THE WALL STREET JOURNAL is reporting that “some of the nation’s biggest media companies and advertisers, seeking to develop new ways of measuring audiences, could make APPLE INC.’s iPHONE the vehicle for a study of how Americans consume media on a range of devices — from TV sets to mobile phones to computers.”
Click here to read more from All Access
OTTAWA-GATINEAU, July 29, 2010 — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today issued its annual Communications Monitoring Report. The report, which is based on 2009 data, provides an overview of the Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting industries.
In 2009, the communications industry accounted for 4.6% of Canada’s gross domestic product with overall revenues rising 2.1% to $55.4 billion, compared with revenues of $54.3 billion the previous year.
As technological convergence continues to evolve in the 21st century, Canadians are increasingly using mobile and Internet services to communicate and access broadcasting content. By the end of the year, there were 23.8 million wireless subscribers and 8.3 million broadband Internet subscribers.
Broadcasting
In 2009, revenues for the broadcasting industry rose by 3% and totalled $14.4 billion. Growth was primarily driven by the distribution of television signals and by the specialty and pay television sector, which recorded increases of 7.4% and 5.8%, respectively.
These gains were partially offset by a drop off in advertising. The effects were felt most strongly by conventional television stations and radio stations, whose revenues declined by 7.4% and 5.2%, respectively.
Internet usage among Canadians reached new highs in 2009, with the consumption of broadcasting content among the most popular activities. Twenty-five per cent of anglophones and 20% of francophones reported watching a television program online. Similarly, 17% of anglophones and 14% of francophones listened to a radio station’s audio stream over the Internet.
In 2009, the broadcasting industry contributed more than $2.8 billion to the development of Canadian talent and the creation and broadcast of Canadian programming.
Telecommunications
The telecommunications industry reported a 1.8% increase in overall revenues to reach $41 billion for 2009. The wireless and Internet sectors posted positive results, while revenues for long-distance and local residential telephone services continued to decline.
Broadband Internet, which enables the streaming and downloading of high-quality broadcasting content, was available to nearly every home through a variety of service providers. In addition, the percentage of Canadians that could access the Internet using their cellphones went from 91% to 96% in one year.
There was competition in all sectors of the telecommunications industry. Competitors of established companies reported $18.1 billion in revenues, which accounted for 44% of all revenues. In particular, cable companies increased their share of local telephone lines and residential Internet subscribers to 27% and 57%, respectively.
Communications Monitoring Report [PDF version – 7.10 MB] http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/PolicyMonitoring/2010/cmr2010.pdf
The CRTC
The CRTC is an independent public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.
Additional information on the Communications Monitoring Report
The Communications Monitoring Report contains broadcasting data for the year ended August 31, 2009, and elecommunications data for the year ended December 31, 2009. The report reflects the worldwide economic downturn and the accompanying decline in advertising revenues experienced by broadcasters.
Broadcasting highlights
i) Radio
* In 2009, Canadians could access 1,221 different radio services, including 41 digital services. There were 910 English-language services, 265 French-language services and 46 services in other languages.
* The average time spent listening to radio services decreased 3.2% from 18.3 hours per week in 2008 to 17.7 hours in 2009. Private commercial radio stations captured 79% of the weekly radio tuning share; the CBC 12.7%; and other stations, 8.3%.
* The revenues of private commercial broadcasters declined by 5.2%, going from $1.59 billion in 2008 to $1.51 billion in 2009.
* In 2009, commercial radio stations contributed $51 million to the development of Canadian content.
ii) Television
* In 2009, Canadians could choose from 704 television services, which consisted of 459 English-language services, 111 French-language services and 134 services in other languages.
* Canadians watched an average of 26.5 hours of television per week, which was slightly below the 2008 average of 26.6 hours.
* Overall revenues for commercial television services were relatively unchanged from one year to the next, coming in at $5.47 billion. A decrease in revenues for conventional television stations was mostly offset by an increase in revenues for specialty and pay services.
* Private conventional television stations generated $1.97 million in revenues in 2009, which was down 7.8% from $2.14 billion the previous year.
