Rogers and BCE Inc. have registered to lobby the government on proposed Senate legislation aimed at banning junk food advertising to kids under 17. Corus already had Bill S-228 or the Child Health Protection Act on its radar. Ronald Lund, president of the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) told the standing committee on health that while supportive of the government’s objective to reduce childhood obesity, the legislation would be a “regulatory overreach” with economic consequences.
Rogers, Bell and Telus have submitted their proposals to the CRTC for low-cost data-only plans. While varying in price, each plan offers unlimited data, talk and text over Wi-Fi. Rogers offers a $25 plan with 400MB of LTE data; Telus proposes a $30 plan through flanker brand Koodo with 500MB LTE data, while Bell proposes a $30 500MB LTE data plan through Virgin Mobile. The CRTC has called for comments with the deadline May 23.
Rogers Communications has released its Q1 2018 results for the quarter ended Mar. 31. The results reflect the newly adopted IFRS 15 (Revenue from contracts with customers) which impacted Wireless and Consolidated results. Total revenue increased 8 per cent during the quarter (or 6 per cent under the prior accounting basis), largely driven by Wireless revenue growth of five per cent (or 7 per cent under the prior accounting basis). Wireless equipment revenue grew 27 per cent (or 8 per cent under prior accounting) as more devices were activated, driven by the highest level of first quarter gross additions of 377,000 and lowest churn of 1.08 per cent in 15 years. Cable revenue increased one per cent. Media revenue, for which sports continues to be the primary driver of growth, increased 12 per cent driven by a higher distribution to the Toronto Blue Jays from Major League Baseball.
Nash John Gracie, the Halifax man accused of hurling the FHRITP slur at CTV reporter Heather Butts during a live broadcast on Dec. 29, has been referred to Nova Scotia’s restorative justice program. Gracie, 25, was charged with public mischief and causing a disturbance at a Halifax bar after interrupting Butts during a live report on the World Junior Hockey Championship. Restorative justice can involve the accused meeting with the victim and determining what can be done to make amends. If followed through, Gracie could see the charges dropped.
The Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ) is relaunching after several years of inactivity. The relaunch team includes Nadia Stewart, a Global News reporter in Vancouver; CBC Fort McMurray reporter David Thurton; Adetayo Bero, an associate producer at CBC Toronto; and former CABJ president Michelle Lynch.
The Western Association of Broadcasters has announced that Joanne Johnson and Bob Layton are the 2018 inductees into the WAB Hall of Fame. Johnson, who recently retired, spent the last 25 years of her career as co-host of the Don, Joanne & The Coach morning show on Lite 96 (CHFM-FM) and XL 103 (CFXL-FM) Calgary. Layton, is the longtime news manager, anchor and editorialist at 630 CHED Edmonton. Their induction ceremony will take place June 7 at the WAB President’s Dinner & Awards Gala at the Fairmont Banff Springs. The WAB Gold Medal Awards for Community Service and Leader of Tomorrow Award will also be presented that evening. Find ticket info here.
RTDNA Canada handed out its regional awards on Apr. 22. In the West Region, CBC Vancouver and CTV Vancouver were among the night’s big winners. In the Prairie Region, Global Edmonton was among the outlets to pick up multiple awards, while CBC Montreal, CBC Sudbury, and CTV News Ottawa dominated in the Central Region. In the East Region, News 95.7 (CJNI-FM) and CTV Atlantic won multiple honours, including Best Newscast in their respective categories.
Sheila Coles and Geoff Stickle are this year’s RTDNA Canada Lifetime Achievement Award honorees in the Prairie Region. Coles started at CBC 34 years ago as a reporter before moving into the host chair of the CBC Saskatchewan’s Morning Edition in 1993. Geoff Stickle retired as camera supervisor this past February, after 42 years with Global Edmonton.
RTDNA has also announced this year’s National Award and Network Award finalists. National and Network winners will be announced at the RTDNA Canada 2018 National Conference & Awards Gala on May 25-26 at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto.
Canadian Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) celebrated the recipients of its 2018 WCT Annual Leadership Awards on Apr. 16 in Ottawa: Woman of the Year: Sylvie Courtemanche, Chair, Canadian Broadcast Standards Council; Company of the Year: Cogeco Connexion; Diversity Champion: Geoff Poulton, President, Vista Radio; Mentor: Bonnie Brownlee, Executive Director, Communications, Marketing, Brand and Research, CBC; Technology Innovator: Mina Chan, Director, Technology Development Video, Rogers; Trailblazer: Zainul Mawji, VP Home Solutions and Complementary Channels, TELUS; Innovator: Willa Black, VP Corporate Affairs, Cisco; Public Sector Leadership: Brigadier-General Frances Allen, Department of National Defence; Rising Star: Fatima Khalid, Developer, Digital Echidna; WCT Leader: Laurie Hause, Chief Information Officer & Director of Marketing, McKenzie Lake Lake Lawyers LLP.
The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF), in association with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, has announced the finalists for the annual Landsberg Award, recognizing exceptional coverage of women’s equality issues. They include the team behind CBC Radio’s The Current for exploring topics ranging from a Canadian soldier whose military career was threatened for reporting workplace sexual misconduct to the work of the National Inquiry into MMIWG, leadership and reconciliation. Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête is also nominated for “Le cercle vicieux,” (English version available) a documentary which examined Indigenous women denouncing pedophilia in their communities. The winner will be announced at the CJF Awards, June 14 in Toronto.
Male CBC/Radio Canada hosts earn nearly 9.5 per cent more on average than their female counterparts, according to data released under an Access to Information Act request from University of Ottawa associate professor Patrick McCurdy, shared with the Globe and Mail. McMurdy made the request following wide wage disparity reporting at the BBC. The data shows that male CBC/Radio-Canada hosts, editors, managers and producers all make more than their female counterparts. The one exception is female reporters, who make on average 3.5 per cent more than men. When negotiating for additional remuneration, men also earned an additional $32,600, compared to an extra $23,700, for women.
The Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation (CBMF) has asked CBC to stop destroying master copies of its original radio and television programs following digitization. CBMF says CBC English Services began destroying original radio and TV programming at the beginning of April and has declined a request to delay the process while a home for the master recordings can be found. CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson says digitization will make the archives easier to access for its production teams. Just over 20 per cent of audio and video collections have already been digitized, with another 1.1 million hours to be archived by 2022. CBMF says French-language counterpart Radio-Canada plans to preserve its master recordings following digitization.
