The Weekly Briefing

GENERAL:

The Liberals have largely fulfilled their $1.3-billion election promise to the cultural community, including CBC. The public broadcaster is slated to get an extra $675-million over the next five budgets but only $75-million in this first year. The budget specifically mentioned working with the CBC on an accountability plan and a system of five-year mandates tied to guaranteed levels of funding. Also required is a new governance structure wherein the CEO reports to a non-politicized board instead of directly to the government.

The CRTC’s Public Service Renewal Results 2016 focuses on organizational development initiatives, part of what’s called the Blueprint 2020 vision. Its endeavours include the need to hear from Canadians so as to make informed decisions, and to inform and educate them; CRTC staffers staying ahead of the curve as it relates to technology; and, ensuring that issues are resolved as quickly as possible so as not to disrupt morale and the appetite for taking risks.

Bell will spend $854 million for direct fibre links and faster Internet speeds meant to reach 1.1. million Montréal homes and businesses. The expansion will see more than 7,000 kilometres of new fibre installed and 25 central offices upgraded across the city.

Bell and Microsoft Canada business customers can now take advantage of an expanded suite of Microsoft Azure cloud services, including Compute and Backup and Disaster Recovery.

Jim Pattison has made a record $75 million donation to the St. Paul’s Foundation that will fund the Jim Pattison Medical Centre, an 18.4-acre facility on False Creek Flats that will be home to the new St. Paul’s Hospital. The donation is the largest in Canadian history by a private citizen to a single medical facility.

Award-winning journalists and authors Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Matt Taibbi will appear in a two-part evening The Media as Opposition: Covering Trump in a Post-Truth Era, presented by The Canadian Journalism Foundation and The Globe and Mail. Part of the CJF J-Talks series, the event takes place May 24 at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.

The Awards Nomination period for the Western Association of Broadcasters closes on Friday, April 7^th.  All member stations of the WAB are eligible to submit entries for the Gold Medal Award for Community Service, Leader of Tomorrow and Broadcast Hall of Fame.  For more information on award criteria please visit www.wab.ca/nominate.  Award winners will be celebrated on June 8^th at the WAB 83^rd Annual Conference in Banff, Alberta.  For more information, please visit www.wab.ca.

TV/FILM/VIDEO:

CTV stations, including those in Vancouver, Kitchener, London and Windsor have seen cuts  to local sports and other programming, and more layoffs are expected countrywide. A CTV spokesman says the action is part of a larger Bell Media restructuring due to “changing broadcast technologies and growing international competition, a tough advertising market and ongoing regulatory pressure.”

Channel Zero, owner of CHCH-TV Hamilton, has settled with Unifor in its dispute over station employees who were restructured in Dec. 2015. The settlement will see $1,000,001 paid out over two years and earmarked to pay wages, termination pay and severance pay owing to the former employees.

Lionsgate and Canal+ Group’s Studiocanal have signed a long term agreement that will see Studiocanal distribute films from Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment label in Australia and New Zealand. Studiocanal now distributes Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment film titles in Germany while Lionsgate handles Studiocanal’s film library in North America.

Feist will perform a special tribute to Leonard Cohen as part of Sunday’s 2017 JUNO Awards broadcast. This year’s line-up of presenters includes Minister of Canadian Heritage Melanie Joly; 2017 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award recipient Buffy Sainte-Marie; singer-songwriter and JUNO Award nominee Chantal Kreviazuk; rapper Jazz Cartier and ETALK reporter Liz Trinnear.

Bell Media has signed an agreement with Electus International to simulcast new reality competition show The Toy Box on CTV alongside its U.S. premiere on ABC, starting April 7. In each episode, five unknown toy designers bring concepts to life as they battle for a spot in the season finale.

The 10-episode first season adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale will debut on Bravo April 30, four days after it hits streaming service Hulu in the U.S. The one-hour Toronto-produced show will continue to air on Sunday nights.

Corus Studios has multiple new international content deals for original series Masters of Flip and Buying The View. The first and second seasons of Masters of Flip have been sold to Discovery Networks International for TLC in Germany, TLC in the Benelux Union and for Discovery Home & Health in Latin America; as well as to NBC Universal for Bravo in New Zealand. Buying the View recently sold to Discovery Networks International for TLC in the Benelux Union and to A+E Networks for FYI in the U.S. The series are now available in 65 territories.

RADIO/AUDIO/PODCAST:

CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais kicked off three days of hearings in Gatineau on Monday considering applications for radio licenses to serve urban aboriginals in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver by lamenting the lack of aboriginal commissioners on the panel. The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta, Watwatay Native Communications Society, Northern Native Broadcasting, VMS Media Group Ltd. and First Peoples Radio Inc. are among those making applications.

Radio Rimouski’s (RR) application to allow its CFYX FM to solicit local advertising in the Matane market has been denied by the CRTC. RR said CHRM FM and CHOE FM Matane were now under new ownership that altered the dynamics of the markets. It noted that while its station cannot solicit ads in Matane, Matane stations are free to solicit in Rimouski.

Richard and Sharon Burns, an Australian couple living in the U.S. (Alaska) since 2006, have been granted permission by the FCC to buy 29 radio stations in three states. It’s the first time U.S. regulators have allowed full foreign ownership of U.S. radio stations. The Burns’s Frontier Media increased their interest in the  Alaska, Texas and Arkansas stations from 20% to 100%.

