Craig-MTV Partnership Approved Articles / MTV Canada Posted by Tripster on Feb 21, 2003 - 04:46 PM MTV Canada will continue to bring top-rated shows like The Osbournes and Jackass from around the world, to Canadian viewers. More than a year following the launch of digital specialty channels MTV Canada and MTV2, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission today approved the partnership between Craig Broadcast Systems Inc. and Viacom International Inc., subject to certain amendments. "We're happy to have our ownership structure settled," comments Drew Craig, President and CEO of Craig Broadcast Systems Inc. "We have always maintained that the agreements with Viacom are entirely consistent with the Commission's foreign ownership rules and past decisions. With over 600,000 subscribers, MTV Canada continues to be one of the drivers of the digital tier and consistently ranks number one of all the diginets in the 12-17 demographic. We're pleased to see the CRTC recognizes the value in making this service available to the audience that has embraced it so enthusiastically since day one." The CRTC Decision released today also addressed the music content on MTV Canada. "The Commission has determined that we must count every second of every music video clip within every program" says head of MTV Canada, Wayne Sterloff. "This is certainly problematic from a program logging perspective. We expect this new practice will have to be consistently applied to every broadcaster in Canada with or without a licence condition relating to music video clips. It will therefore have repercussions for the entire broadcast industry." "As for the issue of "music related" programming, we're reviewing the Decision carefully and assessing our options", says Sterloff. "But we don't anticipate major changes to the programming on MTV Canada and remain committed to serving the needs of young Canadians." Adds Drew Craig, "through our unique partnership with Viacom, MTV Canada will continue to provide a Canadian solution to the problem of black and grey market foreign signals in Canada." This article is from CHANNEL CANADA   http://www.channelcanada.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.channelcanada.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=170