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TV
Person of the Year: Konrad von Finckenstein
One part pilot in a storm, one part referee in a cage match, it’s sometimes difficult to reconcile the role of CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein.
TV that scores
Even if the Habs don’t make it to the playoffs, Quebecers will have a second chance to express their hockey fever in 2010: a reality show designed to revive the intense rivalry between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens.
Broadcast 2009: Bold Moves
It was a troublesome year for local television as advertising revenues plunged and conventional networks, especially Canwest Global, began taking drastic steps to diminish losses by closing less profitable small-market stations.
Blades set for second season
Two days after it ended its first season, CBC ordered a second helping of hit reality series Battle of the Blades, to debut next fall. The 14-ep series, from John Brunton’s Insight Productions, emerged as a fall hit for the pubcaster, averaging 1.7 million viewers for performance shows on Sundays, while the Monday results episodes generated 1.3 million viewers. That’s despite tough fall competition from venerable U.S. shows including The Amazing Race and House, airing on CTV and Global, respectively. (All numbers 2+ and based on PPM data.)
New life for Listener
Move over NBC. Space, CTV and Fox International Channels have returned for a second season of The Listener from Shaftesbury Films. All three channels ordered another 13 episodes of the Canadian drama, which has been sold widely internationally by Shine International, even after the Peacock channel walked away.
CRTC okays Sextv, Drive-In sale
The CRTC has okayed the sale of both SexTV and Drive-In Classics to Corus Entertainment, passing the cable channels to new owners just two years after CTVgm claimed them in its buy-up of CHUM. The deal, valued by the regulator at $40 million, will see $4 million earmarked for new programming and other good causes across the industry, in keeping with the standard policy on the sale of TV outlets.
DeWalt wins Clean Out case
Minds Eye Entertainment has won a court battle against the State of Iowa over millions of dollars worth of frozen tax credits for its latest feature Clean Out. A Polk County District Court judge has ordered the Iowa Department of Economic Development to issue $6.5 million in film tax-credit certificates for Clean Out, an $18.7 million movie that had been set to shoot in Iowa in October but was forced to postpone production when the state suspended its film-incentive program.
RBC puts $12 million into Starz
Fresh from receiving a $23 million cash infusion from the Ontario government, Starz Animation Toronto has secured a $12 million financing deal with the Royal Bank of Canada to interim finance local tax breaks on behalf of Hollywood clients.
CRTC okays Al-Jazeera
Three years after its November 2006 launch, Al Jazeera English has received approval from the CRTC for cable and satellite distribution in Canada. The 24-hour international news and current affairs channel is a division of the Qatar-based Arabic-language satellite service and is broadcast in 100 countries to an estimated 180 million households. AJE claims to have nearly 70 bureaus worldwide.
CTV threatens signal pullout
CTVglobemedia threatened to pull its over-the-air signals, block programming it holds the rights to, and shutter stations if it doesn’t receive compensation from Canadian distributors, as the CRTC’s hearings into fee-for-carriage kicked off.
Re-price the channels, says Péladeau
Sounding a more moderate tone than those heard earlier at the hearings in Gatineau, Quebecor Media president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau called for a rebalancing of the TV system that would see some subscriber fees now earmarked for specialty channels diverted to conventional TV. This, said the head of the media conglomerate that owns both TVA and Quebec’s largest cableco, Videotron, would save consumers from rate increases that other distributors insist will follow if fee-for-carriage is introduced.
O’Farrrell plan targets U.S. channels
Former Canadian Association of Broadcasters CEO Glenn O’Farrell has resurfaced with a proposal to sell ad time on U.S. specialty channels’ so-called local avails as an alternative to controversial fees-for-carriage.
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