TAGGED AS MEDIA

FreeHD tells commission Bell, Shaw should move to spot beam satellite technology

Media | 09/10/2010 8:21 pm EDT

New satellite entrant FreeHD Canada Inc. says spot beam technology could solve arguments surrounding the carriage of local, over-the-air channels that broadcasters and satellite television providers are fighting out before the CRTC. In submissions made in advance of the CRTC’s hearing to review its direct-to-home (DTH) satellite distribution policy, scheduled for Nov. 16, the CBC and Canwest Television Limited Partnership argue that Canada’s two incumbent DTH providers, Bell TV and Shaw Direct, need to provide local access to their local over-the-air channels. The broadcasters want each community in Canada to have access to their local CBC or Global channel over DTH. Many...

Von Finckenstein clears the air on political interference

Media | 09/09/2010 9:30 pm EDT

CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein appears to have done himself and the Prime Minister’s Office a favour by clearing the air on suggestions of political interference in the commission’s business. In a letter to the editor published in The Globe and Mail on Wednesday, von Finckenstein sought to set the record straight on reports about the Harper government offering him new appointments to encourage him to leave early. In the process the CRTC chair has also assured the Conservative government and the broadcasting industry that it will be business as usual as the commission considers a politically sensitive broadcasting application for an all-news service called Sun TV News. Von Finckenstein’s letter responded to a column by Lawrence Martin, who had written that the...

Online media outlets need better strategies for community interaction, says Globe’s Kapoor

Media | 09/09/2010 3:37 pm EDT

TORONTO—News outlets have to better learn to interact with their audiences and “build the community around them” as they adjust to new media platforms, Anjali Kapoor, managing editor of digital at The Globe and Mail, said at a panel discussion in Toronto Wednesday. “News...

Groups lining up to be part of CRTC new media working group

Media | 09/08/2010 9:08 pm EDT

Cultural groups and broadcasters are lining up to be part of the CRTC’s new media working group following the Aug. 31 deadline to apply to participate. The Wire Report has confirmed that the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio...

Arpin wanted to stay, ‘but the wise men decided differently,’ he says

Media | 09/03/2010 7:15 pm EDT

Two days after leaving his position as vice-chair of broadcasting at the CRTC, Michel Arpin sat down with me for an exclusive interview in his new office at Université de Montréal, where this week he officially took on a position as visiting professor in the communications studies department. For more...

Friends raise unlikely prospect of increasing public funding for CBC

Media | 09/03/2010 6:28 pm EDT

The politically sensitive topic of the CBC’s public funding is again coming into question. In a pre-budget consultation submission to the House Standing Committee on Finance, broadcasting watchdog Friends of Canadian Broadcasting says the federal government should increase the CBC’s per-capita public funding to...

Google to target local, business-to-business advertising in Canadian expansion

Media | 09/03/2010 4:58 pm EDT

Experts expect Google Inc. to make local search central to a Canadian expansion plan focused on business-to-business online advertising. The search giant and online advertising broker has announced an expansion into Canada to garner a bigger share of the business-to-business market. The shift includes moving its headquarters of 70 staff from Waterloo, Ont., to neighbouring Kitchener. The company is planning to hire more staff in engineering, sales, marketing and policy, news reports say. Google did not meet an interview request, but observers say the firm’s new business-to-business focus could target local businesses for online advertising across Canada. “If...

Quebecor not giving up on application for must-carry Sun TV News

Media | 09/01/2010 9:43 pm EDT

The CRTC has opened a consultation on a new Quebecor Media Inc. application for a broadcasting licence for an all-news channel called Sun TV News—but the application still contains a request for must-carry status. On Wednesday the CRTC issued a notice of consultation to consider Quebecor’s application,...

Pelmorex calls for industry-wide regulations on market power of integrated companies

Media | 09/01/2010 9:12 pm EDT

The Weather Network owner Pelmorex Communications Inc. is calling on the CRTC to implement a series of new industry-wide policies to “safeguard” against excessive market power from vertically integrated communications companies that have more than a 25 per cent audience share. “Concentration in the...

CRTC upholds ‘paternalistic’ approach to community TV, CACTUS says

Media | 08/27/2010 7:58 pm EDT

The CRTC upheld a “paternalistic” stance toward the community television sector in its new regulatory policy released Thursday, Catherine Edwards, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), said in an interview. “They [the commission] completely ignored...

Google, Yahoo, concerned about Bill-C-32 ‘enabler’ provision

Media | 08/27/2010 7:39 pm EDT

OTTAWA—A so-called “enabler provision” in the Conservative government’s copyright reform bill is drawing concern from major companies Google and Yahoo, industry sources say. Sources close to the legislation say the companies are having internal discussions about the provision, which is intended to...

CMPA raises diversity of voices question on Shaw-Canwest deal

Media | 08/24/2010 10:49 pm EDT

The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) is calling on the CRTC to consider diversity of voices policy as it evaluates Shaw Communications Inc.’s application to purchase the broadcasting assets of Canwest Global Communications. The CMPA (formerly the Canadian Film and Television Production Association) wrote...

