By David Farrell
CTV adds two free streaming channels
CTV has launched two new digital-only channels–CTV Movies and CTV Throwback–available exclusively on CTV digital platforms CTV.ca and the CTV app on iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire Stick. – Newswire
Conrad Black: How to make Trudeau’s media bailout work for Canada
There has always been a natural problem in Canada with the competitive quality of the English-Canadian media because of the contiguity of an English-speaking society in the United States that is entirely accessible to Canada and which has practically unlimited reserves of talent and money. Carving a niche for Canada in that environment has always been a challenge, and when artificially assisted, has often led to the subsidization of gratuitously anti-American media and entertainment, or more often, simply mediocre content that could not survive independently. – National Post
The difference a good radio owner can make
– SOWNY.net
The world’s highest paid radio hosts of 2018
Howard Stern, on the third year of his eight-figure contract with SiriusXM, earned an estimated $90 million in our 12-month scoring period, before taxes and fees. The shock jock is once again the world’s highest-paid radio host.
Stern narrowly beats America’s most-listened-to radio host Rush Limbaugh, who made $84.5 million. – Hayley C. Cuccinello, Forbes
Google launching a version of Google News for smart speakers and phones
Like Google News, this audio venture will ultimately be available to pretty much any news publisher that can work with Google’s open standard and adheres to Google News’ basic (and vague) content standards. In other words — from what I can tell at this early point — it isn’t impossible that some garbage news will slip in. – Laura Hazard Owen, NiemanLab
Apple’s most-downloaded podcasts of 2018
Apple owns an estimated 60% of podcast consumption. 2018 was the first year that the dominant distribution platform provided consumption metrics to producers. Accordingly, the company has released the top 25 most-downloaded podcasts of the year.
The list is significant as a potential proxy for the overall success of top shows, though that idea would be argued by some. Actual download numbers are not released, naturally. – Brad Hill, RAIN News
The 10 best podcasts of 2018
Before we begin, some customary caveats on the list-making process: I’m a human being who adheres to conventional space and time, which means I was unable to listen to every podcast that’s ever been published this year. (I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but everybody has one now.) Craft is a tad bit more important to me than the stories themselves. I tend to favour podcasts that function well as complete stand-alone experiences, though I’m aware that puts conversational shows at a disadvantage. Established shows have the added burden of being ranked against prior seasons. Also, I’m cognizant of the insanity that comes with pitting documentary, comedy, fiction, conversational, interview, art house, and other podcast genres against each other. – Nicholas Quah, Vulture
