REVOLVING DOOR:
Sylvie Bissonnette, the Canadian Association of Broadcaster’s (CAB) Vice-President, Finance & Administration and CFO, is set to retire in November. Bissonnette has been with the organization for 29 years, starting in 1991. CAB is in the process of recruiting a new president.
Bob McKenzie has announced he’s reducing his appearances on TSN. In a post to Twitter, McKenzie, who celebrates his 64th birthday on Aug. 16, said he’ll be sitting out the balance of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. While he has a new five-year contract with the network, it involves a handful of Toronto Maple Leafs regional games, covering the World Junior Hockey Championships, and draft rankings three times a year. McKenzie will also continue to appear on NBC Sports. He’s been covering hockey for TSN since 1986.
Thank you. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/wJisCYt7eW
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) August 10, 2020
Terry Schintz, news manager and anchor at CKNW Vancouver, has been released as part of ongoing restructuring at Corus Entertainment. Schintz had been with Corus Radio for two decades and was part of the launch team for short-lived 24-hour news station, NW2, which was shuttered in 2002. He’d been news manager since 2011. Following his departure, the news radio team will report to Global BC Managing Editor of Digital, Laura Baziuk.
Jawn Jang is joining CKNW Vancouver as an on-air contributor. Jang formerly co-hosted Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM) midday show The Playbook, alongside Satiar Shah and Bik Nizzar. He was part of layoffs at the network last fall.
David Cruise and Britt Jones are no longer in mornings on Virgin Radio (CFMG-FM) Edmonton, while show producer Katie Stanners remains listed on the station website. Bell Media has announced that it will start airing syndicated American morning show Brooke & Jeffrey in mornings, starting Aug. 17. Up until this past Spring, Brooke & Jeffrey (formerly known as Brooke & Jubal prior to the departure of co-host Jubal Fresh) had a brief run in mornings on Corus Radio’s Chuck @ 92.5 (CKNG-FM) in the Edmonton market.
Tara Thorne, a longtime freelance arts contributor to CBC Information Morning in Halifax, has been released from further appearances after an off-colour tweet following Nova Scotia Premier Stephen MacNeil’s announcement he’ll be stepping down. A champion of the city’s emerging arts scene, Thorne’s supporters have been denouncing the mothercorp’s move with hashtag #ImwithThorney.
Kier Junos has joined Citytv Vancouver as a videojournalist. Junos was previously a VJ and assistant producer with Zoomer Media’s Joytv, based in Surrey, BC.
Jason Roberts is rejoining up! 99.3 (CIUP-FM) Edmonton as afternoon drive host, with his new show set to launch Aug. 17. Roberts was previously an up! morning show co-host from 2011-15. He was most recently doing weekends and fill-in on 100.3 The Bear (CHBR-FM).
Evan Baran and “The Baran Wasteland” have returned to Regina’s 104.9 The Wolf (CFWF-FM). After a six-year absence from radio, Baran returns as midday host. He’ll also be assisting in the music department.
Iain Sherriff-Scott is joining iPolitics.ca as a reporter covering Queen’s Park. Sheriff-Scott is former managing editor of the Queen’s Journal and a former intern at The Logic.
Annie Bradley has been elected as the first female chair of DGC Ontario. The veteran film and TV writer/producer/director, whose credits include The Good Witch and Dino Dana, succeeds Alan Goluboff, who had held the role since 2010.
Adaptiv Networks, the Gatineau-based cloud-native SD-WAN-as-a-Service vendor, has appointed Frederick Parent as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the company’s strategic roadmap for product innovation. Parent has over 20 years of experience in networking and design and co-founded Victrix and ELFIQ Networks, which are now part of Adaptiv Networks. He’s also held network and software development roles with IBM and Bell Canada.
RADIO & PODCAST:
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) has inducted the iconic theme songs from Facts of Life, Diff’rent Strokes and Wheel of Fortune, co-written by the late Alan Thicke. The song inductions were marked with a virtual presentation that aired nationally on Global’s The Morning Show last Friday. Robin Thicke, who has forged his own career as a multi-platinum selling singer, actor, songwriter and producer, was on hand to accept the award on his father’s behalf and said while his dad “was mostly known for his TV work, he always wanted to be Gordon Lightfoot or Bruce Springsteen. This would be an amazing honour for him…” Thicke passed away in Dec. 2016 at age 69.