CHEZ-FM Ottawa has turned 40. The station, originally owned by Harvey Glatt, launched March 25, 1977 with Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”. CHEZ and its assets, which included CFMO-FM/CJET Smiths Falls, were sold to Rogers in 1999. A retrospective of CHEZ 106/106.1 CHEZ commercial spots from over the years are available HERE.

The CBC Radio crime drama podcast, Someone Knows Something, has reached 18.3 million downloads since its premiere in March 2016. And it has sparked renewed interest in the 20-year-old cold case of five-year-old Adrien McNaughton and the disappearance of Sheryl Sheppard, a 29-year-old Hamilton woman who went missing in January 1998. The show has led to new tips in those unsolved cases.

The Strumbellas, Alessia Cara, Ruth B, and Justin Bieber lead the nominations for the 20th annual Canadian Radio Music Awards (CRMA) set for Apr. 19 during Canadian Music Week 2017. Ruth B is also among those set to perform at the awards brunch. The late Gary Russell, who had a 40-year radio career at stations from Ottawa to Vancouver, will be inducted into the Allan Waters Broadcast Hall of Fame at the event. Canadian Music Week happens April 18 – 22 in Toronto.

Jesse Modz is the winner of this year’s Allan Waters Young Broadcaster of the Year Award. Modz has just joined the Gerry Forbes morning show at CJAY 92 Calgary after leaving HTZ-FM (CHTZ) St. Catharines. Modz will be presented with the award at the Broadcaster’s Roundtable April 20 during Canadian Music Week. Ruby Carr from Z95.3 (CKZZ) Vancouver and Jax Irwin of KiSS-FM (CKIS) Toronto were this year’s runners-up.

SIGN-OFFS:

William (Bill) Malcolm, 60, in Thunder Bay of cancer. His radio career began in Southern Ontario before moving to CJLB-AM Thunder Bay. In 1995, he moved to Dougall Media as program director and on-air personality at KIXX (CKTG-FM), CKPR (where he oversaw the switch from AM to FM), Energy 103.5 (CKED) 104 (CFQK) and CFNO-FM Marathon.

Janine Sutto, 95, in Montreal. She had a successful film, television and stage career but is best known for appearing in the iconic Quebec television series, Les belles histoires des pays d’en haut from 1956 to 1969. Sutto was made a companion to the Order of Canada in 1991 and named to the National Order of Quebec in 1998. In 2014, she was given a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement. Sutto continued to perform in the theatre until she was 92.

Denis McGrath, 48, in Toronto of pancreatic cancer. His career began at TVOntario in Toronto as a producer. Later, he worked at then-Citytv Toronto, also as a producer. In 1997, McGrath signed on as the first producer for Space, where he also hosted the show’s late-night movie show. In 2000, he became an executive producer in residence at the Canadian Film Centre’s Prime Time TV program. He was a regular contributor to CBC Radio program q and was elected to the Writers Guild Governing Council in 2008.

ONLINE CHANNELS:

Boat Rocker Media has developed Orphan Black: The Game, the first interactive digital adventure based on the critically-acclaimed Space television series now entering its fifth and final season. Available on the App Store, the game takes players into the cloning conspiracy world of Orphan Black, challenging them to escape from traps and treacherous scenarios.

Groupe Média TFO has signed a partnership to launch Qwant Junior in Canada, a search engine specifically designed for kids 6-12. Qwant Junior, developed in partnership with the French Ministry of Education, doesn’t retain search history or track users and filters out search results that can lead to inappropriate content such as pornography, violence or drugs. The decision to work with Qwant will enable Groupe Média TFO to extend its presence beyond Canada providing French digital and educational content to an international audience. 

Twitter is monetizing its Periscope video streaming service with ads set to run ahead of high-profile live video to start, such as sporting events. Would-be Periscope advertisers must be part of Twitter’s Amplify program, which matches advertisers and video publishers. The ads will be varied lengths with the ability to skip longer ones, but will run over live-streaming content.

Facebook has rolled out Stories on its mobile apps on iOS and Android. The feature includes a redesigned in-app camera, a Stories feed at the top of News Feed, and a private messaging feature called Direct. Facebook initially introduced its version of Snapchat stories on Instagram in August.

The MightyTV app has been shut down after being acquired by Spotify. The app suggested new shows to users based on right or left swipes. MightyTV CEO and founder Brian Adams will join Spotify as VP of technology, while MightyTV’s eight staff will be spread out across Spotify’s offices in Toronto, NYC and Stockholm. It’s not clear how Spotify plans to use MightyTV’s technology.

CBC Music, The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), The JUNO Awards, SOCAN and the Department of Canadian Heritage have partnered on a new interactive virtual platform called CanadaSound. Canadians can upload, post or send their favourite homegrown sounds to the site to inspire artists countrywide to create new, distinctly Canadian songs. As more material is submitted, the database will offer professionally curated sounds to all Canadian musicians, including SOCAN’s creators and publishers. The most dynamic tracks will be made available as a downloadable digital album, with a portion of the proceeds going to MusiCounts. On Canada Day, listeners can tune in to a special broadcast on CBC Radio with host Grant Lawrence, who will dig into some of the stories behind the sounds shared from across the country.