining share of the TVtropolis specialty channel. In regulatory documents...
Profits for Shaw Communications Inc. reached $182 million in the second quarter of 2013, up from $178 million in the same period of 2012, the company said Friday. In a financial earnings statement, Shaw said consolidated revenue...
About half of Canadian households, or 45 per cent, own a gaming console, said a new survey by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), adding that many people use them to watch streaming content on their TVs. The MTM, a joint research project between CBC/Radio-Canada and BBM Analytics, said in polling results released Thursday that the Nintendo Co. Ltd. Wii...
Profits attributable to shareholders for Corus Entertainment Inc. fell to $5.9 million in the second quarter of 2013, down from $31.6 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said Thursday. In a financial earnings report, Corus said revenues were $183.7 million in the second quarter, down from $205.7 million in the same period of 2012. TV revenues, Corus said, were down 12 per cent during the quarter to $143.4 million, and the company's Movie Central subscribers, which includes HBO Canada content, were up by 37,000 in the second quarter to reach 1,013,000 total subscribers. Corus’ television revenues for the same period in 2012 totalled $163.3 million, the financial report said. According to the Competition Bureau’s announcement of a consent agreement with BCE Inc. that approved its acquisition of Astral Media Inc. for $3.38 billion, Corus said it plans to acquire Astral’s shares in six Astral TV channels it jointly owns with the company. Corus said its profits attributable to shareholders includes...
Profits for Astral Media Inc. totalled $41.2 million in the second quarter of 2013, up eight per cent from $38.2 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said Thursday. In a quarterly earnings statement, Astral said consolidated revenues also rose in the second quarter to $237.1 million, from $233.5 million in the same period a year...
Canada's most popular sports specialty channels reported millions of dollars in additional expenses as profits dropped during the 2012 broadcast year, according to new specialty channel data released by the CRTC. The regulator released data for the broadcasting year ended Aug. 31, 2012, showing that BCE Inc.'s TSN...
CBC/Radio-Canada reached a deal with Microsoft Corp.'s Canadian division to distribute Hockey Night in Canada content on Microsoft platforms MSN.ca, Xbox, Windows 8, and Windows 8 mobile phones, a release said. CBC and Microsoft said in a release Wednesday that they launched an new app for live broadcasts of Hockey Night In Canada available for...
Quebecor Media Inc. officials are scheduled to appear on the first day of the CRTC's public hearing to review applications for mandatory carriage under Section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act. The Quebecor officials are scheduled to answer questions from commissioners on April 23 about the company's request for mandatory carriage for its Sun...
Quebec's electronic gaming industry grew by nine per cent in 2012, Quebec tech industry workforce group TechnoCompétence said. “Despite a flurry of layoffs and studio closures during the year, the industry experienced a 9 per cent growth rate. The expansion in job creation is spectacular when compared to the 0.8 per cent overall job creation growth rate in Québec and the 1.6 per cent growth rate in information and communication technologies (ICT),” TechnoCompétence said in a release Wednesday. The group forecasted 5 to 10 per cent growth in 2013 for Quebec's electronic gaming industry, and noted that the "scarcity of experienced and talented candidates poses a major and recurring recruitment and retention challenge for employers." The...
Total TV subscriber growth for cable, IPTV, and satellite TV services in Canada slowed to one per cent in the 2011-2012 broadcast year, reaching a total of 11.5 million subscribers, according to new data released by the CRTC. Annual TV subscriber growth in 2012 has fallen by more than half from previous years, when annual...
The CRTC's efforts to revamp its website will focus on consumer access over concerns from industry, Paulette Leclair, the commission’s director of public affairs, said in an interview. Home to the public records for...
The Supreme Court's broadcasting decision last December, which quashed the CRTC's value for signal regime and which industry sources say reduced the commission's powers, may be raised during the regulator's upcoming hearing on mandatory carriage. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in December, called...
Telus Corp. said a competing broadcast distributor refused an advertisement about its TV service, suggesting the move was done for competitive reasons. In a regulatory filing with the CRTC for its consultation on BCE Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc. for $3.38 billion, Telus said western competitor Shaw Communications Inc. rejected a...