* Similarly, the CBC’s conventional television stations reported $392 million in advertising and other commercial revenues, a 5% decrease from $412 million in 2008.
* Specialty, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand services saw their revenues increase 5.8% from $2.9 billion in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2009.
* In 2009, private conventional television broadcasters invested $599.4 million on Canadian programming, or $20.2 million less than the $619.6 million spent the previous year. During the same period, spending on Canadian programming by specialty and pay television services totalled $1 billion, which did not a represent a change from the previous year.
iii) Broadcasting distribution
* In 2009, 8.5 million households subscribed to television services delivered via cable or Internet Protocol Television. An additional 2.8 million households subscribed to satellite services.
* The number of subscribers that receive digital television services jumped to 7.6 million in 2009, an increase of 11.9% over the 6.8 million subscribers a year earlier. Sixty-eight per cent of all subscribers now receive digital television services.
* Revenues generated from the distribution of television programming went from $6.9 billion in 2008 to $7.5 billion in 2009, an increase of 7.4%.
* On average, subscribers paid $2.78 more per month for their services in 2009, an increase of 5% over the previous year. This increase can be explained by higher monthly fees, a greater consumption of pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, and consumers upgrading to digital or high-definition television.
* In 2009, broadcasting distribution companies contributed $352 million to Canadian programming, including programming for community channels. This total was 8% higher than the $325 million allocated for this purpose in 2008.
iv) New media broadcasting
* Anglophones spent 14.5 hours online per week in 2009, up from 13.8 hours, while francophones spent 11.8 hours online, up from 11.1 hours.
* Anglophones spent 2.2 hours per week viewing online television content and 4.1 hours per week streaming radio content. At the same time, francophones spent 1.3 hours per week viewing online television content and 4.6 hours per week streaming radio content.
Telecommunications highlights
i) Revenues, expenditures and penetration
* Telecommunications revenues increased by 1.8% in one year, growing from $40.3 billion in 2008 to $41 billion in 2009.
* Competitors of established companies accounted for $18.1 billion, or 44%, of the total revenues, compared with $17 billion in 2008.
* In 2009, telecommunications companies allocated $8 billion for capital expenditures, which are used to maintain, improve or expand networks. This amount represented a decrease of 33.4% from the $12 billion reported in 2008, but was more in line with the $7.8 billion spent in 2007.
ii) Wireless telephone services
* Total wireless telephone services made up 41% of all telecommunications revenues as revenues grew 5.3% from $16 billion in 2008 to $16.9 billion in 2009.
* The number of mobile telephone subscribers rose from 22.1 million to 23.8 million, an increase of 7.8% in one year.
* Wireless networks reach approximately 99% of Canadians. More advanced wireless networks and expanded footprint, which support smartphones and other devices that connect to the Internet, were available to 96% of the population.
iii) Internet services
* Revenues generated from the provision of Internet services increased by 6.3% in 2009, or from $6.2 billion to $6.6 billion. Internet services accounted for 16% of all telecommunications revenues.
* In 2009, the number of residential Internet subscribers grew by 2.6% to 10.1 million, or 75% of all Canadian households.
* Canadians continued to adopt faster Internet services. 62% of all households had a broadband service that offered download speeds of at least 1.5 megabits per second, as opposed to 52% a year earlier.
iv) Local and long distance telephone services
* The number of local residential telephone lines dipped from 13 million in 2008 to 12.7 million in 2009. There was little movement in residential revenues, which came in at $4.79 billion, down slightly from $4.87 billion the previous year.
* In 2009, local and long distance services accounted for 32% of all telecommunications revenues, compared with 52% in 2002.
* Cable companies served 3.4 million residential telephone lines, or 27% of the residential market, and accounted for 23% of residential revenues with $1.1 billion.
v) International perspective
* Canada had the highest penetration rate, at 78%, for broadband Internet connections, but lagged behind in mobile subscriptions with a penetration rate of 71%.1
* A survey of five other countries revealed that prices for Canadian telecommunications service generally fell at the median point. Canada had the lowest rates for residential telephone service and the second-lowest for mid-level broadband Internet services (featuring download speeds of 1.5 to 9 megabits per second).2
Notes:
1 Compared to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Australia.
Here’s Mark Mays’ argument to the FCC.