Canadian Music Week (CMW) has announced that the Jim Beam National Talent Search Tour will take place virtually Sept. 26 – Oct. 3, with 30-minute webisodes spotlighting five bands from each of eight Canadian cities: Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, and Saskatoon. Hosted by Josie Dye from Toronto’s Indie88 (CIND-FM), each regional webisode will be streamed via Indies.ca and cmw.net/music, in addition to Vimeo, Facebook Live, YouTube, and partnering radio stations across the country. Fans will be invited to vote for their favourite band to play live at the Jim Beam INDIES in 2021. Find broadcast dates and the bands selected from each city, here.
The CRTC has denied an application for technical changes by Durham Radio for its yet-to-launch English-language commercial station CKLK-FM, serving Grimsby and Beamsville, ON. Durham says the approved transmitter site does not allow CKLK-FM to provide adequate coverage for the market it has been approved to serve, since approximately one-third of the residents of Grimsby will not receive the station’s signal. According to interveners, which included Bell Media, Byrnes, Corus Entertainment, and Evanov, approval of Durham’s application would have resulted in CKLK-FM entering into the Hamilton radio market.
Evanov Radio Group’s Winnipeg stations Energy 106 (CHWE-FM), HOT 100.5 (CFJL-FM) & CKJS 810 AM are presenting the Back to School Supply Drive in support of Winnipeg Harvest. Starting Aug. 12, the stations have opened their doors for school supply and food donations through Sept. 4. Inspiration for the drive came from recent numbers released by Winnipeg Harvest, showing a 30% increase in demand for the food bank’s services since March. Program director Adam West says with the added stresses of COVID-19 and the upcoming school year, families in need are now facing the rising costs of school fees, childcare, and school supplies that will no longer be shareable within classrooms.
Jeff Vidler of Signal Hill Insights explores the impact working from home is having on audio listening in his latest blog post. With the Adult Contemporary format emerging in the 1970s as women entered the workforce en masse, Vidler looks at new opportunity for specialization – now that there’s less need for “music everyone can agree on” – and format resilience in the current environment, as stations like Jim Pattison Broadcast Group’s Now! Edmonton and Today Radio Calgary weather the COVID ratings upheaval better than some of their AC counterparts.
FEATURE: Montreal metal singers have found a new income stream as voiceover artists for film and video games. Broadcast Dialogue talked to The Monster Factory co-founder Sébastien Croteau about the collective which just launched a new website and short film, Horde, showcasing the vocal effort that goes into a simulated zombie attack. Read more here.
LISTEN: On the latest Sound Off Podcast, Matt Cundill talks to Julie James, assistant program director, music director, and on-air host at Toronto’s 98.1 CHFI, about working from home, the evolution of the AC format, some of the tools she uses to help make music decisions, and the Spotify playlists she curates to listen to new music. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
SIGN OFFS:
Benoit Pariseau, 87, on July 25. Pariseau, who defined himself as a Franco public radio influencer in Alberta over his 35-year career, initially went to work for Northern Alberta Railways (NAR) after college, before getting his start in radio at French-language station CFRG Gravelbourgh, SK in 1960. In late 1972, he became program director at CHFA Edmonton, later going on to a long career as an on-air personality. CHFA, which started as a not-for-profit to bring French-language radio to Edmonton, was directly acquired by Radio-Canada in 1974. Pariseau’s career with the public broadcaster would expand into television news and sports, including covering the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. He retired in 1995.
Genevieve Westcott, 65, on July 10, from breast cancer. Westcott began her career as a financial reporter for the Vancouver Sun, and then joined The Province as an editorial page writer. The Western grad later made the move into television, working for Canwest, CBC, and as the West Coast bureau chief for CTV News. Along the way, she met New Zealand cameraman Ross “Rosco” Kenward and moved to New Zealand in 1984 where she began working for TVNZ’s Eyewitness News. She returned to CTV in 1987 as an anchor and reporter for W5, reporting from destinations around the globe. In 1989, she joined New Zealand’s TV3 for its launch, also reporting for the channel’s offerings of 60 Minutes, 20/20 and A Current Affair, as well as at Newstalk ZB. Westcott moved into communications in 2013, joining Auckland’s Massey University in external communications. Over her career, she was recognized with numerous awards, including three for investigative reporting at the New York Film and Television Festival, and eight New Zealand media awards.
TV & FILM:
APTN Investigates has been selected by the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) for the 2020 Richard LaCourse Award for Investigative Journalism. The APTN Investigates team – Holly Moore, Cullen Crozier, Brittany Guyot, Brittany Hobson, Kathleen Martens, Laurie Hamelin, and Executive Producer Paul Barnsley – are being recognized for their 2019 series that started with reporting on a scheme in British Columbia involving a social worker taking advantage of vulnerable Indigenous youth in the child welfare system. Subsequent reporting included a video in court evidence, obtained by APTN Investigates, that showed an RCMP officer interrogating an Indigenous child in care about her reported sexual assault. The series led to an external review of all sexual assault cases handled by the Kelowna detachment and offered a rare glimpse into how some Indigenous women are treated in the justice system. The victim’s original complaint has also been re-opened. The APTN team will be recognized during a virtual awards presentation on Oct. 15.