Canwest, Quebecor urge commission for all-or-none regulatory relief

Media | 08/24/2010 10:39 pm EDT

Canwest Global Communications and Quebecor Media Inc. are arguing that the CRTC should make the same exception for all private broadcasters if it chooses to grant an immediate reduction of the Canadian content requirements for CTVGlobemedia’s conventional stations. Canwest and Quebecor say the commission should grant...

Government offered von Finckenstein plum jobs to push him out: Report

Media | 08/20/2010 9:58 pm EDT

The communications industry was buzzing this week following a report that the Conservative government offered CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein positions as an ambassador or judge to encourage him to leave his post early. Lawrence Martin, a columnist for The Globe and Mail, wrote this week that although von...

‘Digital has a seat at the table,’ says CTV’s Marcovici

Media | 08/20/2010 9:31 pm EDT

CTV Inc. is not a “TV company” but a media and content company where “digital has a seat at the table,” Alon Marcovici, the company’s new executive vice-president of digital media, said in an interview. Marcovici told The Wire Report that CTV’s hand in the distribution of digital...

Independent broadcasters say they can meet the digital transition deadline

Media | 08/18/2010 10:12 pm EDT

Independent over-the-air television stations in Victoria, Hamilton and Montreal say they will meet next year’s deadline to convert their transmitters from analogue to digital broadcasting. John Pollard, station manager at independent station CHEK TV in Victoria, B.C., told The Wire Report that the station will probably be broadcasting in digital well before the Aug. 31, 2011 deadline. Pollard said engineers are now working out a plan for the station, which they intend to have in place by the end of the year. “With any luck we’ll be ahead of [the deadline] next August,” Pollard said. Although some broadcasters are spending $1 million per market to install new,...

Rogers emerges winner in carriage dispute with Torstar, experts say

Media | 08/18/2010 9:43 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. emerged the winner Wednesday in a CRTC decision that attempted to settle a dispute over the carriage of Torstar Corp.’s ShopTV channel, experts say. “In think Rogers comes out as a winner,” David Elder, an Ottawa-based communications lawyer, said in an...

Cultural groups excluded from value for signal court proceeding

Media | 08/17/2010 2:52 pm EDT

OTTAWA—A coalition of three cultural groups has missed its chance to participate in the Federal Court of Appeal’s proceeding on a new value for signal regime between broadcasters and distributors. And the court isn’t making any exceptions. The cultural groups say they are disappointed with a court...

Look at CTV’s numbers before granting regulatory relief, cultural groups say

Media | 08/16/2010 9:12 pm EDT

The CRTC should wait to see CTVglobemedia Inc.’s 2010 financial information before it considers the company’s proposal to reduce its Cancon requirements and amend the licences for 25 of its conventional over-the-air television stations, Maureen Parker, the executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC),...

Média de Novo plans next steps after commission denies application

Media | 08/12/2010 11:09 pm EDT

Média de Novo Inc. says there is still hope to move forward with plans to collaborate with distributors on a strategy to sell commercial advertising during local availability times despite the CRTC’s rejection of the company’s application to do so. “We are obviously disappointed that our...

Competitor Astral says it expects CRTC to deny Cogeco radio station request

Media | 08/11/2010 10:31 pm EDT

OTTAWA--Competitor Astral Media Inc. says it expects the CRTC to deny Cogeco Inc.’s request for a regulatory exception to operate more than two FM radio stations in Montreal. “The policy is clear. A company cannot control more than two same-language radio [stations] on the same band, AM or FM, in the same market. We’re expecting the CRTC to ask Cogeo to respect that rule,” Hugues Mousseau, Astral’s manager of corporate communications, told The Wire Report. “That’s the policy Astral respects in all its market throughout the country.” On Aug. 3, Cogeco released plans to purchase Corus Entertainment Inc.’s 11 radio stations in Quebec....

New copyright coalition launched to counter ‘louder voice’ of user lobby

Media | 08/11/2010 9:56 pm EDT

OTTAWA—The recently announced Balanced Copyright for Canada online advocacy group formed because rights holder groups felt they needed to counter the user lobby’s “louder voice” online, Stephen Ellis, a board member of the group, told The Wire Report in an interview. “The pro-copyright forces...

Even if CBC had the money, it couldn’t meet digital deadline: CBC

Media | 08/10/2010 9:46 pm EDT

OTTAWA--Even with additional financial resources, CBC/Radio-Canada could not meet the CRTC’s digital transition deadline, Steven Guiton, CBC vice-president and chief regulatory officer, told The Wire Report. Guiton attributed the public broadcaster’s inability to reach the commission-imposed deadline of Aug....

Challenges, opportunities ahead for ITU’s new IPTV standards

Media | 08/09/2010 9:15 pm EDT

Running a Canadian test bed for the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) latest Internet protocol television (IPTV) standards--as the ITU has suggested--would benefit Canada’s IPTV providers, industry players say. But it’s not clear which company in Canada—if any—will step forward to...

