CNM Short Takes

SK chapter of CIPS reports on status of skillsThe Saskatchewan chapter of the Canadian Information Processing Society has released a new study outlining current human resource and training needs in the province. The report stems from a survey of 346 companies and IT professionals conducted from August 2000 through last April. As a result of the report, a permanent steering committee has been formed to follow up on its recommendations to make companies better aware of HR issues. Cogeco, Worldgate sign multi-year ITV agreementPA-based Worldgate has been chosen by Cogeco Cable Inc to provide its ITV service for all the cable company’s digital subscribers beginning in the fourth quarter of this year. The system will use the Motorola DCT-2000 class set-top box and wireless keyboard to provide various levels of Internet and information connectivity. The service will be translated into French to accommodate Cogeco’s Quebec customers, and local content will be tailored to that market. CCTA responds to JumpTV interrogatoriesThe Canadian Cable Television Association responded earlier this month to a series of JumpTV.com Canada Inc questions related to a Copyright Board of Canada hearing this winter into Internet re-transmission. In a tersely-worded series of responses, the CCTA indicated that its members currently have no plans to retransmit signals over the Internet under the Copyright Act’s s. 31 exemption. JumpTV offers to pay CTF feesFarrel Miller, attending last week’s Convergence: ITV and Beyond conference in Toronto, told one questioner from the Canadian Television Fund that it’s JumpTV.com Canada Inc’s intention to pay into the pool. Without going into specifics during the quick exchange, the JumpTV president told the CTF representative that if JumpTV is certified as an Internet retransmitter, his company will meet all the same obligations as a broadcaster. Under CRTC regulations, BDUs are mandated to pay 5% of gross revenues into a variety of Canadian programming funds. The remark has confused some, as an Internet retransmitter does not have to conform to CRTC rules governing BDUs. Toronto company wins Emmy for 3D softwareCast Lighting has won a first-ever Emmy award for a Canadian company in the category of outstanding achievement in engineering development. The award was for software developed by Cast that lets users develop lighting, design sets and block scenes virtually in a three-dimensional format. The software has been used for television shows including Cher Live and Bee Gee’s Live By Request and films such as A.I. Artificial Intelligence and X-Men. Netgraphe shutters six of eight FYI sites in cost-cutting moveQuebecor Inc subsidiary Netgraphe has shut down its much-promoted FYI sites in Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal and Quebec City. The move leaves only sites in Calgary and London still running. Four company VPs have been laid off as a result, along with eight FYI employees. Six others are being offered work elsewhere in the Sun Media chain, and the staff at the French-language sites have been offered new jobs within Netgraphe. Canadian Press is reporting that the move was partly made as a cost-cutting measure. Watchfire, Inktomi ink search engine dealKanata-based Watchfire Corp has signed a deal with Inktomi to integrate its metadata management software with Inktomi’s search engine technology. Watchfire’s software will streamline searches by automatically indexing site content. Baddeck calls on industry for potential award winnersThe Baddeck International New Media Festival has issued a call for competitors in its annual awards program. This year, in addition to the 12 category winners and honourable mentions, there will also be awards for the best Atlantic Canadian entry, the best Canadian entry, the best technical achievement, the best creative achievement and an overall best of show category. Applications must be received by September 4. In addition, festival organizers are inviting submissions for CyberPitch, of which three finalists will be chosen to compete at the festival, October 10-13. More information on both competitions can be obtained at www.baddeckfest.com. New Media BC adds ecom to site, streamlined administrationNew Media BC is now offering a customized online payment option for those registering for one of its events. Using Strategic Profits Inc’s payment system, an entire event from registration to name tag generation can be done online. New Media BC executive director Jane Green is inviting members to provide feedback on the new system. Cold North Wind wins Torstar digitization contractOttawa-based Cold North Wind has announced yet another digitization contract, this time to archive the entire contents of the Toronto Star dating to its first issue in 1892. That archive consists of over 2.3 million pages representing about two terabytes of information in its 30,000 individual editions. The paper expects the page archive to be available to the public later this fall. Digital World Cup forms broadband divisionDigital World Cup, a Toronto-based electronic sports entertainment company, has created a new broadband division that will extend its games into the high-speed marketplace. Its product is a turnkey package of pay-per-view games for high-speed providers for offer to their customers. The first offering will be golf and racing game releases. VertigoXmedia reaches TechTV deal for interactive productsVertigoXmedia, Montreal, has followed up an April release that it would be providing a suite of broadcast automation tools to TechTV (CNM, April 19/01), by announcing that it has also been hired to develop an interactive television version of the channel’s Tech Live technology news show application for the Microsoft TV platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Vertigo will work with TechTV to define the station’s requirements, with an emphasis on integrating ITV enhancements with traditional broadcast content. Since TechTV bought Vertigo’s live production system last April, it has been delivering 9.5 hours of live technology news coverage each day. Sympatico sets world record for longest webcastOfficials at Sympatico-Lycos and Virtue Broadcasting say their coverage of the final 24 hours of Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival set a record for the longest webcast. Hosted by comic Jean-Marc Parent, the event was broadcast July 21-22 and hosted 73,500 unique visitors. A chat room which allowed conversation with Parent was host to over 8,000 visitors. musicmusicmusic readies subscription siteToronto-based musicmusicmusic inc is in negotiations with an undisclosed Big 5 label to launch a new streaming site which will give visitors the option to pay for downloads. The company says hundreds of songs will be made available, with a changing monthly playlist. Users will have access to downloads including alternative versions and mixes of popular songs, as well as an ecommerce section for purchasing music merchandise. The company hasn’t set an exact date, but says the site should be launched this fall. J!VE Media inks Comedy Network file sharing dealToronto-based J!VE Media Technologies Inc has won a second important contract for its new distribution technology, this time with The Comedy Network. J!VE executives are touting the product, which imbeds advertising into shared video files, as a solution to unfettered peer-to-peer networking. Its first contract was signed with ChumCity Interactive last May. No value was disclosed for The Comedy Network deal, but Chum is paying about $100,000 for the service over one year. The Comedy Network expects to use the digital rights management, content management and media delivery service to distribute its licensed programming to online consumers. For now, the files will only be viewable on the QuickTime format, and there is still no word when J!VE will release Windows Media and Real Network versions. EMJ to distribute Israeli TV studio softwareEMJ Data Systems Ltd, Guelph ON, has announced that it will distribute Israel-based Channel Storm’s Live Channel software. The product is designed to replace a television studio by enabling anyone to broadcast live media over the Internet. The software will handle all production and broadcast steps without any additional hardware.

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | August 23, 2001

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