We want what Mel’s having.
Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius XM Radio, convinced the government to allow him to merge Sirius with XM – the only two competing satellite services – thus making them one monopoly.
The Mel argument was that satellite radio wasn’t just competing with satellite radio but with every form of media entertainment out there.
He won.
Click here to read the whole article from Inside Music Media
Billboard’s charts of albums and singles, published in their current form since the 1950s, are the last word in music rankings. But has the magazine’s methodology kept pace with changes in technology and music consumption?
Digital Media – Toronto-based digital media company Mediazoic today announced that it has received an investment from Slaight Communications to expand its personal online broadcasting software that allows users to create their own online radio station.
Mediazoic stations are created without having to upload music anywhere, choose a particular player, be a part of any music locker service, or have to engage any new software. The Mediazoic system logs each time a song is heard, ensuring that royalties may be paid to all rights holders.
The digital firm’s seemless and invisible back-end infrastructure allows anyone anywhere with internet access to stream songs in their collection from their hard-drive or a cloud service to friends in real time via links that can be embedded on blogs, websites and social networks.
Mediazoic’s business model is based on licensing these customized stations for both corporate and individual clients, who can then monetize the streams using a mix of advertising insertions, subscription fees, and affiliate revenue.
Founder/CEO Greg Nisbet declined comment on the size of the investment but stated that he was ‘”excited to be able to tap into the immense well of knowledge and experience that Gary Slaight and his network bring to the emerging new radio landscape, and to the new music business in general.”
X929 listeners get an opportunity to connect with its favourite radio station at a level never before seen anywhere with X on Demand.
Partnering with Listener Driven Radio, X92.9 is evolving the listener experience with our new web widget now running at www.x929.ca. With it, X92.9 listeners interact with the station with a powerful list of features. X92.9 is the first station in Canada to use this technology, and on a global scale the first to use it as a fully integrated self running listener driven system.
X on Demand Every hour X929 gives the audience the opportunity to pick what plays with X on Demand. We put up three tracks and the listeners vote, whichever song gets the most votes, gets played. It’s that simple. We go nuts with X on Demand every weekday at noon with the On Demand Lunch where every track is dictated by the listener’s votes. Using the power of Wide Orbit Automation (formally Google Automation), Music Master, and Listener Driven Radio, the entire process of counting votes, and getting the winning song on air is completely automated. All that’s left for the host is to make sure they pay attention as to who won! Try voice tracking that! 🙂
Requests With X on Demand listeners have access to the entire X92.9 library to request their favourite songs…not exactly ground breaking, but there’s more! Once you’ve made a request you can set up an instant notification to let you know when that song is playing so you won’t miss it. Plus, every night at 6, X929 takes the Top 6 most requested songs of the day and counts them down.
Like/Dislike X on Demand lets the listener tell us if they like or dislike a song on X92.9. They can give as many thumbs up or down as they want, and all this info has a direct impact on how often X92.9 will play a song. Afterall, we’re in this to play songs our listeners love, not hate.
New Rock There’s a lot of great new rock out there and it can be tough to keep up with it all. With X on Demand listeners can review every new rock alternative track on X92.9 as well as letting us know what they think with the like/dislike.
Xposure X92.9 continues to lead the way in support for local musicians. Bands can submit their songs directly to X on Demand. We’ll give them a listen and put them up for everyone to listen to, and like everything else, listeners can review them as well. Our intention is by year end to have hundreds of songs from local artists giving them yet another avenue for Xposure with X92.9.
Share Once songs have been requested, voted, liked, disliked, listeners can let their friends know via Facebook. They can share their love (or hate) for a track with a simple click. Plus coming soon, they’ll be able to share X on Demand via their own site as X on Demand will be embeddable.
Mobile The X929 iPhone/iPod/iPad App is getting updated too. We just submitted the app to the App Store and X on Demand is built right in so you let yourself be heard where ever you are.
So how’s it going? Well, since our 6am launch we’ve already registered over 5000 like and dislike votes, over 1000 requests, and are averaging over 100 votes per On Demand voting session. So, we’re pretty pleased, and it looks like our listeners are too.