Canadian production needs access to ‘creative risk capital,’ Newman says

Media | 08/06/2010 8:46 pm EDT

OTTAWA—A man of 50, Kevin Newman has ideas of a 20-something. In two weeks Newman is stepping down as anchor and executive editor of Global National, Global Television’s flagship national newscast. Newman, who has about 30 years in the broadcast news business, says he wants to take some time off for...

CBC pleased with new CMF envelope factors

Media | 08/06/2010 8:17 pm EDT

OTTAWA—The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is pleased with the Canada Media Fund’s (CMF) new performance envelope calculation factors, CBC spokesman Angus McKinnon told The Wire Report. When the CMF launched in April, the public broadcaster had expressed concern about cuts to its funding envelope. Prior to the fund’s...

Community-engagement Local1 channel will be like a ‘homepage on TV,’ Corus says

Media | 08/05/2010 9:01 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Corus Entertainment’s CRTC application to create an all-news “hyper-local” information service will encourage community leaders to contribute content and will operate like a “homepage on TV,” the company says. The commission announced Wednesday a new...

CMPA meets with Shaw, but don’t agree on Canwest-Shaw benefits package

Media | 08/03/2010 9:42 pm EDT

OTTAWA--The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) held two meetings with Shaw Communications Inc. last week to discuss the company’s benefits package arising from its $2-billion purchase of Canwest Global Communications—but they walked away from the meetings with plans to take their disagreements to the...

Navigating convergence sometimes easier than navigating the CRTC website

Media | 07/30/2010 6:36 pm EDT

OTTAWA--For many in the broadcasting and telecommunications industries, the CRTC website is something of a second home. But it’s also common to hear complaints that the site could be more welcoming and easier to navigate. The CRTC website went through a complete makeover in early 2009, but many who use it on a daily...

Netflix to rewrite Canadian content distribution rules, experts say

Media | 07/30/2010 5:00 pm EDT

Set to reach Canadian audiences in September, Netflix Inc. is drawing the attention of broadcasting industry players who say the service could threaten Canadian programming online and rewrite the content distribution rules. Netflix, the California-based company known for its online video streaming library and DVD-rental-by-mail service, said last week it will make its first foray outside of the U.S. by offering streaming service to Canadians. “Streaming is the future, and it’s the service more and more people are gravitating to,” Steven Swasey, Netflix vice-president of corporate communications, said in an interview. “More than 60 per cent of Netflix members are...

Astral calls on government to reserve spectrum for broadcasters

Media | 07/29/2010 7:56 pm EDT

Industry Canada should not allocate spectrum to mobile broadband services at the expense of broadcasters, Astral Media Inc. said in a submission to the federal government’s digital economy consultation. In the transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting by the deadline of Aug. 31, 2011, Canadian...

Self-administered benefits funds a new normal for broadcasters, CMPA warns

Media | 07/28/2010 9:46 pm EDT

OTTAWA—The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) says it is concerned about an emerging trend in which broadcasters are moving away from making contributions to independent, third-party benefits funds. Instead, they are directing programming benefits into their own “self-administered” funds. In...

Rogers accuses Torstar of asking commission to ‘subsidize its business’

Media | 07/27/2010 8:56 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. said at a CRTC hearing Tuesday that Torstar Corp. is asking the commission to “subsidize its business” in a dispute over the carriage of Torstar’s ShopTV channel. “Torstar has come to this hearing seeking the equivalent of mandatory analogue carriage on all of...

Industry players voice support for CRTC community radio policy

Media | 07/26/2010 11:50 pm EDT

It’s not so often that such a range of parties agree with a CRTC regulatory decision. But organizations and companies as diverse as Rogers Media, Astral Media Inc. and the National Campus and the Community Radio Association (NCRA) tell The Wire Report that they are pleased with the commission’s regulatory...

CTV says profits from spectrum auctions should help finance digital transition

Media | 07/23/2010 7:43 pm EDT

OTTAWA—A portion of the revenues from the upcoming 700 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions should go to assisting broadcasters in the digital transition, CTVglobemedia says. In a submission to the federal government’s consultation on the digital economy, CTV said that the government's demands on broadcasters--through the transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting and the freeing up of spectrum for mobile broadband use in the 700 and 2500 MHz bands--is coming at a great cost to broadcasters. “Consequently, given that the Government is supporting the expansion of broadband throughout Canada, it would also be appropriate for the Government to support...

Shaw proposes $203-million benefits package for Canwest deal

Media | 07/22/2010 10:49 pm EDT

OTTAWA--As part of its $2-billion purchase of Canwest Global Communications, Shaw Communications Inc. has proposed a $203-million “tangible benefits” package to the CRTC to ensure a public benefit from the deal. But in the company’s proposed benefits package, Shaw says it wants to include...

