By David Farrell
Roundhouse Radio assets on the block for $600K
The shareholders of defunct Vancouver talk station Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM) have applied to the CRTC to sell its assets to South Fraser Broadcasting Inc. South Fraser is owned by Sukhvinder Singh Badh and operates Pulse FM (CISF-FM) Surrey which is inside the VMA. – Connie Thiessen, Broadcast Dialogue
JAZZ.FM91 faces third lawsuit
Another former employee of JAZZ.FM91 has filed suit against the station, bringing to three the number of legal cases the troubled Toronto-based not-for-profit is facing after its former CEO stepped down last May in the wake of allegations of workplace bullying and sexual harassment.
Glenn Knight is asking the courts for a judgement of $25,000, claiming damages for a variety of issues. – Simon Houpt, The Globe and Mail
Cogeco completes NRC acquisitions
Cogeco Inc. has announced the completion of its agreement with RNC Média inc. to acquire 10 of its regional radio stations in Quebec.
With the completion of this transaction, Cogeco subsidiary Cogeco Media will expand its network of radio stations to 22 across the province and one in Ontario. The deal, which has a total value of $19.2M, subject to closing adjustments, was approved on Oct. 11 by the CRTC. – Media release
Big broadcasters have dominated ethnic TV long enough
Traditionally, Rogers and Bell's approaches to ethnic programming are similar: linear news feeds by time slot. They typically offer subscribers a particular block of time, say from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., with news in the country's top six languages. However, their approach has become stale and out of date — subscribers no longer watch the news "by appointment." They consume news and program on the go. They want to see news coverage that spans various communities on their own schedule. – Karen Woods, HuffPo Canada
Netflix ups sub rates
Netflix's standard plan will now cost $3 more, or $13.99 a month, while the premium package jumps to $16.99. – Financial Post
How much does an average person spend on media?
A new report from PQ Media, a global research company, finds U.S. consumers outlay an average of $1,344.55 per person each year. Total spending for U.S. consumers will rise 3.3 percent this year, but that’s the slowest growth of any of the world’s top 20 fastest-growing markets. – Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes
Gaming the Apple Podcast chart is cheaper than you may think
John Perotti, the creator of a drone music podcast, revealed to The Verge that he was recently approached through Twitter to get his small podcast to the top of the charts. All it took was $5. The next day, his podcast, which averages only 300 downloads, went from the bottom of Apple’s Arts chart to #55 on the All Categories board. – Buster Hein, Cult of Mac
Millennials watch more online video than trad TV
While TV viewing is forecast to drop over the next few years, eMarketer says online video consumption numbers will grow from 64.2 million this year to 64.8 million in 2019 and 65.1 million by 2020. Over these three years, about 89% of Millennials will watch online video. – Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes
