Category: media

“CTV and Global are asking for the so-called carriage fees because they say their revenues are plummeting; they have promised the CRTC that the money would go toward local programming, helping pay for the beleaguered local newscasts. Despite the fond hopes of Canadian television creators, they have not suggested the money would go toward Canadian drama, a genre that has shrivelled since a CRTC decision in 1999 expanded the definition of priority programming.”

The show was a Jan 13 episode of a home decorating series called Find and Design. “It was found to have normalized and promoted a gay lifestyle. The Media Development Authority imposed a fine of S$15,000 ($11,040) and said that this was a repeat offense for Channel 5.”

Without dissent the panel approved a “legislative veto” that would prevent the commission from implementing new regulations that remove the federal bar to newspaper-broadcast combinations in the top markets and make it easier for the combos to receive approval in the smaller ones.

“On-location film, TV, commercials and other shoots fell 23% in the first quarter, the sharpest quarterly decline ever recorded.”

The program director at CBC Radio has heard about enough of accusations that the network is “abandoning” classical music. “Classical music will remain the predominant genre on Radio 2, available seven days a week at various times throughout the day. New Canadian compositions will be heard virtually every night on The Signal.”

Among the surprises were eleventh-hour additions of “Changeling,” starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Clint Eastwood, and Steven Soderbergh’s two Che Guevara films. The Che films, “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla,”

“Wholesale DVD revenue worldwide, for theatrical releases only, came in at $25 billion in 2006, dropped to $23.1 billion last year and will further decline to $21.4 billion this year.”

“If recent studio acquisitions are any evidence, then the fastest way to get a movie deal these days may just be to turn your next Big Idea into a graphic novel. In a faddish frenzy, no fewer than 22 film projects born of graphic novels or comics have been announced in the last six weeks.”

“Once iTunes helped revolutionize the music business and began to make inroads in the television business, the media conglomerates that own TV networks and channels began to hatch a plan to compete (or, more accurately, they panicked).” The upshot is that the merger of television and internet is now closer than ever to becoming a consumer reality.

Despite the perception that much of the world has gotten beyond judging people by their sexuality, there is still a noticeable barrier for openly gay actors in Hollywood. But “some say the tide might slowly be turning as young actors begin coming out amid an atmosphere of unfiltered news and photos on Internet blogs and websites.”