Hudson and Rex producers have revealed that a cast member on the St. John’s, NL-shot series has tested positive for COVID-19. The cast member was exposed after another woman, who had arrived in the province from Toronto, was in contact with others working on the production and later tested positive for the virus. Shooting resumed Monday after a brief set shutdown.
Shaun Majumder is the host of the latest CBC original competition series, Race Against The Tide, which will see 10 teams of highly-skilled sand sculptors compete against the backdrop of the Bay of Fundy. Currently in production in New Brunswick, the show is slated to air in Canada on CBC and CBC Gem in 2021. The half-hour series is being produced by marblemedia. Read more here.
Shaftesbury has announced that Murdoch Mysteries has begun production on Season 14 in Toronto, with a reduced 11-episode season set to start airing on CBC TV and CBC Gem in winter 2021. Shooting over the next six weeks, star Yannick Bisson will direct the first two episodes of the season, while Peter Mitchell, Gary Harvey, Warren Sonoda, Mina Shum, and Ruba Nadda will also take turns in the director’s chair.
Telefilm Canada has announced details and application dates for the 2020-21 Development Program, including the newly-created Development Stream for Racialized Persons/Visible Minorities. The additional investment envelope of $500,000 is designed to reduce barriers to accessing Telefilm’s development funding and will welcome applications, starting Oct. 5, from both emerging and experienced companies that are majority-owned and controlled by Racialized Persons/Visible Minorities. Projects submitted will be evaluated by an external jury with racialized and minority representation. Telefilm has also expanded the eligibility criteria to the Selective Stream of the Development Program, to allow flexibility to companies who historically have not had access to the program. Companies that have had a Canadian feature film, which premiered at a qualifying film festival but did not have a theatrical release, may now apply. Telefilm has also increased the number of projects per company that can be funded in the Selective Stream to up to two at $15,000 per title. The Indigenous Development Stream remains in place with no changes. Telefilm will begin accepting applications Aug. 24. Find program guidelines here.
Telefilm Canada has issued a call for feature Canadian films to be considered for the International Film Award competition at the Academy Awards. The Pan-Canadian Selection Committee will screen eligible films over the coming months and meet in October to vote on which film will represent Canada in the competition. Those wishing to submit in any other category should apply directly to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Due to the global pandemic mandating the closure of commercial theatres, until further notice and for the 93rd Awards year only, country selected films that had a previously-planned theatrical release, but have initially been made available through a commercial streaming distribution or video-on-demand service, may qualify for awards consideration.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Film Fund Luxembourg (FFL) will re-offer the Canada-Luxembourg Codevelopment and Coproduction Incentive for Audiovisual Projects. Projects funded at the development stage must be drama or animation series, feature-length animation or digital media projects. The Incentive also funds eligible digital media projects—specifically virtual or augmented reality, transmedia or enabling technologies—at the production stage. The annual combined budget of the Incentive is CAD $900,000. Learn more here.
AMI original production Level Playing Field debuts Sept. 7 on AMI-tv. Hosted by Paralympian Greg Westlake, Level Playing Field’s eight half-hour episodes travel across the country, following the stories of athletes and organizations with a desire to help drive positive social change through sport. In the premiere episode, North Bay, ON wheelchair tennis para-athlete Rob Shaw is featured with future episodes to focus on Paralympic hopeful Anthony Lue, boxer Debbie Haryett, Para Triathletes Jon Dunkley and Jessica Tuomela, Para Judo star Priscilla Gagné, Wheelchair Rugby Canada team members Shayne Smith and Eric Rodrigues-Furtado, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
MEDIAPRO Canada has secured distribution agreements for the Semi-Finals and Final of the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s (CEBL) 2020 Summer Series in five Asia-Pacific territories. Leading broadcasters in Australia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan will air coverage of the CEBL’s final three games, including Fox Sports, the top broadcaster of basketball in Australia; Astro SuperSport, Malaysia’s dominant pay-TV sports broadcaster, and Singapore’s Singtel mioSports channels. In the Philippines, the games will air on TapGo, the cable sports broadcaster and free-to-view sports app, while digital sports broadcaster Sportcast, operated by the CSTV Group, will show the games in Taiwan. In total, the CEBL Semi-Finals and Final will be available to a potential Asia-Pacific audience of close to 130 million viewers. All 26 CEBL games will also livestream on Twitch, through the twitch.tv/cebleague channel, which recently created a standalone sports category.