Canadian sports broadcaster Johnny Esaw passed away at his home in Toronto on April 7, CTV said Monday. In a statement, Phil King, president of CTV programming and sports at Bell Media, a division of BCE Inc., said the broadcaster is “deeply saddened” by the passing of Esaw, who died at age 87 and was a “true legend” in sports...
The CRTC approved an application from Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. to change the format of CFEQ-FM Winnipeg from Christian programming to classical music. In a decision Monday, the commission said Golden West submitted the new...
The Banff Centre is encouraging public comments on its radio applications with the CRTC, the local arts and culture organization said Monday. In a release, The Banff Centre referred to applications it filed with the commission to maintain two Banff National Park radio stations that offer local tourism information in both official languages and to...
Five consumer and public interest groups told the CRTC they oppose BCE Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), which advocates for consumers and acts as counsel for the...
Cogeco Cable Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. criticized the Competition Bureau's closed-door approval of BCE Inc.'s $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. in advance of a public hearing on the acquisition to be held by Canada's broadcast regulator. Quebecor chief executive Pierre Karl Péladeau said in a letter to the Competition Bureau on March 20 that Bell sought closed-door negotiations surrounding its proposed acquisition of Astral so that other companies and interested parties could not be heard out. “It is unbelievable that the Bureau agreed to comply with this strategy without allowing us to assert, in a specific way, the considerable competitive issues...
Nielsen is bringing its online advertising measurement service to Canada, the consumer research group said. In a release Wednesday, the New York-based ratings company said its Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings product, which is currently available in the U.S. and the U.K., will expand to four new markets “in the coming weeks,” including...
Canadians are avoiding some mobile applications, websites and online services due to privacy concerns, said a new survey commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In a release Thursday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said a telephone survey of 1,513 Canadians conducted from Oct. 25 to Nov....
Facebook Inc. launched a new mobile application, called “Home,” that is designed to replace a smartphone’s locked screen and home screen with a Facebook “cover feed” that features photos and status updates from the phone user’s friends. In a release, Facebook said the app, which works on phones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system, is designed to be “a window into...
CBC/Radio-Canada’s new plan to air more branded entertainment during the day will draw advertising and sponsorship dollars to the public broadcaster at the cost of quality daytime programming and producers’ creative talent, said Richard Nielsen, president of Toronto-based Norflicks...
The CRTC approved a request from Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to add Kapatid TV5 to the list of non-Canadian channels authorized for broadcast distribution in Canada. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said Philippines-based Kapatid TV5 is a general interest channel that would cater to Filipino communities through news, drama, and game shows, as well as “lifestyle, human interest, recreation, leisure and reality programming.”...
Apple Inc.’s iTV will go on sale later this year with a price range of $1,500 US to $2,500 US, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. In a research note obtained by AP, New York-based Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian J. White said the iTV will measure 60 inches diagonally, though it could also come in 50- and 55-inch versions. White did not...
CBC/Radio-Canada signed an agreement with Quebecor Media Inc. broadcast property TVA Sports for French-language coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. CBC said in a release Thursday that, as a result of the new agreement, 46...
Gregory Taylor, a broadcasting expert and post-doctoral fellow at Ryerson University, says a lack of regulatory guidance during Canada’s switch to over-the-air, digital TV has left Canadians unaware about the real potential of their country’s local broadcasting services. In a phone interview with The Wire...
BlackBerry’s BBM Music service will shut down on June 2, the company said in an email to users Wednesday. The email, posted on forum site Crackberry.com, informed customers that the music service will be “discontinued” in June. “For paying customers, April is the last month that you will be billed,” the email said....
Thunderbird Films Inc. appointed Ivan Fecan as the chairman of its board, the company said Tuesday. In a release, Thunderbird said Fecan, who will also serve as a consultant to the company, has “extensive” experience in the industry. He previous held the positions of vice-president of creative affairs at NBC, head of English Television at...
The Conservative government said there is no new tariff on digital music players, as economics professor Mike Moffatt said he discovered in the government's 2013 federal budget. "I want to clarify that there is no ipod tax," Kathleen Perchaluk, a spokeswoman for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said in an emailed statement Friday....
Netflix Inc. will premiere its fourth season of Arrested Development on May 26, 2013, in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Brazil and the Nordic countries. The online TV service will instantly make available all 15 episodes of the new season about the dysfunctional Bluth family, created by executive producer Mitchell...