Commercial radio stations to contribute more to community radio: CRTC decision

Media | 07/22/2010 10:12 pm EDT

OTTAWA—More money will be coming to the campus and community radio sector through the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC), the CRTC announced Thursday in a new regulatory policy for the sector. Under the new policy, commercial radio stations that make more than $1.25 million in revenues per year will allocate 15...

Game developer calls on feds for more effective tax incentives

Media | 07/21/2010 10:18 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Canada’s video game industry employed more than 14,000 people and generated $2 billion in retail sales in 2009, but some smaller game developers say the federal government should offer more tax breaks to support the industry. Battlegoat Studios, a small PC strategy game developer in Ancaster, Ont., made...

Digital strategy needs focal point at cabinet table, say experts, industry

Media | 07/21/2010 9:39 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Industry Canada's portfolio is too broad and the government needs a focal point in cabinet to lead its digital economy strategy, say industry insiders and experts. “The starting point for any digital economy strategy is leadership. Canada needs digital leaders, including a chief technology officer and...

CRTC should have power to investigate, monitor net neutrality, says Directors Guild

Media | 07/20/2010 9:19 pm EDT

OTTAWA--The CRTC should have the funding and powers necessary to investigate and monitor network neutrality, the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) says in a submission for Industry Canada’s digital economy consultation. “[W]e recommend that the government require, and allocate funding for, the CRTC to...

New governor general Johnston could be ‘spokesperson’ for digital issues, say colleagues

Media | 07/19/2010 9:11 pm EDT

David Johnston, Canada’s next governor general, could make digital issues one of his top priorities, his colleagues say—but it’s unlikely he’ll take positions on controversial issues like copyright. “We’ll have a very eloquent governor general who can really...

Collectives, radio stations preparing for battle over new reproduction right exception

Media | 07/19/2010 8:25 pm EDT

OTTAWA--A major copyright fight between broadcasters and rights holders is taking shape over a seemingly innocuous provision in the Conservative government’s Bill C-32, which proposes to repeal a line of the Copyright Act and give radio stations a new exception for the reproduction of sound...

CRTC gives distributors option to offer local basic packages, but will cost consumers $300 to install

Media | 07/16/2010 9:11 pm EDT

To ensure Canadians have access to digital channels after the digital broadcasting transition deadline of Aug. 31, 2011, the CRTC is granting television distributors the option to offer free, local packages to viewers—but the commission estimates they would be charged about $300 for an...

Quebecor applied for channel in new, non-competitive ‘information and analysis’ genre

Media | 07/16/2010 8:35 pm EDT

Quebecor’s CRTC application for a must-carry Sun TV News channel sought to define the service in a new genre of “information and analysis.” According to a CRTC letter to Quebecor Media Inc., dated July 5, the company's application for its new Sun TV News channel sought a Category 1 (“must carry,” or Category A) licence for “an Information & Analysis channel, a completely new genre in Canada.” But the commission did not agree that the channel description amounted to a “new genre” and said Quebecor’s description of it sounded more like a news service. “It is noted … that in your proposal, news would be broadcast...

Corus calls on CRTC to scrap independent production quotas

Media | 07/15/2010 9:14 pm EDT

OTTAWA--The CRTC should drop independent production quotas that get the way of in-house content producers, Corus Entertainment Inc. said in its submission for Industry Canada’s digital economy consultation. The CRTC currently requires that 75 per cent of Canadian television content to be produced by independent...

Media de Novo local avails application still in play as industry lobbies for and against it

Media | 07/15/2010 8:29 pm EDT

Canadian broadcasting industry players are lining up on both sides of the local availability debate as the CRTC considers a Média de Novo application that’s still in play. Local availabilities, or local avails, are commercial time spots on American foreign channels during which...

Canada in need of digital literacy, skills strategies, groups tell government

Media | 07/13/2010 10:04 pm EDT

OTTAWA--Faced with increasing demand for highly skilled workers, groups are telling the federal government that the country needs educational tools and a national digital literacy and skills strategy to head off a generational gap and a lack of skilled information and communications technology (ICT) workers. In a...

Commercial radio stations face $13 million tariff increase, call for copyright reform

Media | 07/09/2010 9:16 pm EDT

Commercial radio stations will face a collective royalty increase of $13 million annually following a Copyright Board of Canada decision Friday that will permit new rights holder groups to collect royalty payments. Radio stations pay royalties on four copyrights and two remuneration rights, and...

International ICT conference to draw $3-5 billion investment in Canadian economy: Organizers

Media | 07/09/2010 2:21 pm EDT

Organizers for the next World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), to be held in Montreal in 2012, are expecting the event to draw investments of $3-5 billion in the Canadian economy. Montreal won the hosting privileges for conference, known as the “Olympics of information and communication technology,” in 2008. The international event is held every two years, and brings together politicians, industry leaders, officials and academics to forge business deals and policy agreements and discuss the impact of information communication technologies (ICTs) on society. WCIT 2012, to be held May 21-24, 2012, is expected to draw more than 3,000 delegates and 50,000 visitors,...

