New media not hurting traditional broadcasting: CRTC
New media technologies are not yet having significant impact on traditional radio and television broadcasting, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said in a report released Thursday.
But Canadians are moving toward adopting video and audio streamed over the internet and mobile networks and Canada's regulatory environment will have to adapt, the federal regulator said.
In the report, titled The Future Environment Facing the Canadian Broadcasting System, it noted that both private broadcasters and the CBC had urged initiatives to regulate new media.
But the CRTC rejected those calls, saying the time was not yet right to create new rules that would force internet and wireless broadcasters to include Canadian content or meet other standards it demands from conventional broadcasters.
Most Canadians continue to listen to conventional AM and FM radio and get most of their TV from conventional broadcasters, the CTRC found.
It estimates it will be another 10 years before a significant number of Canadians want "on-demand" media, such as video downloads and podcasting.
Young people stimulating change
Statistics gathered by the CRTC show younger generations are taking to these technologies in large numbers and the number of hours they spend listening to radio and watching TV is declining.
Canadians aged 12 to 14 and 15 to 19 listened to an average of 13 hours of radio weekly in 2005, but in just one year they had reduced their radio listening by up to three hours.
In 2006, the 12 to 14-year olds were listening to just 10 hours and the 15 to 19-year-olds 12 hours.
Yet average hours spent listening to radio have remained constant since 2000, with FM radio gaining ground against AM radio, which is losing listeners.
Private radio continues to make money, but digital radio seems to be stalled in Canada with Canadians unwilling to buy receivers with little new content and broadcasters unwilling to invest in content without ready listeners, the report said.
While podcasting is available, only eight per cent of Canadians had listened to a podcast within the past month.
Teenagers were watching less TV than they did three years ago and were more likely to have downloaded a TV show from the internet than any other demographic.
Most Canadians still watch traditional television
But the majority of Canadians still watch conventional TV, with half of households receiving cable and 29 per cent getting digital cable.
The CRTC pointed to the financial health of private TV companies and said they did not appear to have been hurt by new media.
Canadians have been slower than Americans to adopt Personal Video Recorders, or PVRs. Their technology allows the downloading of programs. Candians have expressed interest in PVRs, however.
Canada also lags the U.S. in introducing digital TV and high-definition TV.
The CRTC acknowledged in its report that all emerging technologies in broadcasting need close monitoring to determine their long-term impact on the sector and what role public policy might play.
"The Canadian broadcasting system must remain relevant in a global digital environment and must meet the diverse needs of Canadians of all cultures," said CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen.
The report is just one step in an ongoing review by the CRTC of its regulatory frameworks for radio, television and broadcasting distribution.
A report on high-definition TV is scheduled to come out next February and the regulation throughout the television broadcasting is also under review.
Writers Guild Loves NBC, 'Simpsons'
Want to see good writing on television, particularly among new shows? Turn on NBC.
That, at least, is the opinion of members of the Writers Guild of America, which handed the Peacock the most nominations of any network for its annual television awards. NBC picked up 13 nominations in the entertainment categories, including four of the five nods for best new series: "Friday Night Lights," "Heroes," "30 Rock" and "Studio 60" (ABC's "Ugly Betty" is the fifth).
PBS also earned 13 nominations, thanks mostly to its complete dominance in the documentary categories.
Another NBC show, "The Office," picked up three nominations, one for best comedy series and two for individual episodes. ABC's "Desperate Housewives" also earned two individual nods. "The Simpsons" earned four of the six spots in the animation category, the most of any entertainment show.
PBS' investigative series "Frontline" garnered the most nominations of any show, grabbing all five slots in the documentary/current events category. "American Experience" picked up four nominations.
The WGA will hand out its awards on Sunday, Feb. 11 at ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York. Below is a partial list of nominees; the full list is here.