ByrnesMedia is the exclusive product supplier of Listener Driven Radio in Canada. For more information about Lintener Driven Radio and what it can do to engage your audience and drive traffic to your various platforms call Chris Byrnes at 905-332-1331 or contact us here
Corus Press Release
With the announcement of a new Management Committee on May 10, 2010, we committed to conducting a review of our organization to ensure it is structured effectively and efficiently and is appropriately aligned to deliver on future opportunities. The objective was to streamline decision-making and clarify roles and mandates. To this end, we are announcing changes to our Television, Radio and Corporate Management teams.
TELEVISION
Reporting to Doug Murphy, Executive Vice President and President of Corus Television, the Television division is adopting a new organizational design to maximize collaboration and teamwork. Key organizational changes include centralizing programming to ensure optimal utilization across our networks and to create a single point of responsibility for managing all programming expenses and investments. We have established two new groups: Networks and Marketing, which will be responsible for the profitability of our services, accountable for planning and managing spending for On-Air Promotions, trade and consumer marketing; and a Business Development group that will service the ongoing needs of our three sources of revenue, advertising and affiliate sales in Canada and international sales from Nelvana Enterprises.
The new TV Management team consists of:
Colin Bohm, Vice President, International – Colin and his team are responsible for maximizing revenue of Corus-controlled content in the international marketplace. This includes placing our shows with leading international broadcasters, selecting and managing our home video distributors, launching and managing our merchandising brands, sourcing new content partners and working with our programming team and Nelvana Studio to develop new shows for our Corus-owned television channels.
Andrew Eddy, Vice President, Affiliate Sales – Andrew maintains overall responsibility for business relationships between Corus and the Broadcast Distribution Undertakings (BDU) segment including: establishing annual distribution revenue targets, working with the TV Management team to determine programming and marketing support for the BDUs and negotiating multi-year agreements for carriage, distribution, wholesale rates and marketing support. In addition, Andrew and his team will also be responsible for championing new product innovation, servicing BDU customer needs in the areas of high definition, on-demand, broadband and mobile platforms and rolling out our non-linear content offerings on emerging platforms internationally.
Bill Knight, Vice President, Business Development and Planning – Bill is responsible for the Television division’s budgeting, forecasting, production and programming finance functions. In addition, his group will provide financial and analytical support to the TV Management team as needed, as we pursue our strategic objectives of revenue growth through new channels, programming and production investments and overall margin management initiatives.
Gerry Mackrell, Vice President, Airtime Sales – Gerry heads up our specialty advertising sales team responsible for maximizing advertising revenue for all of our brands including YTV, TELETOON, CMT and W Network, organized across four key demographic verticals: Youth, Young Adult, Mom/Family and Women. Each of these verticals is designed to offer a range of insight-based on-air, online, in-program, event and mobile solutions for advertisers.
Susan Ross, Vice President, Strategic Planning – Susan who, as recently announced, will be leaving Corus in November, assumes the role of Vice President, Strategic Planning, Corus Television, overseeing broadcast license renewal strategy, process improvements and business and transitional planning.
Susan Schaefer, Vice President, Head of Networks and Marketing – Susan and her team will be responsible for the overall management of network P&Ls and brand plans. Susan will also continue to oversee brand strategy and development, marketing and on-air creative, plus interactive for all of our television brands.
Joanna Webb, Vice President, Head of Programming and Production – Joanna will oversee all programming and production in the Television group. She will be responsible for driving ratings and revenue and controlling costs across Corus’ Specialty and Pay TV services through strategic approaches to program synergy, scheduling, investment and partnerships.
RADIO
Under the leadership of Hal Blackadar, Executive Vice President and interim President of Radio, the Radio division is adopting a new organizational structure, as follows:
Cheryl Bechtel, Vice President, Controller – Cheryl’s mandate includes responsibility for oversight of finances, reporting, budgeting and maintaining internal controls for Corus Radio. Cheryl reports to Hal Blackadar and Tom Peddie, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Dave Farough, Vice President, Brands and Programming – Dave’s mandate includes overall responsibility for programming, brand and format decisions including setting standards for programming excellence, and oversight of the on-air talent pool in Ontario and Western Canada. Dave reports to Hal Blackadar.
