The CRTC today reported that profits for Canada’s cable providers (like Shaw, Rogers, etc.) continue to earn very strong margins — and earned a BILLION dollars more last year than it did in 2006.

Total revenues for all cable companies combined jumped by more than 16% over the previous year (2006). That added an additional BILLION dollars into their hands as the total rose from $6.1 billion to $7.1 billion. The number of basic-cable subscribers increased by a little — about 2.3% increase in customers.

But as for their profit margins (a much more illustrative metric) Canada’s cable companies continue to bank a lot of cash. Their profit margins last year were at 21.7%  in 2006. With those kind of returns, I should drop my conservative (12%) RRSP investments!

In 2007, cable companies employed 17,900 people and paid a total of $1.07 billion in salaries. In comparison, in 2006 these companies employed 15,271 people and paid out $933.1 million in salaries.

	5 Comments »	See also: The CRTC, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 3:08 pm (18 Jun 2008)

CTV has launched a citizen journalism web site, taking video footage or images.

CTV boasted in a news release that the launch welcomes “a possible 10 million new video journalists” to the network. “Now, anyone with a digital camera or video phone can contribute to CTV News.”

CTV newsrooms across the country will monitor all of the content posted to MyNews.CTV.ca to determine its news value.

MyNews.CTV.ca will also have a daily list of the recent video and images that have been submitted.

	4 Comments »	See also: The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 6:34 pm (02 Jun 2008)

This morning, the National Post published part of a response from the CBC, challenging the assertions of one of its scribes. Lorne Gunter wrote on Monday that the CBC shouldn’t exist, our ratings are going down, and that Richard Stursberg eats babies (metaphorically speaking).

The CBC, as you might expect, responded. But take a look (highlighted) at what the National Post edited out of the CBC’s letter:

Lorne Gunter appears to exist in an intriguing alternative universe; let’s call it Gunter Land and consider how it differs from the world the rest of us inhabit. In the real world, CBC president Hubert T. Lacroix offered his endorsement of recommendations from a recent Heritage Committee report. His comments (available to the real world for review at http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/ speeches/20080522.shtml) actually focused on the need for improved governance and accountability for the CBC/ Radio-Canada through a multi-year memorandum of understanding on its mandate. In fact, it was the Heritage Committee that recommended stable and predictable funding.

While in Gunter Land the CBC need not exist, Canadians would lose a distinctly Canadian prime-time alternative to the wealth of U. S. programming currently available on other Canadian networks. And in stark contrast to Gunter Land, CBC audiences are growing, not shrinking; our radio audiences are at historic highs and our television market share of 7.8% is at its highest level since 2001.

And as noted in most newspapers yesterday (excluding the Post), we actually beat Global in prime time this past season for the first time since 1995. In GunterLand, CBC News “insults millions of Canadians” with its news coverage. In the real world, CBC News is considered one of the most respected and credible organizations in broadcast journalism.  This is demonstrated through survey data and a host of domestic and international awards. We closely track the audience response to our programming and occasionally there are objections. But where are these “millions of Canadians”? Citizens of GunterLand, apparently.

Finally, in the real universe, CBC operates with one of the lowest public subsidies in the industrialized world. It is a fraction of that provided to the BBC, which provides service in only one language and a single time zone. In fact, Canadians get real world value from the CBC every day, despite the peculiar view from Gunter Land

This editing must be some kind of oversight. I mean, I know that the National Post is owned by the same company that owns Global Television. But they wouldn’t edit that just because they’d be embarrassed that they’re losing ratings to us? Naw… couldn’t be.

	17 Comments »	See also: CBC Television, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 10:24 am (28 May 2008)

Star Choice has responded to the CBC’s complaint that it took the CBC Saskatchewan channel out of its compulsory package for subscribers.

The company, owned by Shaw Communications, claims that CBC News is still on the air — broadcast by the SCN, the Saskatchewan Storyteller channel. SCN itself is not a CBC property.

In a news release headlined “CBC Misleading Public About Star Choice Carriage,” Shaw president Jim Shaw said that if CBC wants its entire channel of CBC Saskatchewan broadcast, it should get its own transponders.