Drama Series
"24" (FOX)
"Deadwood" (HBO)
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"The Sopranos" (HBO)
Comedy Series
"30 Rock" (NBC)
"Arrested Development" (FOX)
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO)
"Entourage" (HBO)
"The Office" (NBC)
New Series
"30 Rock" (NBC)
"Friday Night Lights" (NBC)
"Heroes" (NBC)
"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (NBC)
"Ugly Betty" (ABC)
Comedy/Variety Series
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central)
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC)
"Penn & Teller: Bulls**t!" (Showtime)
"Real Time with Bill Maher" (HBO)
"Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
Episodic Drama
Eli Attie and John Wells, "Election Day Part II" ("The West Wing," NBC)
Ronald D. Moore, "Occupation/Precipice" ("Battlestar Galactica," Sci Fi)
Elizabeth Sarnoff and Christina M. Kim, "Two for the Road" ("Lost," ABC)
Lawrence D. Cohen, based on a short story by Stephen King, "The End of the Whole Mess" ("Nightmares & Dreamscapes," TNT)
Aaron Sorkin, "Pilot" ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," NBC)
Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, "Pilot" ("Big Love," HBO)
Episodic Comedy
Kevin Murphy and Jenna Bans, "It Takes Two" ("Desperate Housewives," ABC)
Josh Senter, "Don't Look at Me" ("Desperate Housewives, ABC")
Rob Ulin, "Bomb Shelter" ("Malcolm in the Middle," FOX)
Steve Carell, "Casino Night" ("The Office," NBC)
Paul Lieberstein, "The Coup" ("The Office," NBC)
Vali Chandrasekaran, "Jump for Joy" ("My Name Is Earl," NBC)
Long Form - Original
Alan Geoffrion, "Broken Trail" (AMC)
Nevin Schreiner, "Flight 93" (A&E)
Max Enscoe and Annie DeYoung, "The Ron Clark Story" (TNT)
Animation
John Frink, "The Italian Bob" ("The Simpsons," FOX)
Marsha Griffin, "Who's Your Daddy?" ("The Life and Times of Juniper Lee," Cartoon Network)
Jim Dauterive, "Church Hopping" ("King of the Hill," FOX)
Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore" ("The Simpsons")
Don Payne, "Simpsons Christmas Stories" ("The Simpsons")
Matt Selman, "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" ("The Simpsons")
Music pioneer Ahmet Ertegun dies at 83
NEW YORK - Ahmet Ertegun, who helped define American music as the founder of Atlantic Records, a label that popularized the gritty R&B of Ray Charles, the classic soul of Aretha Franklin and the British rock of the Rolling Stones, died Thursday at 83, his spokesman said.
Ertegun remained connected to the music scene until his last days — it was at an Oct. 29 concert by the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre in New York where Ertegun fell, suffered a head injury and was hospitalized. He later slipped into a coma.
"He was in a coma and expired today with his family at his bedside," said Dr. Howard A. Riina, Ertegun's neurosurgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Ertegun will be buried in a private ceremony in his native Turkey, said Bob Kaus, a spokesman for Ertegun and Atlantic Records. A memorial service will be conducted in New York after New Year's.
Ertegun, a Turkish ambassador's son, started collecting records for fun, but would later became one of the music industry's most powerful figures with Atlantic, which he founded in 1947.
The label first made its name with rhythm and blues by Charles and Big Joe Turner, but later diversified, making Franklin the Queen of Soul as well as carrying the banner of British rock (with the Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin) and American pop (with Sonny and Cher, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and others).
Today, the company, part of Warner Music Group, is the home to artists including Kid Rock, James Blunt, T.I., and Missy Elliott.
Ertegun's love of music began with jazz, back when he and his late brother Nesuhi (an esteemed producer of such jazz acts as Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman) used to hang around with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in the clubs of Washington, D.C.
"My father was a diplomat who was ambassador to Switzerland, France and England before he became ambassador to the United States, and we lived in all those countries and we always had music in the house, and a lot of it was a kind of popular music, and we heard a lot of jazz," Ertegun recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "By the time we came to Washington, we were collecting records and we amassed a collection of some 25,000 blues and jazz records."