Federal Court of Appeal decision maintains ‘content-neutral’ role of ISPs

Media | 07/07/2010 9:12 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Internet service providers (ISPs) celebrated a Federal Court of Appeal decision Wednesday that said ISPs play a “content-neutral role” in the transmission of data and do not carry on broadcasting activities. Cultural groups and ISPs had been arguing before the court...

‘Music videos don’t really distinguish MuchMusic anymore’: CTV

Media | 07/07/2010 3:16 pm EDT

Cultural groups are lining up at the CRTC to oppose CTV Inc.’s application to reduce MuchMusic’s obligations to air music videos and Canadian content. “You saw in the interventions how the music industry collectively feels about this,” Duncan McKie, president and CEO of the Canadian Independent...

ICT, digital industries concerned about end of federal foreign IT worker program

Media | 07/06/2010 8:09 pm EDT

Canadian information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital media industry associations say they are concerned about the end of a federal program that helped companies bring skilled, foreign IT workers to Canada. In the late 1990s, the rapid growth of the Canadian ICT sector created a labour shortage. In response...

Telcos could double their revenues through cloud services: Deloitte researcher

Media | 07/05/2010 9:22 pm EDT

As mobile voice revenues begin to stagnate, experts say telecommunication companies will increasingly turn to cloud solutions to generate more income. “We are not making more phone calls, we are not making more long-distance phone calls, the number of corporations that are out there buying more lines for fax...

CTV applies for ‘regulatory relief,’ says A-Channels lost $98 million since 2007

Media | 06/30/2010 6:45 pm EDT

CTV Ltd. has applied to the CRTC to reduce the Canadian content requirements for its A Channel stations that the broadcaster says have lost $98 million since 2007 and “continue to lose tens of millions of dollars annually.” “Given the continued uncertainty facing the conventional...

Distributors say value-for-signal regime would bloc television creators from royalties

Media | 06/29/2010 9:53 pm EDT

The CRTC’s proposed value-for-signal regime could block television creators from receiving copyright royalties, several of Canada’s largest cable and satellite television providers say in a new memo submitted with the Federal Court of Appeal. On Monday, Bell Canada, Bell Aliant...

TV wars heat up in West as Telus’ IPTV enters market

Media | 06/29/2010 9:10 pm EDT

Telus Corp.’s new Internet protocol TV (IPTV) offerings may be challenging Shaw Communications’ virtual monopoly on television in Western Canada—but analysts say the incumbent hasn’t lost much ground. “For the first time ever, IPTV seems to be superior to legacy cable,” said a research...

Moore’s copyright ‘extremist’ comments seen as deliberate, out of frustration

Media | 06/29/2010 9:05 pm EDT

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist says he believes Heritage Minister James Moore’s comments about copyright “extremists” weren’t made by accident. “I don’t think this was someone who was speaking out of turn. It seems to me that someone as smart...

CBC, CTV urge commission not to give Sun TV ‘preferential treatment’

Media | 06/28/2010 9:22 pm EDT

CBC and CTV say a CRTC decision granting Sun TV News a limited-term “must-carry” licence would amount to “preferential treatment” and a move “backwards” as the broadcasters’ all-news channels prepare to lose their must-carry status and convert to competitive news services next year. In interviews with The Wire Report, Steven Guiton, vice-president and chief regulatory officer at CBC, and Paul Sparkes, executive vice-president of corporate and public affairs at CTVGlobemedia, said it would be unfair for the CRTC to grant Quebecor Media an application for a Category A (i.e., “must-carry,” or Category 1) all-news channel when the news genre...

Consumers confused about where to direct complaints, CRTC documents show

Media | 06/25/2010 8:20 pm EDT

It’s a Byzantine complaints system that handles Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications services. Many consumers don’t know where to turn. That is a dominant theme in thousands of complaints to the CRTC made between April 14 and May 14, 2010, which The Wire Report obtained through...

Distributors disappointed with CTV’s ‘Save Local TV’ CBSC win

Media | 06/24/2010 8:46 pm EDT

Cable companies say they aren’t happy about the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council’s (CBSC) finding that CTVglobemedia Inc. didn’t break the rules during its “Save Local TV” campaign last year. In 2009, when broadcasters argued in favour of fee for carriage, CTV ran news reports and...

In Japan’s mobile landscape, very little is free: Maynard

Media | 06/23/2010 9:19 pm EDT

Canadians are eyeing Japan’s mobile app market with interest, where very little is free and application developers are seeing better returns, James Maynard, president of Wavefront, a commercialization centre in Vancouver, said in an interview. Wavefront is now a year into a business partnership with the Mobile...

Opposition parties planning to amend Tories’ digital locks provision in C-32

Media | 06/21/2010 10:20 pm EDT

All three federal opposition parties have lined up against the Conservative government’s approach to protecting digital locks in copyright reform Bill C-32, setting up the controversial provision for amendment at committee stage. “Once again, the Conservatives have taken a punitive approach by calling for...

