BBC boss quits; joins rival: BBC chairman Michael Grade has resigned to join rival ITV. Grade, 63, said he would focus on improving programming at ITV — the United Kingdom’s oldest commercial television network — when he takes over as executive chairman early next year. The BBC is now looking for its third new chairman in seven years.
CRTC approves satellite radio on cable lineup: The CRTC has approved an application by Rogers Cable to permit its cable companies in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland/Labrador to distribute both licensed satellite subscription radio services on digital cable.
Networks ask CRTC for more ad time: “CanWest Global says it doesn’t want promos for U.S shows to count as part of the 12 minutes. CTV is asking that the time restriction on ads be eliminated altogether, in return for more promotion of Canadian programs.”
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Canwest is pushing for something they shouldn’t get. Ditto for CTV.
Commercial broadcasters are filthy hogs if they think they could just fill their broadcasts with advertisements. That’s probably the last peg that’s preventing them from becoming a full-screen version of the split-screen TV Guide Channel. And I’m talking about the advertising portion and not the actual television listings.
In my opinion, the Ceeb should recieve 100% of their budget from us taxpayers, and eliminate all their ads. The feds can’t say they haven’t enough to do so: Just think about the $12-billion they just dumped on lenders from that budget surplus this year. So they can stop griping about how little budget they get (thus the cable carriage fee they and other broadcasters are asking for) with the cultural and national commitment they’re forced to tend to. They ARE our public broadcaster for that reason.