Ertegun parlayed his love of music into a career when he founded Atlantic with partner Herb Abramson and a $10,000 loan. When the label first started, it made its name with blues-edged recordings by acts such as Ruth Brown.
Despite his privileged background, which included attending prep school and socializing with Washington's elite, Ertegun was able to mix with all kinds of people — an attribute that made him not just a marketer of black music, but a part of it, said Jerry Wexler.
"The transition between these two worlds is one of Ahmet's most distinguishing characteristics," Wexler said.
Black music was the backbone of the label for years — it was Atlantic, under Wexler's production genius, that helped make Franklin the top black female singer of her day.
"We had some pop music — we had Bobby Darin ... and we developed other pop artists such as Sonny and Cher and Bette Midler and so on," said Ertegun. "But we had been most effective that set a style as purveyors of African-American music. And we were the kings of that until the arrival of Motown Records, which was long after we started."
But once music tastes changed, Ertegun switched gears and helped bring on the British invasion in the '60s.
"If Atlantic had restricted itself to R&B music, I have no doubt that it would be extinct today," Wexler said.
Instead, it became even bigger.
In later years, Ertegun signed Midler, Roberta Flack and ABBA. He had a gift for being able to pick out what would be a commercial smash, said the late producer Arif Mardin, who remembered one session where he was working with the Bee Gees on an album — but was unsure of what he had produced.
"Then Ahmet came and listened to it, and said, `You've got hits here, you've got dance hits,'" Mardin once told the AP. "I was involved in such a way that I didn't see the forest for the trees. ... He was like the steadying influence."
One strength of the company was Ertegun's close relationships with many of the artists — relationships that continued even after they left his label. Midler still called for advice, and he visited Franklin's home when he dropped into Detroit.
His friendships extended to the younger generation, too, including Kid Rock and Lil' Kim.
Besides his love of music, Ertegun was also known for his love of art, and socializing. It was not uncommon to find him at a party with his wife, Mica, hanging out until all hours with friends.
Although he was slowed by triple-bypass surgery in 2001, he still went into his office almost daily to listen for his next hit.
Finding those hits were among the most wonderful moments in his life, he said.
"I've been in the studio when you go through a track and you run down a track and you know even before the singer starts singing, you know the track is swinging ... you know you have a multimillion-seller hit — and what you're working on suddenly has magic," he said. "That's the biggest."
'Babel' leads Golden Globes with 7 nods
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Helen Mirren, Leonardo DiCaprio and Clint Eastwood were among the multiple nominees, while the multinational ensemble drama "Babel" led Golden Globe contenders Thursday with seven nominations including best dramatic picture.
Also nominated for best dramatic picture: the Robert Kennedy story "Bobby," the mob tale "The Departed," the suburban drama "Little Children" and the royalty-in-crisis "The Queen."
Mirren received nominations for playing both Queen Elizabeth I and II. She was nominated for dramatic movie actress for playing the current monarch in "The Queen," and for the title role in the TV miniseries "Elizabeth I." She also had a nomination for best actress in a TV miniseries or movie for "Prime Suspect: The Final Act."
Other multiple nominees included DiCaprio, who had two nominations for best dramatic film actor in "Blood Diamond" and "The Departed"; Eastwood, who had two directing nominations for his World War II companion films "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima"; and Toni Collette, nominated for best actress in a movie comedy or musical for the road-trip romp "Little Miss Sunshine" and TV supporting actress for "Tsunami: The Aftermath."
"Babel," a story of families around the globe connected by a tragic shooting in the North African desert, also had nominations for performers Brad Pitt, Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and best screenplay and musical score.
The Globes also include a category for best comedy or musical film, the nominees for which included the American culture satire "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." The movie's star, Sacha Baron Cohen, also was nominated for best actor in a movie comedy or musical.
The other best comedy or musical nominees were the fashion industry satire "The Devil Wears Prada," the Motown musical "Dreamgirls," "Little Miss Sunshine" and the tobacco tale "Thank You for Smoking."