Shaw doesn’t stop there. He blames the move to drop CBC Saskatchewan on the CRTC, saying since the regulator insisted they carry Super Channel, which takes up 10 channels of their bandwidth through 4 standard and 2 HD channels, they had no choice but to bump the local-programming.

The yanking of Radio-Canada’s French language service doesn’t even merit a sentence in the Shaw/Star choice release.

	7 Comments »	See also: Saskatchewan, The CRTC, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 9:16 am (20 May 2008)

According to Reuters, Tony Burman isn’t wasting any time getting things done in his new role as managing director of Al Jazeera English. Negotiations are pushing forward with U.S.-based cable companies to bring the Arabic news channel to wider distribution. Al Jazeera is also augmenting its Internet presence, including refining its YouTube channel which brought it 21 million views in its first year of operation.

The story that Tony Burman had recently joined the Arab world’s leading news channel, Al-Jazeera, has provoked numerous commentaries. When asked to comment on his new role for this Star piece, Burman said

“Without sounding like a typically self-righteous Canadian, we tend to view things with a detachment that in journalism is a very valued asset. Canadians are viewed in a very favourable way that I must say I find flattering”.

The darker side of commentary has been very busy as well, including this piece in the National Post which stops a hair short of calling Burman and the CBC anti-Semitic, and this one in which the headline denotes that “the rest of them” should be gotten rid of as well. Probably all to be expected, given the demonization of Al-Jazeera in some media after 9/11.

	2 Comments »	See also: Executives, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 11:05 am (16 May 2008)

Is it just me, or does the CRTC seem to be on a loop like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day?

It really wasn’t that long ago (1999) when Canada’s federal broadcast regulator studied the Internet and decided — in what can only be termed a blatantly obvious decision — that they won’t regulate the Internet. (Although, just for snits and giggles, it would have been fun to watch them try.)

Enter 2008. And just hours ago, the CRTC announced it would study… wait for it!… “the new media envirornment in Canada!” [sfx fanfare] This seems to have emerged from their previous study called the New Media Project Initiative, which was established to “highlight changes [to yet another, previous study] since 2006.”

The product of which… I think, I’m kind of getting lost here… is this morning’s call for comments about how new media intersects with broadcasting.

“New digital technologies and platforms are creating opportunities for the broadcast of professionally-produced Canadian content that simply didn’t exist a few years ago,” said the CRTC Chairperson. “Our intention is not to regulate new media, but rather to gain a better understanding of this environment and, if necessary, to propose measures that would support the continued achievement of the Broadcasting Act’s objectives.”

To be clear… (from a CBCnews.ca article)

The commission in 1999 decided against regulating broadcasting over the internet because it was still in a fledgling state, and issued a similar decision in 2007 on cellphones. However, because the pace of technological change has been so rapid, the CRTC said it is now time to review its role. [emphasis added]

The Commission wants to hear your opinions.

You have until July 11 to send your comments online, faxing 819-994-0218, or through their web site launched today to collect comments at http://crtc.newmedia.econsultation.ca.

	7 Comments »	See also: The CRTC, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 12:16 pm (15 May 2008)

The CRTC today denied HDTV Networks’ application for a licence to operate a national, English-language high-definition conventional television service.

“HDTV Networks sought to launch a television station that would be the Canadian equivalent of a superstation,” said Michel Arpin, the CRTC’s Vice-Chairman of Broadcasting. “The programming strategy associated with such a station is inconsistent with the objectives of the Broadcasting Act and the Commission’s policies. We have never granted a licence for such a conventional television station in the past and did not find any compelling reason to do so at this time.”

The requirement to make local programming available to audiences is an integral feature of the CRTC’s conventional television policy. HDTV Networks would only commit to providing two hours of local programming per week in each of the eight markets it wanted to serve: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. By way of comparison, existing conventional stations offer on average more than 22 hours of local programming per week

In addition, the CRTC today denied YES TV Inc.’s application for a licence to operate an English-language high-definition conventional television service in the Greater Toronto Area. The Commission was not convinced that the applicant could fulfill its programming commitments, among other things.

	8 Comments »	See also: Asides, The CRTC, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 3:00 pm (03 Apr 2008)

A glowing story the other day in the Ottawa Citizen gushed about Global’s evening newscast moving to Ottawa. (Coincidentally, the Citizen is owned by CanWest Global, which also owns the Global Television Network. Imagine the odds.)