Grassroots copyright lobbies targeting MPs over the summer

Media | 06/18/2010 9:05 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Grassroots lobbying is picking up on the government’s copyright bill as MPs head home for the summer and the legislation now awaits second reading vote and a trip to a special legislative committee in the fall. Consumer and public interest groups have created a copyright action page at online portal digitalagenda.ca, encouraging the public to contact their MPs through a letter-writing wizard. “We’ve seen in the past the amazing power of grassroots concern about where we’re going with copyright,” NDP MP Charlie Angus, his party’s digital affairs critic, said in an interview. “I think the grassroots campaigns are going to be growing over the summer.” A new group called Balanced Copyright for Canada emerged last week, calling...

Rebranded CMPA lobbying for digital rights trade agreements with broadcasters

Media | 06/18/2010 8:21 pm EDT

The former Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) says it is approaching the CRTC to discuss a new digital rights framework between its members and broadcasters. The CFTPA, which re-branded this week as the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), released a survey last week of independent...

It’s Broadcasting Act v. Copyright Act at the Federal Court of Appeal

Media | 06/16/2010 10:12 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Whether the Copyright Act takes precedence over the Broadcasting Act will be a central question before the Federal Court of Appeal when both sides of the value-for-signal debate meet for two days of hearings on Sept. 13 and 14. Last March the CRTC decided that over-the-air broadcasters like CTVGlobemedia and...

Quebecor asks CRTC for limited, three-year ‘must carry’ licence for Sun TV News, offers to give up analogue Sun TV

Media | 06/15/2010 7:56 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Quebecor Inc. is asking the CRTC for a limited, three-year Category 1 licence for an all-news specialty service to replace its analogue Sun TV channel in Toronto. The company plans to give up its licence for Sun TV, a local analogue station in Toronto, for a three-year Category 1...

Von Finckenstein warns lag in digital TV transition will turn Canadian eyeballs to US channels

Media | 06/14/2010 9:49 pm EDT

CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein warned Monday that a delay in the transition to over-the-air digital television broadcasting risks turning Canadian eyeballs toward American television. “The whole world is going digital. Our neighbour to the south, who also happens to be the largest...

Ottawa launches telecom foreign investment consultation, suggests changes to broadcasting

Media | 06/11/2010 8:46 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Industry Minister Tony Clement announced a consultation Friday on opening Canada’s telecom sector to foreign investment—but to some surprise the discussion paper also proposed an option to increase the foreign investment limits in broadcasting. In the paper, Clement...

Digital strategy consultation paper leaves ‘little for us to chew on,’ experts say

Media | 06/11/2010 6:22 pm EDT

The federal government’s consultation document on the digital economy—which as of Friday had received nine individual comments and 11 from organizations--lacks analytical depth and direction, experts say. “I thought at this stage in their thinking, there might have been more...

Quebecor’s right-leaning all-news channel application not likely to receive guaranteed carriage

Media | 06/10/2010 10:10 pm EDT

Quebecor Media Inc.’s broadcast application for a “must carry” licence to launch a national right-leaning news service isn’t likely to get very far, experts say. “They’re [the CRTC] not giving out very many must-carry licences anymore in the digital era,”...

Carriers need to adapt to Internet-dependent ‘millennial generation’ that ‘lives online’

Media | 06/09/2010 10:08 pm EDT

TORONTO—Telecom carriers need to adapt to a new reality in which the “millennial generation”—people between the ages of 12 and 24—is accustomed to a world in which they are always connected, said a panel of experts at the 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit. Kaan Yigit,...

Carriers debate ‘freemium’ versus paid online programming distribution

Media | 06/09/2010 5:55 pm EDT

As communications companies like Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. dive headlong into the competitive world of online programming, industry insiders are evaluating the positives and perils of giving away free content to subscribers. Rogers is the latest service provider to ramp up an online, on-demand video service. Known as Rogers On Demand Online (RODO), it offers 1,500 hours of video from Rogers’ broadcast entities, including Citytv, OMNI, and Sportsnet. It also offers content from more than 35 other content providers, such as Canwest Global Communications Corp. (HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada), Corus Entertainment Inc. (Treehouse, W Network),...

Opinion: The CRTC’s expertise may not be as expert as we think

Media | 06/09/2010 3:31 pm EDT

Last Tuesday, those attending a Federal Court of Appeal hearing in Ottawa—to consider whether Internet service providers are broadcasters—laughed somewhat nervously when Justice Marc Noël asked whether the court has become Canada’s broadcasting expert in place of the CRTC. According to The Wire...

Open up telecom and broadcasting sectors to 49 per cent foreign investment: Bell Canada

Media | 06/08/2010 11:36 pm EDT

TORONTO—CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein has found an ally in his proposal to confront convergence and raise the foreign ownership limits in both the broadcasting and telecom sectors to 49 per cent. Mirko Bibic, senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs at Bell...

Wireless providers need to focus on the overall ‘subscriber experience’: Walter

Media | 06/07/2010 10:12 pm EDT

TORONTO—Wireless providers need to focus on the overall “subscriber experience” to retain and build their customer bases, Juergen Walter, head of business solutions with Nokia Siemens Networks, said at the 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit conference Monday. Juergen said that...

