broadcasting • mackaycartoons

Thursday June 29, 2017

June 28, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 29, 2017

Peter Mansbridge plans quiet exit from ‘The National’

Peter Mansbridge doesn’t want to make a fuss about leaving the anchor’s chair at CBC’s The National.

At Issue

Nearly a year after telling viewers he planned to retire from the public broadcaster’s flagship program, the 68-year-old newsman who defined an era at CBC News plans to sign-off for the final time with little fanfare.

“Don’t expect much,” he said in a recent interview. “I’ve never wanted it to be about me, this program.”

As Canada’s 150th celebration nears on Saturday, so does Mansbridge’s chosen date to say goodbye. The procession begins Wednesday night when he delivers his final broadcast of The National from the CBC’s Toronto studio.

Brian Williams

Carole MacNeil helms Thursday’s show, which will pay tribute to Mansbridge’s 50-year career, including almost 30 years as The National anchor. He’ll then return to the newscast one last time on Friday from Ottawa, before leading the CBC’s Canada Day broadcast at Parliament Hill.

“I’ve always taken most of the summer off anyway, so it seemed like a good exit point,” he said.

Mansbridge’s storied journalism career was launched at 19 thanks to a stroke of luck. He was plucked from an airport cargo job in Churchill, Man., after a CBC Radio manager heard his broadcast-ready voice over an intercom system. (Source: Global News)

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Friday December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 11, 2015

CHCH TV cancels tonight’s newscast; station future uncertain

CHCH news staff is waiting to find out the fate of their station after being told there will be no 6 o’clock newscast tonight.

An announcement to staff is expected at 4 p.m., by email, sources inside the CH newsroom say. The fear is the station is shutting down or being dramatically reduced.

Employees began asking questions this morning after money was unexpectedly deposited in some employees’ bank accounts. One staffer — who does not want to be identified — says the amount was equal to about two paycheques.

The station is owned by Channel Zero in Toronto.

One staffer, who didn’t want her name used because she was clinging to the hope she might still have a job on Monday, said the mood is “awful.”

As of 2:45 p.m. people were still optimistically working to file stories, she said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday March 20, 2015

March 19, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 20, 2015

CRTC to require $25 ‘skinny basic’ cable package

The country’s broadcast regulator is coming out with new rules today that will require cable and satellite companies to offer customers a trimmed-down, basic channels package, sources have told The Canadian Press.

The cost of the so-called “skinny basic” package is to be capped at $25, said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is to announce details of its decision later today.

The ruling is the latest result from the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV hearings held in the fall.

The Harper government had pushed the regulator to allow for a so-called pick-and-pay system that would allow consumers to choose and pay only for the individual channels they want.

However, the CRTC hinted late last summer that it would be open to a pick-and-pay option built on top of a lighter mandatory service than what is currently being offered widely in the industry.

It’s not clear whether skinny basic would be an all-Canadian service that includes local stations and provincial educational channels, or a service that includes American networks as well.

Critics including the C.D. Howe Institute have warned that any proposals to mandate pick-and-pay channel choices would be an exercise in futility, in light of technological change. They say it could harm the industry and actually end up costing consumers more rather than less.

The CRTC has been criticized — and taken to court — over recent decisions from the Let’s Talk TV hearings, including a move to ban the simultaneous substitution of Canadian advertising for American commercials during the Super Bowl. (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday September 24, 2014

September 24, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 24, 2014

Netflix refuses CRTC demand to hand over subscriber data

Netflix says it won’t turn over confidential subscriber information to Canada’s broadcast regulator in order to safeguard private corporate information.

The video streaming company was ordered last week to give the data to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission by Monday, along with information related to the Canadian content it creates or provides to subscribers.

A Netflix official said Tuesday that while the company has responded to a number of CRTC requests, it is not “in a position to produce the confidential and competitively sensitive information.”

But in a statement, the company said it is “always prepared to work constructively with the commission.”

The comments came in the middle of the regulator’s “Let’s Talk TV” hearings on the future of broadcasting rules, including allowing cable customers to be able to create their own personalized cable packages. Since Netflix is not a conventional broadcaster, there’s much doubt that the Broadcasting Act that the CRTC enforces even applies to the company.

What happens now is very much in the air, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist told the CBC in an interview Tuesday. “Netflix likely felt pushed into the corner on a bigger issue, which is the CRTC’s authority to regulate online new media,” he said.

“The issue has been simmering for about a decade, but everybody took a hands-off approach,” Geist said. “Once there was a threat from the CRTC on Friday, it really did force Netflix’s hand.” (Source: CBC News)

Monday April 9, 2012

April 9, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday April 9, 2012

CBC cuts 650 jobs, wants ads on radio

The austerity axe chopped deep into the CBC’s budget Wednesday, and will result in “a very different public broadcaster,” CBC president Hubert Lacroix said.

Viewers can expect less original programming, more reruns and – for the first time – ads on CBC radio as the broad-caster copes with a $115-mil-lion cut in federal funding. The agency will also sell some buildings, tinker with employee pensions and cut jobs in the coming three years as it adjusts to a smaller budget.

“It’s not a fun day,” Lacroix said.

Across Canada, 650 full-time CBC jobs will be eliminated. This includes 475 this fiscal year, a further 150 jobs in the 2013-2014 fiscal year and the remaining in 2014-2015. Those 650 jobs – split equally between French and English services – amounts to about nine per cent of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s work-force. That includes 150 management jobs.

Budget cuts will start this year with a $27.8-million reduction in government spending on the CBC’s operations, and increase to $69.6 million in 2013-14 and finally reaches the $115-million savings mark by 2014-15. The CBC will also no longer receive its $60-million top-up from the federal government for programming. Taking into account budget trimming already done this year and severance pack-ages, Lacroix said, the CBC is staring into a budgetary hole of $225 million.

“We are talking about financial pressures totalling $200 million today,” he said. “Plus an additional 25 million for severance of about 650 [jobs].” CBC television’s senior correspondent in Ottawa, Terry Milewski, was stoic in his response to the deep cuts.

“We’ve been through this a few times before, and we’ve survived,” he said. (Source: Globe & Mail)