Jack Hoeppner, National Director, Engineering – Jack’s mandate includes oversight of all radio engineering matters and radio frequency optimization. Jack reports to Hal Blackadar.
David Huszar, Vice President and General Manager, Interactive and Emerging Platforms – David’s mandate includes responsibility for interactive content at Corus Radio and delivery of content on emerging platforms. David reports to Dave Farough.
Western Radio
Garth Buchko, General Manager, Corus Radio Winnipeg – Garth’s mandate includes overall responsibility for CJOB 68, 99.1 Groove FM (CJGV) and Power 97 (CJKR). Garth reports to Hal Blackadar.
Neil Cunningham, Director of Sales, Corus Radio, Western Canada – Neil’s mandate includes responsibility for both national and retail sales throughout Western Canada including co-ordination of sales strategies such as pricing, inventory management and training for Western Canada and Ontario. Neil reports to Doug Rutherford.
Garry McKenzie, General Manager, Corus Radio Vancouver – Garry’s mandate includes overall responsibility for AM730 All Traffic All The Time (CHMJ), CKNW AM 980, Classic Rock 101 (CFMI), 99.3 The FOX (CFOX) and Corus Radio Network (CRN). Garry reports to Hal Blackadar.
Doug Rutherford, Vice President and General Manager, Corus Radio Alberta – Doug’s mandate includes overall responsibility for Calgary’s AM 770 (CHQR), Q107 (CFGQ), Country 105 (CKRY), and Edmonton’s 630 CHED, iNews880 (CHQT), CISN COUNTRY 103.9 and 92.5 JOE FM (CKNG). Doug reports to Hal Blackadar.
Ontario
Suzanne Carpenter, Vice President and General Manager, Corus Radio, Eastern Ontario and Vice President and General Manager, CHEX TV and CKWS-TV – Suzanne’s mandate includes overall responsibility for Collingwood’s 95.1 The Peak (CKCB), Barrie’s FM 93 (CHAY) and B101 (CIQB), Peterborough’s 100.5 KRUZ FM (CKRU) and THE WOLF 101.5 (CKWF), Kingston’s Lite 104.3 FM (CFFX) and FM96 (CFMK), Cornwall’s AM 1220 (CJUL), Variety 104.5 (CFLG) and Rock 101.9 (CJSS), as well as the conventional television stations CHEX TV Peterborough and Oshawa, and CKWS-TV Kingston. Suzanne reports to Hal Blackadar.
Victor Giacomelli, Director of Sales, Corus Radio, Ontario – Victor’s mandate includes responsibility for both national and retail sales throughout Ontario including co-ordination of sales strategies between Ontario and Western Canada. Victor reports to Chris Pandoff.
Michael Harris, General Manager, CKWS-TV and CHEX TV – Michael’s mandate includes overall responsibility for our conventional television stations in Kingston, Peterborough and Oshawa. Michael reports to Suzanne Carpenter.
JJ Johnston, General Manager, Corus Radio Cornwall, Kingston and Peterborough – JJ’s mandate includes overall responsibility for Cornwall’s AM 1220, Variety 104.5, and Rock 101.9, Kingston’s Lite 104.3 FM and FM96, and Peterborough’s 100.5 KRUZ FM and THE WOLF 101.5. JJ reports to Suzanne Carpenter.
Chris Pandoff, Vice President and General Manager, Corus Radio Toronto and Hamilton – Chris’ mandate includes overall responsibility for Toronto’s 102.1 the Edge (CFNY), Q107 (CILQ) and AM640 Toronto Radio (CFMJ) as well as Hamilton’s AM 900 CHML, Vinyl 95.3 (CING) and Y108 (CJXY). Chris reports to Hal Blackadar.
Chris Sisam, Vice President and General Manager, Corus Radio, South Western Ontario – Chris’ mandate includes overall responsibility for Guelph’s CJOY and Magic 106.1 (CIMJ), Kitchener’s 107.5 DAVE FM (CJDV) and 91.5 The Beat (CKBT), Woodstock’s Greatest Hits 1039 FM (CKDK) and London’s AM980 (CFPL-AM), The New 1031 Fresh FM (CFHK) and FM96 (CFPL-FM).Chris reports to Hal Blackadar.
