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Security concerns may be trade-off for ownership limits being lowered

One of the aftermaths of the attack on the United States may be the foreign ownership restrictions in Canadian telecom. At the recent Wireless Vision Congress in St. John’s NF, the buzz was that "security concerns" may lead to the federal government scaling back its rollout of broadband. That would, in turn, allow the federal Cabinet to change the ownership limits more quickly.

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ROW Update

Industry Canada under gun to license Ka-band
It appears Industry Canada is running out of time to license particular satellite spectrum as it has launched a process to "expeditiously" license bandwidth in question. The department has initiated a call for applications to license the Ka-band spectrum in the 107.3 West orbital slot, spectrum that was recently returned to Industry Canada by Star Choice Communications Inc. Companies interested in the spectrum have until the end of this month to file applications.
Brad Shaw, senior VP of operations at Star Choice, tells Report on Wireless that Star Choice is looking at other Ka-band options. He added that it would have been expensive to build and launch its own satellite – over $500 million – money that would have been difficult to raise in the depressed economy.
The Canadian satellite market has limited players, so it seems likely that the usual suspects will throw their hats into the ring. Telesat Canada and Richard Stursberg’s Bird Satellite Communications Inc are the two most likely candidates, since the two battled it out for spectrum in the 118.7 West orbital position earlier this year.
Canada has until April 25, 2005 to use or loose access to the Ka-band spectrum in the 107.3 slot. That same year Canada will also loose access to the Ka-band in the 118.7 slot. Industry Canada is hoping that more than one company will express interest in the spectrum so that it can proceed to license bandwidth in both orbital slots at the same time. More details:

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CCR Update

NDP MP files Cabinet appeal on CTV/Global TV licence renewals
The NDP’s critic for culture and communications has filed a petition to the federal Cabinet asking it to overturn the CRTC’s Aug. 2 decisions renewing the television licences of CTV Inc and CanWest Global Communications Corp. Wendy Lill says CTV and Global’s stable of broadcast, print, and Internet properties "constitutes an alarming concentration of power over public expression in this country." The MP for Dartmouth wants Cabinet to send the decisions back to the commission with clear directions, calling for a limited licence renewal of one year for CTV and Global’s network licences while asking the CRTC to develop a policy for the "orderly divestment of cross-owned properties in preparation of a cross-ownership ban." She concludes in her Sept. 13 petition, "The dangerous and unprecedented increase in media concentration permitted by these CRTC decisions must not be allowed to stand." More details:

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CNM Editorial

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.
 

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Interactive media needs interactive business practices

During the dawn of the old new economy, the promise of new media was said to lie in the unprecedented levels of communication its technologies could support. In 1995 and 1996 a series of new media professional organisations set up shop to encourage members of our community to share experiences, educational resources and to build alliances as we built a new industry.

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CNM Prople

 new Government On-Line advisory panel has been announced by the Treasury Board. Guy Savard, vice-chair of the board and chair of the board for Quebec operations at Merrill Lynch Canada, and Barbara Stymiest, president and CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange, will co-chair the panel. Other members include a roster of familiar faces from across the spectrum of academia and the private sector. They are: Andrew Bjerring, president and CEO of CANARIE Inc; Jim Carroll; Claude-Yves Charron, secretary general ORBICOM; Gaylen Duncan, president and CEO, ITAC; Michael Foulkes, EVP and CIO, TD Bank Financial Group; Mel Fruitman, president and CEO, Consumers Association of Canada; Grant Gisel, president and CEO, Sierra Systems; Robert Giroux, president, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, Serge Godin, chair, president and CEO, CGI Group Inc; Luce Lapierre, director, Canadian Federation for French Literacy; Jack Layton, president, Federation of Canadian Municipalities; David Marshall, EVP, CIBC; Kathy Marshall, national coordinator, Disabled Women’s Network Canada; Don McCreesh, SVP human resources, Celestica; Ronan McGrath, president shared services and CIO, Rogers Communications Inc; Robert Morine, VP and GM, public sector, IBM Canada; Monica Patten, CEO, Community Foundations of Canada; Gerald Pond, EVP and president of telecom and emerging business, Aliant Inc; Andrew Reddick, director of research, Public Interest Advocacy Centre; Jean-Pierre Soublière, president, Anderson Soublière Inc; Christian Trudeau, president and CEO, BCE Emergis; and David Zussman, CEO, Public Policy Forum.

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CNM Short Takes

Copyright consultation process extended to October 22
Over 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).

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Lower turnout expected for this year’s Baddeck Int’l New Media Festival

Organizers of the Baddeck International New Media Festival say they’re prepared for lower attendance this year in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States and a generally depressed Canadian multimedia industry. Still, the situation won’t be a worst-case scenario for this country’s premiere new media event, says assistant producer Moka Case.

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CFC student spin-off in search of wireless partners for new interactive system

An Ontario entrepreneur is hoping to line up some heavy-hitting wireless partners to commercialize an interactive technology first developed at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC). Stephen Boyd and new partner Adam Evans have built a technology architecture for interacting with big and small screen content using cell phones and proven off-the-shelf Internet components. The two partners will begin demonstrating the technology to companies this month after arranging with Boyd’s former CFC colleagues to take the system to market.

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CanWest executive takes exception to characterization of Canada.com

A high-ranking executive from the new CanWest Global Communications Corp’s Canada.com portal has taken Canadian NEW MEDIA to task for an editorial he says unfairly maligns the newly re-launched web site. In a recent op-ed column, CNM bemoaned the perceived lack of local content on the site, which has been re-packaged in the wake of CanWest’s purchase of 100 per cent of Hollinger Inc’s share of the National Post and Southam Inc papers such as the Vancouver Sun and Ottawa Citizen.

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