Media Beat: March 08, 2018

By David Farrell

Mélanie Joly promises to discuss the taxation of G7 web giants

Minister Mélanie Joly confirmed Tuesday that Canada intends to take advantage of the G7 summit in June in Charlevoix to address the issue of taxation of foreign digital platforms - a subject that is becoming increasingly urgent internationally.

"We must have, and we will have, a discussion on the taxation of the giants of the Web," said the Minister of Canadian Heritage on the sidelines of an event at Polytechnique. "What we are going to do is have this discussion in the G7," she added, recalling that Finance Minister Bill Morneau himself opened the door at the presentation of his budget. last week – Le Devoir

CPTPP side deals leave door open for Canada to regulate Netflix, experts say

Side deals under Canada’s newest trade agreement leave the door open for the government to regulate foreign video services such as Netflix Inc., although the current Liberal government has shown little appetite for such measures.

Canada signed bilateral agreements on culture with every country participating in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which was signed by 11 member countries in Chile on Thursday.

The side letters, released Thursday, exempt Canada from a clause in official text that prohibits discriminatory rules on foreign audio-video services. Instead, the letters stipulate that Canada “may adopt or maintain discriminatory requirements on service suppliers or investors to make financial contributions for Canadian content development and may adopt or maintain measures that restrict access to online foreign audio-visual content.” – Emily Jackson, Financial Post

Radio giant iHeart prepares for bankruptcy as early as this weekend

Advisers to some of iHeart's senior creditors have been shown bankruptcy papers that would be used on the first day of court proceedings, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Despite a year of negotiations on a restructuring plan, a formal support agreement still isn't in place with the most-senior lenders, and the creditors aren't in restricted talks with the company, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations. Creditors typically agree to restrict some of their activities in exchange for non-public information when talks heat up.

A bankruptcy filing is all but certain, with iHeart and creditors each swapping proposals in recent weeks for a consensual restructuring. But pressure is mounting on iHeart after it missed a Feb. 1 interest payment, with a 30-day grace period about to run out. On top of that, the broadcaster on Thursday skipped payments on two more sets of bonds – Ad Age

Legislative Review: Telecom and Broadcasting Acts

Trying to fix the problems of broadcasters in an Internet age by legislation is a mistake. Trying to stem the departure of listeners and viewers from a pre-Internet conception of service is vain. The content delivery system predicated in licencing, and a closed universe of options is finished. Sure, it will hang around for a while, just as one’s grandmother’s rotary telephone may still ring. In particular, the content delivery system called “television” cannot be made to last by seeking to extend the regulatory power applicable to broadcasting undertakings to services across the Internet. To borrow a manner of talking from the Internet, you cannot fix a problem at the content/applications layer with measures at the transport, network and physical layers – Timothy Denton’s Blog

How Netflix is using apps to streamline movie and TV production

Netflix produces a massive amount of content. In 2018 alone, the streaming giant will invest at least $8 billion on production, a number that rivals what major networks like Disney, Fox and Time Warner spend – Bradley Shankar, Mobile Syrup

Numeris Overview: New PPM Ratings

The following breakdown is provided by David Bray, President of Bray & Partners Communications. David’s single “Crowded Isolation” is playlisted on 100 stations worldwide.

As we sit stuck in a winter freeze, things are starting to heat up… with the release of the latest radio ratings.  The new PPM release from Numeris completes the thirteen week period covering November 27^th, 2017 to February 25th, 2018. Let’s take a look at the five PPM markets.

Toronto: Bragging rights at the top of the ratings heap go to CHFI-FM once again with a 14.6%  share of hours tuned for A12+ (up from 12.4% last time out). CHFI got a ratings boost from their month of all Christmas music, a yearly programming move that has certainly paid off. CHFI-FM takes the #1 spot with the ladies 25-54 delivering a 17.9% share (up from 15.6%) followed by CHUM-FM with a 12.1% share (down from 13.4%). CHUM-FM didn’t employ the all Christmas strategy and thus took a hit in December.  In a strange twist, CHFI-FM holds the #1 spot for males 25-54, posting a 13.3% share (up from 12.0 % in the last 13-week book) followed by 680News at 8.4% and Q107 with 7.8%. In an even more unusual twist, CHFI-FM leads the way for M18-34 with a 12.1% share. For F18-34, CHFI-FM tops the list posting a whopping 24.2%.

Vancouver: CBC Radio One grabs the #1 spot for A12+ with a 15.7% share of hours tuned (up from 15.1% ). Taking the top spot for F25-54 was QM-FM, posting a 19.6% share (up from 15.4% last time out). QM is another station that benefited from the month of all Christmas music. FOX grabs the lead for M25-54 listeners, delivering a 11.4% share (up from 11.1%) followed by the Rock101 at 10.3% (up from 10.1%)  The FOX is out in front for M18-34 with a 15.8% share of hrs. tuned (up from 15.0%). When it comes to Females 18-34, QM-FM takes top spot with an impressive 21.5 % share.

Edmonton: 102.3 NOW Radio rules the roost for A12+ posting a 9.7% share of hours tuned (flat with last time out). NOW! Radio takes top spot for F25-54, delivering a 15.6% share (up from 14.1%). NOW also tops the list for M25-54 with a 13.1% share (up from 11.9%). For M18-34, NOW leads the way posting a 22.1% followed by Sonic at 16.6%. For F18-34 Sonic delivered a 14.7%.

Calgary: NewsTalk770 leads the way for A12+ with an 8.2% (flat with last time out).  KISS 95.9 is popular with the ladies, taking #1 spot for F25-54 delivering a 12.2% share (up from 7.3%).  For M25-54, X92.9  is #1 with a 10.9% (up from 8.9%). X92.9 takes top spot for M18-34 delivering a 12.7%. Country105 is #1 for F18-34 posting a 13.6% share (down from 15.8%)

Montreal (Total):  CHMP 98.5FM is #1 for A12+ with a 14.3% share (down from 15.9%).  CFGL-FM is tops with the ladies, taking #1 spot for F25-54 delivering a 15.7% share (flat with last time out). For M25-54, CHMP 98.5FM is on top at 15.7% share (up from 14.3%) followed by CHOM-FM at 13.8%.  CKOI FM is #1 for M18-34 with a 12.0%, followed by CHOM-FM at 11.0%.  105.7 Rythme FM is #1 for F18-34 with a 13.0%.

See summary charts below:A brief overview of share figures from the latest PPM 2017/ 2018 Numeris release courtesy of David Bray...

Toronto:% Share of Hours Tuned (Mon.-Sun, 5a-1a)

Vancouver: % Share of Hours Tuned (Mon.-Sun, 5a-1a)

Edmonton: % Share of Hours Tuned (Mon.-Sun, 5a-1a)

Calgary: % Share of Hours Tuned (Mon.-Sun, 5a-1a)

Montreal (Total): % Share of Hours Tuned (Mon.-Sun, 5a-1a)