Vanedge $100-million digital media fund a small step forward, insiders say

Media | 06/07/2010 9:22 pm EDT

Vancouver-based Vanedge Capital may have gathered $100 million in committed capital for an interactive digital media fund, but industry insiders say there’s still a long way to go before investment in British Columbia can return to 2008 levels. On May 27, Vanedge announced it closed its Vanedge Capital I L.P. fund,...

Clement says government looking at relaxing foreign investment rules for both incumbents and new players

Media | 06/07/2010 9:03 pm EDT

TORONTO—Industry Minister Tony Clement says the government will propose measures to liberalize foreign investment in the telecom sector for both incumbents and new entrants—but some big players say they are not convinced this means the government supports a "level playing field." In a speech at the Canadian Telecom Summit conference in Toronto on Monday, Clement said the government will release, in a few days, a consultation paper on the liberalization of foreign direct investment in the sector. Clement said the paper will propose three options to consider how to meet the capital needs of both incumbents and new entrants. But insiders...

3D TV migrating to ‘next generation television,’ computers

Media | 06/04/2010 6:51 pm EDT

Television sets as we know them may become obsolete as the popularity of 3D television converges with the Internet, according to Christian Laforte, CEO of 3D security software developer Feeling Software in Montreal. “In five to 10 years, we probably won’t be watching 3D content on television—it’ll...

Moore urges parties to propose copyright amendments

Media | 06/03/2010 9:46 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Heritage Minister James Moore is urging the opposition parties to come forward with proposed amendments to the government’s new copyright bill as the Tories prepare to send the bill to a special legislative committee for tinkering. “If they have ideas now they should put them down on paper,” Moore told The Wire Report on...

Conservative government tables copyright bill, nods to cultural, entertainment industries

Media | 06/03/2010 12:42 am EDT

OTTAWA—The Conservative government introduced a long-awaited copyright reform bill Wednesday that proposed strict legal protections for “digital locks” on content and devices but also new exceptions for copyright users. Bill C-32, the Copyright Modernization Act, was tabled...

Telus says network unbundling would hobble its ability to compete with cable TV services

Media | 06/02/2010 12:09 am EDT

GATINEAU, Que.--Telus Corp. told the CRTC Tuesday that regulations forcing it to unbundle its high-speed Internet infrastructure to third-party wholesale buyers would hobble its ability to compete with cable television using Internet protocol television (IPTV). “If we were forced to unbundle...

Federal Court of Appeal justice considers sending matter back to CRTC

Media | 06/01/2010 9:40 pm EDT

OTTAWA--Justice Marc Noël questioned Tuesday the CRTC's decision to refer a jurisdictional matter to the Federal Court of Appeal—whether Internet service providers (ISPs) qualify as broadcasting undertakings—and raised the possibility of returning the issue to the commission. In June 2009 the...

Liberals prepared to sit through the summer to study copyright

Media | 05/31/2010 9:57 pm EDT

The Liberal party is prepared to sit on a special legislative committee throughout the summer to study a contentious and divisive copyright reform bill the government is expected to table Thursday. “There’s no question that it’s an issue that is important to Canadians. From our perspective we’re...

MuchMusic applies to loosen Cancon conditions, proposes more ‘lifestyle’ programming

Media | 05/27/2010 9:53 pm EDT

CTV Ltd. has applied to the CRTC to reduce its Canadian content licence conditions and allow for more “lifestyle” programming as the channel tries to “adapt to the business realities” of audience fragmentation and new technologies. In an application to the commission,...

Wireless companies battling for untapped, young, ‘social handset’ market

Media | 05/26/2010 8:40 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. is trying to remain ahead of the competition as wireless carriers battle for what analysts say is a huge, untapped market of young consumers interested in social networking smart phone plans. A bit more than 70 per cent of Canadian teens aged 13 to 19 are using wireless devices, but only 30...

Clement urges parties to fast track spam bill to Senate

Media | 05/25/2010 10:25 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Industry Minister Tony Clement says he hopes the federal government’s new anti-spam legislation—introduced in the House in mostly the same form as the version that died in the Senate—can be put on the fast track to enactment. Clement introduced Bill C-28, the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, in the Commons Tuesday. The bill is mostly the same as previous legislation introduced by the government with the aim of reducing spam. “Certainly, we hope to have this bill [come into] force this year, but that entirely depends on the consideration of the House of Commons and the Senate,” Clement said at a news conference in Ottawa. In the last session of Parliament, the previous version of the bill, C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act,...

Regulation of new media will ‘hinder our participation in new markets’: Corus

Media | 05/25/2010 9:45 pm EDT

OTTAWA—The regulation of new media activities online could hinder broadcasters from expanding their content and reach, Gary Maavara, vice-president and general counsel of Corus Entertainment Inc., told the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Tuesday. “Regulation of our new...