Lars Wunsche, General Sales Manager, Corus Radio Toronto – Lars’ mandate includes responsibility for all sales and sales development in Canada’s largest radio market. Lars reports to Victor Giacomelli.
Quebec
Mario Cecchini, Regional Vice President, Corus Quebec – Mario will continue to lead our Quebec radio operations under the current organizational structure. Mario reports to Hal Blackadar.
CORPORATE
Reporting to Scott Dyer, Executive Vice President, Shared Services and Chief Technology Officer, the Shared Services team will provide Corus’ business units with centralized functional departments for infrastructure, production, content management and business processes analysis. The management team will be:
Julie Edwards, Vice President, Facilities and Administration – Julie will continue to oversee Corus’ property management across Canada. She will also expand her role in procurement including purchasing across administrative and technical areas. She will work closely with the infrastructure team to deliver building services such as A/V and telecommunications.
Bryan Ellis, Vice President, Content Management – Bryan will lead the content department focusing on the management of all of our digital media assets and providing new and innovative ways to monetize our owned and rented content. Bryan and his team will be responsible for initiatives in document and enterprise content management, ingest and outgest services that support broadcast and syndication sales, as well as Corus’ central digital asset storage system.
Eric Flaherty, Vice President, Computing and Infrastructure – Eric will lead the infrastructure department which represents engineering, technical services and computing across all of Corus. Eric will have oversight of non-business applications and systems such as database services, the server and network capacity as well as provide engineering for both Television and Radio, along with software development and playout of television services.
Helen Lebeau, Vice President, Production – Helen will be responsible for the production department which will combine the existing post production group with a new focus on live action production. This department will act as an independent producer and Nelvana Studio will become part of this group. The Television division will be the primary client for the department which will work closely with Sales, Interactive, OAP and Creative Services.
Chris Nalborczyk, Vice President, Business Transformation – Chris will oversee the ongoing company-wide review of processes and workflows, such as the work being done to support the broadcast move to Corus Quay. Chris will also manage the delivery of business applications, such as Great Plains, as well as client services and the Help Desk. The business transformation group will also support and coordinate our annual strategy planning process.
In Corporate Finance, certain finance and accounting functions have been centralized under Tom Peddie, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Tom’s team consists of:
Judy Adam, Vice President, Finance – Judy will oversee all accounting for the Television division and consolidated corporate accounting, analysis, forecasts and external and regulatory reporting for the Company.
Cheryl Bechtel, Vice President, Controller, Corus Radio – Cheryl will oversee all accounting and analysis for the Radio division and also reports to Hal Blackadar.
Doug Sharpe, Treasurer – Doug will oversee our banking relationship and credit and compliance issues for the Company as well as oversee credit and collections and accounts payable processing.
Jeremy Wilson, Vice President, Taxation – Jeremy will oversee all tax issues for the Company including annual filings and tax strategies.
With Judy Adam moving to Finance and Kathleen McNair’s recent move to Human Resources and Corporate Communications, the Risk and Compliance and Corporate Development positions have yet to be filled and will be announced at a future date.
Reporting to Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Gary Maavara, the legal department service functions have been grouped to align with the new operating structure, and with a focus on providing legal support and expertise for the creation and use of content rights as well as digital media.
Sylvie Courtemanche, Vice President, Government Relations – Sylvie is responsible for government relations including managing our relationships with agencies such as the CRTC. She will continue to guide our relationships with trade associations and oversee the prosecution of the various tariffs we use, such as matters before the Copyright Board.
Dale Hancocks, Associate General Counsel – Dale will oversee the outbound rights group, focusing on Corus rights that are exploited outside the Company. This will include oversight of our offshore activities such as KidsCo International as well as the rights management and protection of our content as we sell or license to third parties in Canada and around the world.
Jane Harrison, Associate General Counsel – Jane will head up the inbound rights group that handles the legal elements of third party programming and other rights as they flow into the Company. This team will manage the programming rights as well as equity rights that we obtain from outside producers. This group will also oversee the affiliate agreements with cable and satellite carriers and the on-demand platforms that we are introducing.
