Federal Government unveils broadband pilot program Industry minister Alan Rock has unveiled a broadband pilot program, which commits $105 million to the deployment of broadband networks into Aboriginal, northern, rural and remote regions of the country. While it’s good news the government launched the initiative, full funding for the program won’t be granted until well into the second half of next year. The initiative has a two-phase funding approach calling for business plan applications by the end of October. Companies with winning business petitions will receive $30,000 to further develop the business plan. Funds provided for the department’s pilot program are a far cry from the estimated cost of between $1.3 and $1.9 billion that the National Broadband Task Force estimated it would cost to provide high-speed access to every community in Canada (RoW, July 9/01). More details.
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Rogers Cable Inc. senior VP of sales, marketing and product development Alex Krstajic has joined the board of directors of ViXS Systems Inc., Toronto. Also at ViXS, Tim Zahavich has been appointed as CFO. Zahavich was most recently CFO of ComDev International, and brings more than 20 years of financial experience in the technology industry to the company. Industry observers guess that Krstajic’s appointment signals a new relationship between Rogers and ViXS, something ViXS will neither confirm nor deny. For further information, please see CNM affiliate publications Report on Wireless, Sept. 3/02, and Canadian Communications Reports, Aug. 29/02.
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Copyright Board extends date for private copying hearings Responding to a request by the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) for delayed hearings into the private copying tariff (CNM Update, Aug. 28/02), the Copyright Board of Canada has advanced the hearing date to January 21. Dates for the various stages stand as follows: Filing of CPCC’s case, Oct. 4/02; Filing of objectors’ cases, Nov. 22/02; Filing of CPCC’s supplementary case, Dec. 13/02; Hearings, Jan. 21/03 at 10:00 am. In rendering its ruling, the board noted that the CPCC will not push for retroactivity in any rate increases because of the delayed hearing date, but that the board may still rule that increases become effective on Jan. 1/03. Also in its ruling on the delayed hearing, the board says it "cannot provide assurances that it will allow some time to elapse between the date of its decision and the date on which any increase in the levy effectively comes into force. That issue can be addressed in the board’s final decision."
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Visitors to MuchMusic’s newly redesigned web site will notice crisper new graphics and improved navigability, but parent company CHUM Television officials say the upgrade has greater benefits on the back end.
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Both Canadian Heritage and Amazon.com intend to oppose a leave for judicial review in the matter of Amazon.ca’s entry to Canada, according to documents filed with the Federal Court of Canada. On August 2, the Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) and Indigo Books & Music Inc. jointly filed an application with the Federal Court of Canada for a judicial review of Heritage’s decision in July that the proposed Amazon.ca web service did not violate Canadian ownership provisions of the Investment Canada Act.
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Prince Edward Island’s digital and broadcast development agency has confirmed that it will fund the International New Media Festival to the tune of $100,000 this year, with the option of first refusal to do the same in the next five years. TechPEI says that, in return, the province expects greater national and international exposure for its burgeoning new media industry, including a new facility built specifically to attract film, television and new media business to the island.
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Internet service providers are guarded in their comments regarding a recently released federal paper on access by law officials to online communications. Both the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) and Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), which represent the majority of Internet providers in Canada, say they are examining the document, especially with an eye to understanding its implications for burdensome new costs. If implemented as is, new lawful access legislation could impose steep equipment costs on ISPs as it forces them to store communications or buy new equipment to allow new forms of digital wire-tapping.
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The second season of Degrassi: The Next Generation will be a make-or-break one for proving the value of its online corollary, says a senior executive with Snap Media Corp. VP Roma Khanna tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the Degrassi online site continues to grow and that it will be up to the show’s partners at the end of the second season to determine whether its sophisticated Internet site is proving worthwhile.
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