Global and Insight Productions have announced that casting is officially underway for Season 9 of Big Brother Canada. For the first time ever, casting for the new season will be done completely virtually, foregoing in-person casting calls due to COVID-19 restrictions. Canadians can apply online at bigbrothercanadacasting.ca for their chance to become a #BBCAN9 houseguest. Fans can also nominate friends on social media by tagging @bigbrotherca and using #FutureHOH for a chance to get noticed by the show’s casting team.
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Think you have what it takes? Audition for #BBCAN9! ➡️ bigbrothercanada.ca
Nelvana and Spin Master have secured new international broadcast partners for Season 1 of Bakugan: Battle Planet (100 x 11 min) and Season 2 of Bakugan: Armored Alliance (104 x 11 min). The new distribution deals include Netflix (U.S., Canada), POP (U.K.), 9Go! (Australia) and Dreamia (Portugal) for Bakugan: Armored Alliance as well as Televisa (Mexico), Dreamia (Portugal), Nelonen Media (Finland), Dexy Co (Serbia), and Talent Show (Croatia) for Bakugan: Battle Planet. The new season launched earlier this year on Cartoon Network in the U.S., and TELETOON and YTV in Canada. Along with the new season, Spin Master launched Bakugan: Armored Alliance toys in North America this Spring, with a new wave of products launching in Fall 2020 in the U.S. and Canada.
CBC/Radio-Canada, Fremantle, and Spin Master, with Imagination Games, have announced that the Family Feud Canada board game is now available in English and French at Walmart Canada stores. Developed following the Dec. 2019 launch of the Canadian version of the television franchise, Numeris data supplied by the public broadcaster says the show reached 2.6 million viewers in Canada, Monday to Thursday each week, with an average audience of 518,000 per episode, including 30% in the 25-54 demo. More than half of all viewers watched with others in their household. Family Feud Canada is set to return this fall with 104 new episodes on CBC TV and CBC Gem with the search now on for new families. Learn how to submit an audition video without breaking social distancing measures at CBC.ca/familyfeud.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
Indiegraf, led by sisters Caitlin Havlak and Erin Millar, has been named one of not-for-profit funder New Media Venture’s 2020 Groups To Watch. Havlak and Millar, who spent the past five years growing The Discourse, launched Indiegraf in May with seven partner publishers, including The Discourse, Sun Peaks Independent News, Peterborough Currents, IndigiNews, La Converse, Spark YQL and APTN News. The network of independent journalism entrepreneurs and community-owned publishers aims to help digital startups in so-called “news deserts” by pooling resources to reduce the cost of technology, distribution and marketing.
LISTEN: On the latest episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, we talk to the editorial team behind The Pigeon – a new longform journalism site launched by a group of student journalists and recent grads. Managing editor Tegwyn Hughes and editorial team member Bayleigh Marelj talk about creating their own opportunity in a challenging time for Canadian media, while building a platform for underrepresented voices. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
CBC/Radio-Canada has announced a new two-game partnership with Twitter Canada that will see the public broadcaster’s tweets, featuring live content streams and clips from its coverage of Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, reach a wider Canadian audience through the use of Twitter Amplify. The Twitter Amplify program will expand the reach of CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage through ad-supported, promoted tweets that will target users outside of those already following CBC and Radio-Canada’s Olympic Games-dedicated accounts, @CBCOlympics and @RC_Sports. The availability on Twitter of streams featuring five top-tier Olympic Games events is one of the highlights of the agreement. The public broadcaster’s use of Twitter Amplify dates back to Rio 2016, and in 2018, it was the only official PyeongChang 2018 broadcaster able to livestream events on Twitter. CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the Tokyo games begins July 23, 2021.
TSN digital brand, BarDown, is livestreaming a Seven Minute Bardown Post Game Show on Instagram, immediately following select 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff games. Featuring seven minutes of analysis and engagement with hockey fans across the country – including debates about key moments and unfair calls – the segment is hosted by BarDown’s Julia Tocheri and Luca Celebre, who are frequently joined by their fellow BarDownskis. The show also features TSN hub reporters Farhan Lalji, John Lu, Mark Masters, Sara Orlesky, and Ryan Rishaug. To date, it’s garnering an average of more than 18,000 views per episode. TSN has also introduced new weekday digital segment Game Day Skate, hosted by BarDownskis Daniel Zakrzewski and Celebre, available on TSN.ca and across TSN’s social media accounts, featuring daily storylines surrounding Canadian NHL teams.
