CRTC Bans Ads on Radio 2: Could TV be Next?
Here is the good news: the CRCT has ordered CBC/Radio-Canada to end paid advertising on Radio 2 and ICI Musique. The ban begins immediately. The bad news is that CBC management still seems to think it was doing the right thing when it opened the two radio networks to commercial sponsorship three years ago, with the CRTC’s wary agreement. A corporate spokesperson said Wednesday the withdrawal of permission shows “a lack of understanding about the reality of public broadcasting,” and “does not help CBC/Radio-Canada serve Canadians.” But the “reality” of public...
Read MoreA brief history of advertising on CBC: why CRTC’s decision to allow commercials on Radio 2 is “crazy.”
On Tuesday, May 28, 2013, the Canada’s broadcast regulator, the CRTC, made an historic blunder in granting permission to the CBC to accept advertising on its twin music radio networks, Radio 2 and Éspace Musique. Since its creation amidst the misery of the Great Depression, the CBC has been burdened in its role of public service broadcaster by having to earn its keep partly through commercial sponsorship of its programs. That may seem merely normal to those who’ve grown up in North America’s overwhelmingly commercial media environment. But in the rest of the world, public broadcasters...
Read MoreWade Rowland Interview on CBC As It Happens about CRTC decision to allow ads on CBC Radio One
Tonight, more on CBC Radio ads – Wade Rowland, author of “Saving the CBC: Balancing Profit & Public Service” Intvu@7:05pm — As It Happens (@cbcasithappens) May 29, 2013 Here’s the online audio of the...
Read More“Crazy” CRTC Decision Allows Advertising on CBC Radio 2, Éspace Musique
© 2013 by Wade Rowland In a decision that Commission Vice-chairman Tom Pentefountas calls “crazy,” the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has decided by majority vote to allow the CBC to introduce advertising on its Radio 2 and Éspace Musique radio networks. The decision was part of the regulator’s approval of the CBC’s application for a five year renewal of its broadcast license, released Tuesday. While the CBC had asked for permission to eventually carry nine minutes of advertising per hour, the CRTC decision limits the network to four minutes per...
Read MoreJustin Trudeau Attack Ads by the Conservatives – Should the CRTC regulate negative political ads?
Anyone watching the new Conservative party attack ad aimed at the new Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, might well wonder why we should permit such deliberately misleading claims to be made about a politician when we prohibit it in product and service advertising. Surely the democratic process deserves at least as much protection as the fortunes of Coke® and Pepsi®, Tide® and Sunlight®. Like most commercial advertising on television, attack ads are designed, researched, produced, and focus group-tested to appeal not to intelligence, but to emotion. Quotes are pulled out of context. Dramatic...
Read MoreAbout Wade Rowland
Ranked among Canada’s leading literary journalists, Wade Davies Rowland has written more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from television journalism, organized crime, and international environmental law to his current concerns, which include communications technology, the philosophy of science, and technology and human values. Full author bio.