‘There’s going to be more recourse to the courts as people challenge the commission’: Grant

Media | 05/21/2010 8:35 pm EDT

Peter Grant’s new book, Communications Law and the Courts in Canada, will be an essential reference guide on the desk of any communications lawyer—and communications nerds in general. The book, now known as “the Blue Book” for its blue cover, has been published by law firm...

New project hopes to connect mobile app developers with investors

Media | 05/21/2010 5:41 pm EDT

Canadian software developers have access to a new mobile application project in the US promising to help software creators find financial backers. Described as a wholesale digital marketplace, a new project called appbackr links mobile application developers with funding partners. A developer signs onto...

Radio sector hoping for new radio-only lobbying group by September

Media | 05/20/2010 9:40 pm EDT

With the Radio Marketing Bureau (RMB) closing its doors at the end of August and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) set to shut down next month, the radio sector hopes to find itself with a new lobby group by September, says Gary Belgrave, president of the RMB. “This is going to be a different kind...

Tou.tv provides 10.8 million video screenings since January launch, Radio Canada says

Media | 05/20/2010 6:13 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Radio-Canada’s Tou.tv, an online video service offering 2,000 hours of francophone content from eight public broadcasters, is proving popular with youth, providing 10.8 million video viewings since it launched in January 2010, Geneviève Rossier, executive director of Internet and digital services with CBC/Radio-Canada said Wednesday. “It is young people who are on the site, very much younger than what we see in our traditional platforms,” Rossier said Wednesday at the Reinventing Canadian Media symposium hosted by the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa. Rossier said 25-to-44 year-olds make up the largest group of visitors to the Tou.tv website, and...

Experts say digital privacy slip-ups are not acceptable; costly for consumers, companies

Media | 05/19/2010 8:35 pm EDT

New digital services cannot test privacy by trial and error and revealing private information online—by mistake or negligence—can deliver lasting negative effects on companies and users, privacy experts warned at a public consultation in Montreal Wednesday. Experts made the comments at...

‘Really aggressive broadband policy is the single best thing a government can do’: Jarvis

Media | 05/19/2010 5:42 pm EDT

OTTAWA—As the Internet brings about a sea change across the media landscape, “really aggressive broadband policy” is the single best action for governments to support new media, Jeff Jarvis, journalist, blogger and journalism professor at City University of New York, told The Wire...

ISPs tell Federal Court of Appeal they transmit programming just like satellites

Media | 05/18/2010 10:19 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Major Internet service providers (ISPs) are arguing before the Federal Court of Appeal that the distribution of programming via telecommunications networks does not amount to broadcasting, and that if it did, major satellite companies like Telesat would qualify as “broadcasting undertakings” under...

MobileBits pushing mobile ad-supported ‘answer engine’

Media | 05/14/2010 8:15 pm EDT

MobileBits Corp. is planning for the release of a intelligent “Q&A” search service for BlackBerrys, iPhones and some Nokia handsets, says Walter Kostiuk, CEO of the Sarasota, Fla.-based company. Mobile wireless is speeding up the decades-old quest for intelligent Web searches—or “answer...

Generation V user-generated channel to face challenges in advertising, logistics, carriage, experts say

Media | 05/14/2010 4:23 pm EDT

Remstar Broadcasting Inc.’s proposed user-generated content channel will face challenges in advertising support, logistics, and carriage in the competitive Category 2 specialty channel market, industry experts says. Called Generation V, the new French-language channel received a...

Score Media says net neutrality should be a ‘cornerstone’ national policy

Media | 05/13/2010 8:57 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Net neutrality should be a “cornerstone” of Canada’s national digital strategy so that individuals and organizations can reach new audiences, John Levy, chairman and CEO of Score Media Inc., told the Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Thursday. “We...

Clement gives nod to convergence, but sticks to liberalization for telecom sector only

Media | 05/13/2010 8:05 pm EDT

OTTAWA--Industry Minister Tony Clement said Thursday that the federal government will have to “stick handle” around the challenges posed by convergence as it pursues the liberalization of the foreign ownership restrictions for the telecom sector. “There’s no question...

Broadcasters still struggling to find enough equipment, engineers, to meet digital transition: Canwest

Media | 05/12/2010 9:07 pm EDT

There may not be enough equipment and manpower available to meet the Aug. 31, 2011 deadline for the transition from analog to digital over-the-air television, Canwest Television said in a May 6 submission to the CRTC. “As an industry, Canadian broadcasters are struggling to see how there...

Opinion: Digital strategy consultation must involve all Canadians, not just industry

Media | 05/12/2010 2:54 pm EDT

The formulation of a digital economy strategy for Canada is a task much larger than the creation of industrial policy. It is nothing less than the creation of a foundation for the kind of nation we will build in the 21st century. Digital tools and content are pervasive. The tremendous growth of texting, for example, illustrates this. Canadians send about 174 million text messages per day. And to give you a sense of how quickly these tools are being deployed in 2002, it took us a year to produce that volume. Not a bad growth curve for a communications innovation that is only about 10 years old. We’ve seen similar sharp adoption curves for other services and forget that it took...