Elaine Partridge, Associate General Counsel – Elaine will lead the rights creation group that works with the creative elements of Corus including Nelvana Studio. This group will work on the content rights that Corus owns, whether it be in television, radio, books, merchandise, online, etc.
Ariane Stren, Assistant General Counsel – Ariane will oversee legal issues relating to content standards, libel and slander claims for all media, as well as provide support for various sales projects such as contests for Radio, TV and Interactive. Ariane will also be our designated Privacy Officer under the federal legislation and will provide legal advice on on-air talent agreements and trademark matters.
Randy Witten, Associate General Counsel – Randy will continue to oversee corporate projects including real estate matters such as leases, etc., corporate development work such as mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters.
Reporting to Kathleen McNair, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Communications, Human Resources and Corporate Communications functions have been consolidated as follows:
Larry Burnett, Director, Human Resources, Radio and Labour Relations – Larry will continue to oversee HR matters related to Radio as well as the labour relations portfolio outside Quebec.
Celese Fletcher, Acting Director, Human Resources, Television and Corporate – In this role, Celese oversees human resources for Television and Corporate and is currently implementing transition plans related to Corus Quay.
Sally Tindal, Director, Corporate Communications – Sally is the key point of contact for Corporate Communications including consumer and trade publicity, investor relations support, as well as internal communications.
Penny Vlachos, Director, Human Resources, Compensation and Benefits – Penny continues to oversee payroll and compensation policies regarding payroll, pension and employee benefits.
With these strong leadership teams in place, coupled with our new, state-of-the art technological infrastructure in Toronto, we are well positioned to meet the evolving demands of the marketplace. By streamlining the decision making in our Television, Radio and Corporate divisions and implementing better work flows, we will be able to compete more efficiently and service our customers and our audiences more effectively.
Our new teams will continue to examine our business operations and organizational structures to ensure we meet our objectives and are positioned to drive future growth. As always, we remain committed to communicating with you in an open and timely manner about any future decisions.
Corus partner companies, including Telelatino, TELETOON, Canadian Broadcast Sales and Toon Boom, as well as services in which we hold an ownership interest which include Food Network, qubo and KidsCo, will continue to operate as separate functional organizations, as is currently the case.
Thank you for your continued support and commitment.
John Cassaday
President and CEO
U2 have been the world’s biggest-selling band over the past 12 months, raking in $130m (£84.9m), according to the website Forbes.com. The Irish group has been staging their global 360 tour in support of their album No Line on the Horizon.
Click here to read the full article from BBC
In an early sign that mobile radio is coming of age, Clear Channel Communications in January sold out its inventory of certain mobile ads. The news came as the nation’s largest terrestrial radio broadcaster, with more than 800 stations, was crawling out of one of U.S. radio’s deepest-ever advertising slumps.
Traction in mobile ads signals a watershed among radio companies this year: Delivery of content to smartphones is emerging as a major audience-and-revenue driver. Clear Channel’s mobile effort is already “meaningfully profitable” less than two years since it launched, says Evan Harrison, president of the digital unit at San Antonio-based Clear Channel. “Mobile is a strategic necessity for us.”
By 2015, mobile radio apps that can stream programs onto Apple iPhones, Research In Motion BlackBerrys, and Android devices will generate as much ad revenue for traditional radio companies as will streaming on personal computers, according to consultant SNL Kagan. “Most of the growth in the digital space is going to come from mobile,” says SNL analyst Justin Nielson. Terrestrial radio ad sales from streaming to PCs and mobile phones should more than double to $1 billion in 2015, from $480 million last year, according to SNL.
The amount of time consumers spend listening to mobile radio is rising. The average user tuned in to Clear Channel’s iheartradio application on an iPhone or BlackBerry for 137 minutes a week in July, up from 120 minutes at the end of 2009, Clear Channel said. Usage has increased as the app improves and content increases, Harrison says. By contrast, the amount of time consumers spend listening to traditional radio has tumbled to four hours a week this year, from 10 hours in 2005, according to consultant Forrester Research.