Privacy regulators in six European countries said they are preparing to take legal action against Google Inc. over the company’s consolidated online privacy policy launched last year. In a release, French privacy regulator the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) said regulators in...
CBC/Radio-Canada announced the renewal of 21 TV shows and expanded seasons of Republic of Doyle and Murdoch Mysteries as the public broadcaster deals with budget cuts totalling $115 million by 2014-2015. Republic of Doyle will be renewed with an expanded 16 episodes and Murdoch Mysteries with 18 episodes, CBC said in a release Wednesday. It said the 2013-2014 broadcast season will also feature a television movie adaptation of The Book of Negroes and a new season of Battle of the Blades. “We are very proud that, despite a very challenging financial climate, CBC continues to deliver a television schedule that features strong, proven Canadian programming along with some new made-in-Canada titles,” Christine Wilson, executive director of content at CBC English services, said in...
Cineflix Media Inc. appointed Andrew Akman as its chief operating officer, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Cineflix, a content creator, producer and distributor, said Akman, based in Toronto, would be responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate operations, information technology and post-production, as well partnerships and...
The National Film Board and CBC/Radio-Canada launched Hyperlocal, an online website of six interactive stories about changes in Canada’s neighbourhoods. In a release Wednesday, the Film Board said Hyperlocal, which was commissioned by CBC Canada Writes, the public broadcaster’s literature division, will provide a collection of six personal...
Rogers Communications Inc.'s ownership of Toronto sports teams and control of their broadcasting rights positions the company to profit from team successes, BMO analyst Tim Casey said in a research note. In a note dated March 27, Casey said Rogers' ownership of the teams could help offset the rising costs of acquiring other sports content for...
Telus Corp. will use Ericsson's compression technology to improve HD video quality for its IPTV service, Ericsson said Thursday. In a release, Ericsson said it is supplying Telus with its MPEG-4 AVC HD “compression solution” to improve the efficiency of Telus' Internet-protocol TV service, called Optik TV. The technology, Ericsson...
More than two per cent of Canadian TV subscribers cancelled their subscriptions in the past two years, a report by the Convergence Consulting Group Ltd. said. In a report released this week, Convergence estimated that 178,000 subscribers cancelled their television subscriptions in 2012 and that 250,000 have cancelled since 2011 “to rely solely” on over-the-air broadcasts, online television and over-the-top, online services like Netflix. The report, titled “The Battle for the North American Couch Potato: Bundling, Television, Internet, Telephone, Wireless,” said about 2.1 per cent of Canadian TV subscribers cancelled their services over the past two years and predicted that number to rise further this year. “We forecast Canadian TV cord cutter...
Consultations on new securities rules from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) would help Canadian startups find additional capital through crowdfunding and give them more power to stop hostile takeovers, tech industry insiders say. In December, the OSC launched a...
Ericsson is in talks to purchase Microsoft Corp.’s MediaRoom IPTV technology, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Bloomberg cited sources with knowledge of the talks, reporting that Cross Research said the deal could total more than $1 billion US and may be announced in the next few weeks. Bloomberg reported that...
Toronto-based White Pine Pictures, which is behind CBC/Radio-Canada’s police drama show Cracked, sold the program to the U.S. and France, White Pine said Wednesday. In a release, White Pine said the rights were acquired by U.S. cable and satellite network ReelzChannel after Cracked averaged about 750,000 viewers in Canada. “The acquisition...
Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber’s private members' bill on CBC transparency, Bill C-461, passed a vote at second reading in the House of Commons with support from the Conservative government. The bill was first tabled by Rathgeber in November and aims to prevent CBC/Radio-Canada from denying access-to-information requests based on an...
Sixteen per cent of anglophone Canadians stream audio content on their smartphones and 14 per cent stream online video, Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said in a new report. In a report called “Streaming Media on Smartphones” released Wednesday, MTM said the number of anglophones who stream audio content on their phones rose 77 per cent in...
The CRTC opened a consultation on whether video sign language services should be available to telephone users who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. In a notice Wednesday, the commission...
Bell Aliant Inc. cannot spend some of its community TV contributions on Internet programming, the CRTC said. In a decision Wednesday to renew a Bell Aliant broadcast distribution licence, the commission said the company, a 40 per cent-owned subsidiary of BCE Inc., had asked to allocate some of its community television...