The story claimed that Global National had more viewers than either CTV’s or CBC’s national evening newscast:

BBM Nielsen Media Research figures show that Global National attracts a total audience of 952,100 compared with the later CTV News with Lloyd Robertson (917,300) and CBC National with Peter Mansbridge at 626,400.

Er, not quite.

Turns out, Citizen reporter Chris Cobb was a bit, uh, selective in his reporting of the viewership. Cobb reported only numbers from a single airing. The National airs on both the main network and on CBC Newsworld over different times, to let people watch when it’s most convenient to them.

From Monday to Thursday of last week, for example, The National had an average viewership of 1.19 million — well past CTV or Global. The National is, in fact, Canada’s most-watched newscast.

The CBC sent in a letter to the editor correcting the erroneous story. The Citizen has so far refused to publish it. Again, imagine the odds.

	19 Comments »	See also: The Media Landscape, The National
	Email this	Posted at 4:38 pm (08 Feb 2008)

The federal broadcasting regulator is imposing considerably tighter rules on media ownership.

But those rules will not apply to existing ownership structures.

From now on, a person or company can only control two of the following types of media that serve the same market: a local radio station, a local television station or a local newspaper.

Full story at CBC.ca

This is quite a step up from common ownership policies governing the number of conventional television and radio stations a person may control in the same market.

As well, the CRTC will:

• impose limits on the ownership of broadcasting licences to ensure that one party does not control more than 45 per cent of the total television audience share as a result of a transaction; and
• not approve transactions between companies that distribute television services (such as cable or satellite companies) that would result in one person effectively controlling the delivery of programming in a market.

“The trend toward greater consolidation in the broadcasting industry has raised concerns that a large ownership group could achieve a dominant position through acquisitions, which could bring about a reduction in the diversity of local, regional and national content,” the CRTC said in a news release issued this morning.

It’s not immediately clear whether there’ll be a grandfathering clause or the rules mean current owners will have to sell off operations if they own more than than two.

“With these new policies, we have developed a clear approach to guide us in assessing future transactions in the broadcasting industry,” said CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, CRTC. “It is an approach that will preserve the plurality of editorial voices and the diversity of programming available to Canadians, both locally and nationally, while allowing for a strong and competitive industry.”

The policies apply only to private broadcasters.

	5 Comments »	See also: The CRTC, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 11:44 am (15 Jan 2008)

It’s official. CanWest’s $2.3-billion takeover of Alliance Atlantis was officially approved by the CRTC. The takeover — first announced in January — was controversial from the start, because of the substantial financial involvement of Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs in the deal. Under the terms, Goldman Sachs would get a third of the voting shares, but almost two-thirds of the equity in CanWest Investments, a CanWest subsidiary that will acquire the Alliance Atlantis assets. More from cbc.ca

	Comments Off	See also: Asides, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 6:47 pm (20 Dec 2007)

As just about all CBC employees know, for more than a year now the corporation has been working on the development and implementation of “My CBC” - a renewal of local news and a move toward “Web 2.0″ online initiatives.

The test bed for this has been Vancouver, with “myCBCvancouver” - described as
“a strengthened and innovative integrated local news service in Vancouver” designed to create “a more accessible news service that encourages people to interact with the CBC in various ways everyday.”

The project is known internally as the “Vancouver incubator.” It launched this fall, with a significant expansion of local radio and TV news (including new noon and 11pm TV newscasts; local Saturday and Sunday TV newscasts were added last month.) According to a recent update from project manager Joan Andersen, “We’re not done yet, but we’re well over the hump.”

Good thing, too. Because the competition is about to heat up.

According to a source, CTV News is declaring war in the Vancouver market, making it a ratings battleground leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, to which it holds broadcast rights.

For the past several months, CTV’s news division has been reportedly working on plans to boost their morning programming by combining the Canada AM and CTV Newsnet teams. In the new year, the source says, they are planning to air Canada AM live, nationwide, six hours a day (three hours a day in each time zone and all six hours on CTV Newsnet.)