Advertisers are following the audience. “There’s a tremendous amount of interest” in mobile advertising, says David Goodman, president of CBS Interactive Music Group, part of New York-based CBS, which also powers radio apps for AOL Radio, Yahoo!’s radio service, and Last.fm.
Mobile ads may be even more attractive than online ads to marketers because they’re more likely to hold a person’s attention and marketers can discern a listener’s whereabouts. “When you are on the desktop at work and listening to music, you multitask,” says Eyal Goldwerger, chief executive officer of New York-based TargetSpot, in which CBS has invested and which puts audio ads from such corporations as McDonald’s and Wal-Mart into mobile radio apps. “When you are on mobile, you tend to multitask less. Your attention is much more captive. And your location is valuable.”
Mobile-subscription and song sales may boost revenue further. More than half of Slacker’s total sales come from payments by users accessing its online radio-streaming service via smartphones. That’s up from less than 20 percent at the beginning of the year, says Jonathan Sasse, marketing senior vice-president at the San Diego-based company. By year-end, mobile revenue may account for 75 percent of the total, he says. After years of struggling to make it as a PC streaming service, Slacker expects to be profitable this year.
Radio listeners are more willing to pay a subscription fee for commercial-free service and to buy songs on a smartphone rather than on a PC, Sasse says. If a radio app is preloaded onto a phone and a purchase can be charged to a wireless bill, users are 10 times more likely to upgrade to Slacker’s $3.99-a-month premium service via a one-year subscription, Sasse says. Downloaded more than 10 million times, Slacker’s apps are preloaded onto select phones, such as BlackBerrys from Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom.
Making money from PC advertising that runs amid streaming music “is very, very difficult” Sasse says. “It became clear that phones were going to be the point of consumption for our consumers. That’s the path for us. Monetizing mobile is the key. There’s no question that mobile is the strongest opportunity for us.”
In recent months, mobile apps have emerged as the industry’s biggest user-growth engine. While terrestrial, satellite, and PC-based radio services are adding listeners in the single digits percentagewise, mobile use is expanding at a double-digit pace, according to SNL. Mobile listeners now constitute more than half of Slacker’s 1.5 million to 2.5 million monthly users, up from about 25 percent of total users at the beginning of the year.
More than 30 million people use Internet radio provider Pandora Media on their mobile phones, out of 58 million total users, says Joe Kennedy, chief executive officer of the Oakland (Calif.)-based company. “It’s only this year that mobile has become the majority of Pandora’s usage,” he says. “Consumers like to listen to the radio when and where they want to.” The company expects to become full-year profitable this year.
Mobile radio adoption will grow as more consumers opt for smartphones over basic mobile devices. Smartphones accounted for 34 percent of all phones sold in the U.S. in the first quarter, twice as much as a year earlier, according to consultant NPD Group. The bevy of lower-priced smartphones coming to the market, as well as cheaper data plans from carriers such as AT&T, should fuel growth. While a third of smartphone customers use radio apps today, that number will increase to 50 percent by 2015, says SNL’s Nielson.
Unlike traditional broadcasts, mobile radio ads can run video and be interactive, features for which advertisers pay extra. “We went from primarily being on air, to (selling) rich media video ads,” says Harrison, at Clear Channel. Online and through its mobile apps, the company’s users view 500 million photos a month. They can access exclusive content that includes performance videos and 50 digital-only channels, such as one hosted by the group, the Eagles.
As wireless broadband becomes more widely available, particularly in cars, Web radio will become a bigger threat to satellite and terrestrial radio providers, grabbing some of their users, says Susan Kevorkian, a program director for consultant IDC.
By the same token, mobile apps can reduce the outflow of listeners to rival services. Releasing mobile apps for Android and BlackBerry devices this year likely helped satellite radio provider Sirius XM Radio curb monthly outflows of self-paying subscribers to an average of 1.8 percent per month in the second quarter, from 2 percent monthly a year earlier, says David Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York who upgraded his recommendation on the stock to “buy,” from “neutral,” on July 7. The same day, Sirius said it added more than 583,000 net subscribers in the second quarter.
(Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 07/12/10)