The CRTC would effectively change its genre exclusivity policy if it allowed Videotron Ltd. to continue offering its illico Club Unlimited service on TV, Astral Media Inc. said. In a complaint filed with the commission this month, Astral said the Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary’s Club Unlimited video on-demand service, available on set-top boxes,...
The CRTC said it opened a consultation on 10 new broadcasting applications. In a notice of consultation issued Tuesday, the CRTC said it is considering two applications by Hollywood Suites Inc. for two Category B specialty TV channels, as well as applications by Evan Kosinar for two new audio programming channels. It is also consulting on six applications related to FM radio stations in British Columbia, including those by The Banff Centre, Prince George Community Radio Society, Vista Radio Ltd., and Wells Community Radio Association. The deadline for comments on the applications is April 25, the commission said. ...
BCE Inc. president and CEO George Cope earned $11.09 million in total compensation in 2012, up 15.4 per cent from $9.62 million a year earlier, BCE said in a securities regulatory filing. Much of the higher pay was due to “short-term incentive” payouts related to the company’s performance, BCE said in a management proxy circular...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) are opposing BCE Inc.’s requests for more licensing flexibility to air different types of programming on some of its specialty channels. Bell Media, BCE’s media division, applied to the...
Profits for the Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN) reached $2.9 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2012, ATN said Monday. In a release, ATN said profits for 2012 fell from $5.3 million the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were also down, the company said, from $7.56 million in 2011 to $4.33...
Only about 60 of 1,200 over-the-air, American TV broadcasters have expressed an interest in auctioning off their 600 MHz spectrum, said the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), signalling that mobile operators' access to the spectrum could be limited. Dennis Wharton, a spokesman with the NAB, a Washington...
The CRTC opened a call for applications to fill an FM radio slot in the Vancouver market. In a notice posted on its website Monday, the commission said it received an application from South Fraser Broadcasting Inc. to operate an English-language FM radio station in Surrey, B.C., which is a part of the Vancouver radio market. “Given the scarcity of FM frequencies in the Vancouver radio market, the commission hereby calls for applications from other parties wishing to obtain a radio licence (or licences) to serve this area,” the CRTC said. The commission said applications must be...
Michel Morin, a former CRTC commissioner, joined TVA as an investigative journalist. The TVA network, owned by Quebecor Media Inc., said in a release Friday that Morin started his carreer as a journalist and will investigate imortant issues in Quebec for the network's news programs. "I returned to journalism because it is a trade that I want...
Wavefront, a wireless commercialization and research centre, is teaming up with the Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montréal to launch Quebec’s first library of mobile devices, Wavefront said Thursday. A release said the Wavefront Device Library will officially open April 9 and will give mobile developers access to more than 1,000...
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) said it supports the Conservative government's creation of the Canada Job Grant initiative in its 2013 federal budget plan. In a release Thursday, the CMPA said it supports the grant program, which would provide $15,000 per-person grants to help workers get into workplaces and develop their skills....
Canadian musicians and music companies should better partner with technology companies to make it easier to find and buy Canadian music online, a new report by Music Canada said. In the report, titled “The Next Big Bang: A New Direction for Music in Canada,” the music industry association said players in the...
The CRTC said it approved a licence to Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to operate Hindi Music TV. In a decision Friday, the CRTC said the Category B specialty channel would be devoted to airing Hindi-language music and music programming, and could air up to six minutes of local and regional programming...
Legal fights are under way in Ottawa over whether the Conservative government's new copyright bill creates a new right for the collection of online music royalties. In separate legal proceedings involving the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the copyright collective that would...
The CRTC said it approved Bell Aliant Inc.’s request to offer broadcast distribution services Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. In a decision Thursday, the commission said Bell Aliant can expand its broadcast distribution business to...
The CRTC denied requests from two local radio broadcasters that had asked for eased restrictions on the type of music their stations can play. In two decisions Thursday, the CRTC said it renewed the broadcasting licences of...
The CRTC said it approved a licence to Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to operate Bollywood Movies TV. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said the proposed, Category B specialty service would be devoted to airing Hindi-language movies, and could air up to six minutes of local and regional ads each hour....