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
BCE Q2 2020 operating revenue was $5,354 million, down 9.1% compared to Q2 2019, due to reduced consumer and commercial activity as COVID-19 negatively impacted financial results across all Bell operating segments. Net earnings declined 64% to $294 million and net earnings attributable to common shareholders totalled $237 million, or $0.26 per share, down 68.9% and 69.4% respectively. The decreases were the result of $452 million in impairment charges related to certain Bell Media TV and radio properties, and lower adjusted EBITDA, partly offset by lower income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 9.4% to $2,331 million, driven by declines of 9.2% at Bell Wireless, 5.3% at Bell Wireline and 31.9% at Bell Media. Total media operating revenue decreased 31.2% to $579 million due to lower year-over-year advertising and subscriber revenues. Advertising revenue declined across all platforms – TV, radio, out of home and digital – due to the impact of COVID-19 on commercial activity, the suspension of major league sports schedules and the cancellation of other live events. Subscriber revenue was down due to declines across multiple channels reflecting continued cord shaving and over-the-top substitution. Total subscribers remained essentially stable, with subscribers for Crave growing to approximately 2.8 million from almost 2.7 million last year. BCE reported 34,702 net new wireless customers in Q2, surpassing 10 million total wireless subscribers; 19,023 net new retail Internet customers; a net loss of 3,604 IPTV customers; a net loss of 11,940 retail satellite TV customers; and a net loss of 48,405 retail residential NAS lines.
Quebecor Q2 2020 highlights include revenue of $1 billion, down $53.1 million (‑5.0%) from the same period of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA was $475.7 million, up $20.7 million (4.5%). The Telecommunications segment grew its revenues by $14.7 million (1.7%) and its adjusted EBITDA by $13.6 million (3.0%) in the second quarter of 2020. Videotron significantly increased its revenues from customer equipment sales ($22.5 million or 43.8%) and mobile telephony ($13.3 million or 9.1%) in the second quarter of 2020. The company reported a net increase of 16,700 revenue‑generating units (0.3%) in the second quarter of 2020, including 35,100 connections (2.6%) to the mobile telephony service and 17,200 subscriptions (1.0%) to cable Internet access service. The Media and Sports and Entertainment segments posted revenue decreases of $57.4 million (‑30.2%) and $15.4 million (‑37.3%), respectively, and grew their adjusted EBITDA by $1.9 million (33.3%) and $4.3 million respectively in the second quarter.
The CRTC says Bell is giving undue preference to its RDS channel at the expense of TVA Sports, according to a letter Quebecor says it received from the commission earlier this week. In the letter, Quebecor says the CRTC states that Bell’s proposed new packaging structure still fails to comply with its Dec. 2019 decision. TVA Group had filed a complaint with the CRTC on Feb. 27, 2019 alleging that Bell was subjecting TVA Sports to an undue disadvantage and conferring an undue preference on RDS, in violation of section 9 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations. TVA Group has instituted proceedings in Québec Superior Court seeking compensation for what it says is tens of millions in damages that Bell has caused it through the stratagem.
The CRTC has selected five projects from its first call for applications to the Broadband Fund. The five projects, throughout Manitoba, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, will be allocated up to $72.1 million in funding to bring high-quality broadband internet access to underserved areas. As a result, the commission says over 316 km of new fibre will be installed and over 10,100 households in northern communities will have access to improved broadband internet services.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) says data from its Internet Performance Test shows that Canada’s urban-rural digital divide persisted during the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In July, the median download speeds received by rural Canadians (5.62 Mbps) was roughly 10 times slower than those experienced by their urban counterparts (51.54 Mbps), with urban internet performance steadily improving and outpacing rural improvements since the pandemic began. CIRA says between March and July, urban internet users saw an average download speed increase of about 25 Mbps, while rural speeds have not notably improved, plateauing around 5.5 Mbps. The data is based on test results generated between May 2019 and July 2020 from a total of 130,794 urban tests and 56,982 rural tests.
Shaw Communications has launched Smart Remote Office, a teleworking gateway aimed at ensuring businesses can keep control over network security while giving employees a digital experience similar to what that they would get in the office. Smart Remote Office allows businesses to offer their employees a secure, reliable connection directly to the company’s internal network. It’s now available from Shaw Business throughout Western Canada featuring a built-in firewall, VPN functionality using end-to-end encryption, self-install, and portability that allows employees to work securely from anywhere they have access to a modem.
