Mags happy with federal budget

As posted yesterday, the federal budget allots $30 million over two years to Canadian magazines and community newspapers. It basically seems to restore money that was chopped before, but Mastheadonline is happy, particularly with ongoing negotiations with federal Heritage that might provide some long-term stability and predictability to federal funding for this sector.
Mastheadonline, Jan. 28 [...]

Media goodies in federal budget

In what’s being termed a scattershot approach to funding, the feds have promised funding for media in the following areas:

Providing $30 million over the next two years to support continued access to Canadian magazines and community newspapers.
Providing $28.6 milion over the next two years to the Canadian New Media Fund and $14.3 million annually thereafter.
Providing [...]

Journal de Montreal: Locked out and taking a strike vote

So, they seem to be locked out and the union’s taken a strike vote, but if the company lifts the lockout they’ll go back to work. Think I’ll stop following this one till someone starts making sense.
CP/Canoe, Jan. 26 2009

Publication ban upheld; likely to go to Supreme Court

A publication ban on information at a preliminary hearing in a Toronto case was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which nevertheless made one important distinction in future publication bans — the ban makes sense in a preliminar inquiry that may go to a jury trial, so as not to bias a potential jury, [...]

Or maybe it’s not a lockout after all

It’s not a good day for Canadian Press. Yesterday they reported Quebecor had locked out staff of Le Journal de Montreal. Today, they note that most of the union rejected management’s latest proposal (this type of vote happens before, not after, a lockout). The story notes the usual management-union differences, including that the union doesn’t [...]

Quebecor locks out Le Journal de Montreal

After a 15 month lockout at Le Journal de Quebec, Quebecor is back at it again, this time in Montreal. The issue: multitasking across different media, particularly the internet. Quebecor continues to try to find a way to make convergence work, even though convergence hasn’t worked since it was first conceived ten years ago. This [...]

French to boost newspaper industry

It’ll never happen here, given the contentious relationship between Steven Harper and the media, but the French gov’t announced yesterday that it will boost its ailing newspaper industry by doubling the gov’ts ad budget, increasing its newspaper subsidy by nine times (to C$111 million) and by buying a free one year mainstream newspaper subscription to [...]

Smaller tv stations on the way out?

The Globe reports that both CTV and Global are looking to shut down some of their smaller E and A Channel stations in small markets like Barrie, Kelowna, Red Deer and London. While noting that it may just be the latest negotiating tactic with the CRTC, nevertheless there is a certain consistency between this and [...]

Death of radio predicted — again!

Yes, this time it’s WiFi radio, though critics point out that so far WiFi is limited to large cities, and to change, it means buying yet another electronic device. Early adapters will buy every new toy on the market, but in the midst of a depression/recession, will anyone else. For the record, radio has been [...]

Canwest cuts Toronto TV a.m. and noon shows

The generic cuts Canwest announced late last year are starting to be realized. In Toronto, Global TV is cutting its morning and noon news shows, affecting “fewer” than 40 layoffs.  More media voices are being silenced, more local news blacked out. This is the reason the CRTC is pondering paying broadcasters to deliver more local [...]