Johnny Michel, CBC’s regional director for British Columbia, thinks the changes can only benefit B.C. viewers.

“I think this is great news for the viewing public,” he told Inside CBC. “For many, many years, CTV has been serving Western Canada with a three hour tape delayed morning news. Global (at the time BCTV) took advantage of that fact about 10 years ago and established its now dominating local Morning News, however up to now, viewers had no other choice.”

Among the things CTV apparently wants to improve is western coverage - more live programming, more voices from the western provinces, and a greater focus on Vancouver. There will also be a new focus on breaking news.

Michel welcomes the competition, and believes the CBC and CTV initiatives will make the entire market more lively.

“I believe the ultimate winner with any increased competition is the consumer,” he says. “MyCBC was built on the philosophy of putting viewers and consumers first.

“While I agree that the morning timeslot will be extremely competitive, I believe that in today’s environment any news organization needs to be available 24/7, delivering accurate and reliable information in more ways and places and on more platforms that ever before. I know that MyCBC brings us closer than anyone else in the Vancouver market to accomplishing this goal.”

So it looks like the gauntlet that CBC has thrown was picked up.

What do you think of the changes in the Vancouver media landscape? How will the battle for viewers  unfold?

	8 Comments »	See also: The Media Landscape, Vancouver, myCBC
	Email this	Posted at 2:40 pm (04 Dec 2007)

In case you missed it, yesterday CBC-TV tried something new, and held its first “winter preview” of upcoming prime-time programs.

Previewed programs include immigration drama The Border, sitcom Sophie, Douglas Coupland’s jPod, lifestyle series The Steven & Chris Show, reality program The Week the Women Went, and the much-anticipated MVP – “a sexy look at a fictional NHL team of hunky players and the women who love them.”

Special programming includes The Englishman’s Boy, Project X, The Confidential Series, plus the returns of H2O, Test the Nation and Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister.

(Aside: I kept stumbling upon tidbits about the tapings of these shows back in July, when I last did this blog - including jPod, The Border and The Week the Women Went - so I’m looking forward to seeing them on air.)

Today’s Globe sees the lineup as an effort to attract “a younger, more female audience.” And the media has been quick to draw a correlation between CBC’s push and the ongoing American screenwriters strike. CBC executives admit there’s certainly an opening.

“All I see is opportunity - we have a shot,” head of network programming Kirstine Layfield told the Canadian Press. “People are going to be looking for something to watch, and I always find when people watch Canadian television, they are pleasantly surprised. It’s hard, it’s really hard, to make a mark and this is really going to help us.”

A day earlier, Layfield reported interest from U.S. networks in CBC programs . She confirmed that The Border was one of them. Westwind Production’s Mary Darling says Little Mosque on the Prairie is another.

But Writers Guild of Canada president Rebecca Schechter, who also had a hand in Little Mosque, said optimists like Darling are “dreaming in Technicolor.”

“It’s a weird pipe dream,” she said. “American giant conglomerates, they’ve not come across the border to Canada. They have consistently showed no interest in putting Canadian programming on American network television.”

The WGC plans to participate in an international display of solidarity on Nov. 28.

If you are really pining for American content, you’ll be able to get that on CBC too. According to CP, “CBC also said Tuesday it has acquired the rights to Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune from CBS Paramount International. Both shows will begin airing in September 2008.”

As for the Canadian stuff – well, the launch, and its fortuitous timing, managed to create a certain level of optimism. Prolific television blogger Denis McGrath, also a writer on The Border, had this to say of the event:

The impression I walked away with? When Layfield and the new regime started at CBC they took a lot of heat for saying they wanted to redefine and remake what the broadcaster was, and the kind of programming it did. This looks like a pretty vibrant schedule — it definitely has energy and a potential for big pop. I hope the stuff all works. It would be nice for CBC to get a win.

And if the WGA strike is still on, Canadians might actually get a chance to fairly sample their homegrown wares. It’s the best slate I’ve seen from CBC in a while.

What do you think of the winter lineup? Does the U.S. strike present an opportunity for CBC?

	11 Comments »	See also: CBC Television, Little Mosque on the Prairie, MVP, Marketing/Promotion, The Media Landscape
	Email this	Posted at 4:36 pm (21 Nov 2007)