CNM Short Takes

Copyright consultation process extended to October 22Over 600 submissions have now been received by the departments of Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage discussing the Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues and its corollary on section 31 of the Copyright Act. Because of the volume of submissions, which now include the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian Cable Television Association, AOL Time Warner Inc and hundreds of private submissions, the departments have elected to prolong the reply period. The deadline has been moved from this week to October 22. Canadian NEW MEDIA will carry a full summary of the most anticipated submissions by the largest U.S. and Canadian stakeholders. Already, some observers are noting with surprise that rules against circumvention and other aspects of the reform process are encountering unexpected resistance from Canada’s largest corporate players (CNM, Sept. 20/01). Tenants in Cité organize against conditions and to networkFifteen tenants of Montreal’s Cité Multimédia have formed a new group, l’Association des gens affaires de la cité multimédia (AGAC), to both fight for better conditions on campus, and to organize networking and other events. Danny Boulanger, president of tenant Interdoc Corp, will serve as its first president, with an executive committee made up of staff from Alis Technologie, Metalink (DMR), Cognicase and Microïde. The Cité’s approximately 100 tenants have complained of poor service from the landlord and management team Groupe Valor. Sticking points include inflated bills for work done on the property, a lack of restaurants, and slow-to-complete plant work. Boulanger told CNM that AGAC is encouraged after a first meeting with Groupe Valor that the relationship between tenants and the landlord will improve. Belanger says the membership of AGAC will now turn its attention to creating greater networking and education among the Cité’s tenants. Because the complex now houses more than just multimedia companies, Boulanger recognizes an opportunity to buy services from each other rather than contracting outside. By the end of this month, he expects to have over 75% of the tenants covered by AGAC. H20 shuts down after August financial warningVancouver-based H2O Entertainment Corp has shut down by unanimous vote of the company’s board of directors and management. Executives cite a difficult financing environment, uncertain economic times, and an overall lack of viability in the business plan for the H20’s failure. The company, which creates video games for the Nintendo platform, had recently raised a small $1.5-million investment from a private placement with current owners, but the amount was clearly insufficient to continue operations. U8TV on prowl for more LoftersZev Shalef’s U8TV.com is launching a nationwide search for eight more Canadians to star in its next series. The new crew will move into the loft in early January. U8TV, broadcast by Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc, reportedly garners 30 million hits to its web site each month, and the condensed TV show, U8TV: The Lofters on Life Network, claims over 400,000 viewers weekly. Excite Canada launches new movies channel on high speedExcite Canada has launched a multimedia movies channel for its high-speed subscribers featuring trailers, upcoming releases, theatre showtimes, movies on TV, and news and reviews. The channel also expects to offer online chats and interviews with movie celebrities. Content partners on the site include Film.com, Tribute.ca and HMV.com. Quebec launches web site dedicated to cultural diversityQuebec’s minister of culture and communications, Diane Lemieux, announced in Switzerland last week that the government would post a new site devoted to cultural diversity. The site, at www.gouv.qc.ca/international/diversite-culturelle, will contain publications and studies on the challenges of globalization for maintaining cultural diversity across the globe. The announcement was made at the fourth meeting of the International Network on Cultural Policy held in Lucerne Sept. 24-26. Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps headed the Canadian delegation to the conference focused on three themes: integration of cultural diversity, cultural diversity and globalization, and the role of governments in regards to cultural policy. Information and cultural services see growth in JulyStatistics Canada is reporting a 0.1% increase in output for the month of July. Telecommunications, the largest part of this group, fell 0.5%. The bureau reports that growth has slowed "considerably" since the first quarter, though software publishers have been growing since February, posting a 1.9% gain in July. Aastra Tech to buy Lucent digital video businessConcord ON-based Aastra Technologies Ltd has agreed to purchase Lucent Technologies Inc’s digital video business for an undisclosed price. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of Lucent’s fiscal year 2001. Lucent Digital Video offers video compression technology, DV encoders, decoders and gateways for the broadcast television, cable and telecommunications markets. Aastra develops and markets communications systems for accessing telephone networks and the Internet. Its current product line includes a range of residential and business telephone terminals and a server system capable of accessing Internet content. The company says it serves a majority of telephone companies across North America, with a growing presence in Europe, South America and Asia. Cryptologic joins online gaming initiativeCryptologic Inc, Toronto, is one of several partners in a newly-announced partnership to create a comprehensive offering of Internet gaming systems licensed to Numura Technologies International Inc based in the Marshall Islands. The one-year master agreement will be spearheaded by Gibraltor-based Millennium Software Inc. The other partner will be World Gaming based in Toronto with corporate headquarters in the U.K. Number 41 Media launches Rogers’ Chocolates web siteVictoria-based Number 41 Media has launched an ecom and information site for Rogers’ Chocolate. The company says it was chosen for its proven application development expertise and sophisticated design approach. Executives promise an "easy-to-use, web-based shopping experience." Blue Zone, PacketVideo to cross-promote productsBlue Zone Inc, Vancouver, and San Diego-based PacketVideo Inc have announced a strategic alliance to co-market their products to the wireless multimedia market in North America, Europe and Asia. PacketVideo will provide the marketing muscle through its sales force and existing relationships with carriers worldwide. PacketVideo, in turn, will market and sell its technology combined with Blue Zone’s carrier products including the MediaBZ Hub. MediaBZ will be integrated with PacketVideo’s PVAuthor, which is installed at the content provider’s facility to enable an automate encoding process resulting in labour cost savings. iMagicTV and nCUBE to integrate softwareSan Francisco’s nCUBE Corp and Saint John NB-based iMagicTV Inc have agreed to integrate their software to develop and market their products as an integrated tool for the delivery of digital television services. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and Media Corp, both of Singapore, will use nCUBE’s n4 streaming media appliance with iMagicTV’s DTV Manager software to deploy video-on-demand and other interactive television services in an upcoming trial. An initial joint trial project will also develop an integrated personal video recorder working with both companies’ technologies. Rogers Cable launches enhanced television with U.S. specialtiesRogers Cable Inc has launched Enhanced Television, the first such offering in Canada, which allows Rogers digital cable customers to interact with programs and commercials. The service, which uses technology provided by California-based Wink Communications Inc, is provided free of charge to digital subscribers. Initially, Enhanced TV is available on U.S. specialty channels CNN, CNN Headline News, and CNBC, and networks such as TBS, NBC, CBS, and FOX. Rogers is working with Canadian broadcasters such as CHUM Television, CFMT Television, and Sportsnet to deploy enhanced Canadian programming before the end of the year.

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | October 3, 2001

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