From Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail:
Rogers to cut jobs, end all OMNI newscasts
Rogers Media Inc. is cutting approximately 100 positions from its conventional TV operations, and eliminating all newscasts on its multicultural OMNI stations, as it grapples with spiralling losses at its City and OMNI broadcasters.
Staff across the country are receiving pink slips Thursday, with the brunt of the cuts coming at the troubled OMNI operations and stations in the West. Continue reading.
From Jennie Punter of Variety:
Castalia and Canada’s APTN Partner On New TV Channel For Native Americans
Atlanta-based Castalia Communications has partnered with Canada’s APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) to develop a cable channel aimed at Native Americans and other viewers with an interest in the culture.
“APTN has done an excellent job of entertaining and informing Aboriginal audiences throughout Canada,†said Castalia founder and prexy Luis Torres-Bohl, who confirmed his international media business development company is now in conversation with all major U.S. cable, satellite, and telcos. “We are excited by the opportunity to now bring this relevant, high-quality TV option to a clearly underserved segment of the U.S. population.†Continue reading.
From a media release:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released statistical and financial information on Canadian local television stations for the broadcast year that ended August 31, 2014.
In 2014, private stations invested $619.3 million in the creation of programs made by Canadians, including local news and drama series, and employed over 5,900 people. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada (CBC/SRC) invested an additional $789.8 million in this type of content. In total, local television stations spent more than $1.4 billion to fund the creation of new Canadian programs for viewers.
Canada’s local television stations continued to operate within a challenging advertising market. Private stations brought in $117.1 million less in advertising revenue, which contributed to a 7.2% decrease in overall revenues, from $1.94 billion in 2013 to $1.8 billion in 2014.
For its part, CBC/SRC reported $474.6 million in advertising revenues in 2014, a 43% increase from the $331.1 million generated in 2013. This increase is largely attributable to the broadcast of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Brazil, and an entire season of National Hockey League games.
Each year, the CRTC compiles financial data on Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications sectors to produce a series of reports. The CRTC will soon publish the financial results for cable and satellite companies, specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, and AM and FM radio. Following the publication of these reports, the CRTC will issue its annual Communications Monitoring Report.
These annual reports help interested parties to stay informed about the state of the Canadian communication industry and to participate in the CRTC’s public consultations.
Quick facts
CRTC Three-Year Plan 2015-2018
The CRTC’s activities under this pillar contribute to a communications system that provides Canadians – including persons with disabilities – with quality and affordable communications service options. The communications system strengthens the social and economic fabric of Canada, and enables Canadians to have access to compelling and diverse Canadian content.
Ongoing activities include the following:
From CBC News:
Nova Scotia film tax credit deal struck between province, industry
Nova Scotia’s government has struck a deal with members of the province’s film industry over the planned cuts to the film tax credit.
Finance department officials met with industry members on Thursday to find a way forward.
Screen Nova Scotia representatives said the deal “will keep us in business.” Continue reading.
