And a bunch of other stuff that has nothing to do with what happened in the midwest U.S. yesterday.
News about news
- A contempt of court charge against Andew Douglas of Halifax’s Frank magazine has been dropped. Douglas had been accused of violating a publication ban, but argued the information had been gathered independently and didn’t come from the court.
- People are angry that Global BC ran video of a teen being killed. They’ve started a petition demanding resignations, because that’s always the proper remedy to a disagreement. CBC News published an editor’s note on why it chose not to publish the video.
- The Canadian Press is looking to update its stylebook to take into account changing vocabulary related to marginalized communities. Or, for you red-state folks, to make it more politically correct.
- CTV reporter Stéphane Giroux will be the new president of the FPJQ, Quebec’s journalist association. No other candidate submitted before the deadline. The other executive positions were also elected by acclamation, but there are 10 candidates for the four administrator positions available.
- Rolling Stone magazine and reporter Sabrina Erdely have been ordered to pay $3 million after losing a defamation lawsuit over the since debunked story of a rape on a university campus.
At the CRTC
- The commission has released what it calls a policy about blocking of nuisance phone calls. It addresses the main points of the policy (What is a nuisance call? Do you block or just redirect? Do you implement network-wide or allow subscribers to choose?), but mainly kicks the can down the road hoping for more solutions from the industry. One thing it is concretely moving toward, however, is blocking of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller IDs (000-0000, your number, or a local number when it’s a long-distance call).
- The CBC has filed an “as-built” application with the CRTC for CBMT-DT Montreal (CBC Television) so that the commission’s records match what is actually being used. The location, height and signal range are identical, but the transmitter power is actually 363,000 watts ERP instead of 436,340W.
Well, we knew this day would come. The old #CornerGas station set has to finally come down. But, GOOD NEWS… >> https://t.co/dmDiNvjICT pic.twitter.com/NfPK2nCsPn
— Brent Butt (@BrentButt) November 4, 2016
TV
- The Corner Gas set in Rouleau, Sask., was torn down, having deteriorated beyond the point of being safe.
- TVA has decided not to renew Le Banquier, the game show based on Deal or No Deal. This cuts TVA’s last ties with Julie Snyder, who was once the biggest name at the network.
- A documentary on PK Subban produced by PK fan Louis Morissette will air on RDS and Canal D in French on Nov. 16, and on HBO Canada on Nov. 18.
- CHCH Television in Hamilton, Ont., has sold its historic home as it downsizes.
- Former Canadien Francis Bouillon hosts a new reality series on Z.
- Bell TV now has an app for Apple TV allowing subscribers to use an Apple TV box as a second set-top box. It gives access to most but not all channels, and doesn’t have all features.
Radio
- Montreal’s 91.9 Sports (CKLX-FM) has signed a five-year deal to broadcast games of the Laval Rocket American Hockey League team, starting next season when they move from St. John’s. This is the Canadiens’ farm team, though interest in its games won’t be nearly as much as those of the Canadiens themselves. Cogeco recently announced that its rights to Canadiens games on 98.5 FM and other stations has been extended to 2023.
- The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council forced CHOI-FM in Quebec City to acknowledge on air that it failed to provide accurate information during a broadcast of André Arthur’s show in February, during which he accused an animal shelter of mistreating animals, and despite the shelter showing it didn’t, repeated that accusation four days later.
- Radio-Canada has updated its ICI Première app, which now gives users access to the Première Plus platform of on-demand content.
- South Asian Broadcasting has agreed to buy Toronto’s CIRV-FM. The deal requires CRTC approval.
- The CRTC has received applications for new radio stations in several markets, and the first step is a public consultation where it asks for opinions on whether the market can sustain another station (and whether there’s other interest in a new application). This week it published notices for:
- Rogers has begun selling off the magazines it put for sale. Marketing will go to Brunico Communications, owner of Strategy Magazine, Media in Canada and others. Canadian Grocer, Pharmacy Practice+, Profession Santé and The Medical Post go to American company EnsembleIQ. No word yet on the French consumer magazines.
- The Wall Street Journal is cutting dozens of jobs.
- Le Devoir wants to shut down a company whose purpose was to allow people to invest in the newspaper in the 1990s. The company owes about as much to Le Devoir as it’s worth, so those investors won’t see any money.
- The Halifax Chronicle Herald, whose staff has been on strike for almost a year now, has published another open letter from its CEO. The union (which didn’t appreciate that) is arguing the company is refusing to negotiate.
- Fort McMurray Today is no longer a daily newspaper. It’s dropping from six editions a week to two.
- Postmedia has given employees until Friday to apply for its buyout offer.
- Members of the Ottawa Citizen’s union have a clause in their contract that protects them from layoffs so long as the paper uses freelancers. So the paper is going to stop using freelancers.
- For the Chicago Cubs, a World Series championship comes once in 108 years. The Chicago Tribune is profiting from the occasion with merchandising.
Online
- CBC has launched its controversial opinion page. At the same time, it announced that Neil MacDonald, whose analyses has riled many that don’t agree with him, is being reassigned to the opinion section and will opine full-time, which means no more reporting for him. The new project will require changes to the CBC’s journalistic standards and practices.
- CBC has also begun threatening legal action against developers of podcast apps supported by advertising. Why? Because you can download CBC podcasts with them and then the ads in the app constitute commercial use. Cory Doctorow is not amused, and neither is Michael Geist, unsurprisingly.
- Bell says CraveTV has passed the million subscriber mark. Usual grains of salt to be applied because many people get Crave bundled as part of TV packages so don’t pay full price for it.
@seanrcampbell @TSN690 Ready to go with My play by play man for tonight. pic.twitter.com/u3Drx9LRIX
— Sergio Momesso (@SergioMomesso36) November 9, 2016
News about people
- TSN 690’s Sean Campbell got his first taste of Canadiens play-by-play filling in for Dan Robertson during Tuesday’s Canadiens game.
- Sam Zniber, former program director at 92.5 The Beat, has been hired as “Vice President and Strategic Consultant” at Radio Intelligence, a consulting firm.
- Mutsumi Takahashi marked 30 years as anchor at CTV Montreal.
- Erin Davis is retiring as morning host at Toronto’s CHFI 98.1.
- Lauren Pelley is the latest Toronto Star journalist to announce her departure on Twitter. She joins Sean Fitz-Gerald and others.
- Jennifer Tryon, who used to be based in Montreal, has left Global News. She has her crafting work to keep her busy.
- Jessica A. Dionne has been promoted to assistant promotions manager at Bell Media radio stations in Montreal. She works under Linda Fraraccio, just like she did when they were both at The Beat.
Unrelated to the stories here, I just want to mention Steve that while these posts are interesting and have a lot of “stuff”, they also don’t seem to provoke too much discussion. It’s like “where do you start”?