CNM Update

Telus confirms Puretracks partnershipA story in the National Post today confirms that telco and ISP Telus Corp. has established a partnership with the music download service Puretracks.com, as reported by Canadian NEW MEDIA in October (CNM, Oct. 22/03). Telus did not provide further details, but the service on MyTelus.com is operational. Puretracks is operated by Toronto-based Moon Taxi Media. Moon Taxi president Alistair Mitchell has told CNM that he will be seeking other such deals in the near future for white label service provision. Deals such as these will be crucial to tie up the Canadian market before entry by deep-pocketed services such as Apple Corp.’s iTunes offering.iCraveTV founder Bill Craig buys PrideVision TVBill Craig, the controversial entrepreneur who founded iCraveTV in 1999, has announced that he will buy the struggling PrideVision TV digital specialty channel from Headline Media Group Inc. for $2.6 million. Headline will maintain a 10% stake in the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual channel. The deal is subject to CRTC approval. Craig’s iCraveTV venture paved the way for JumpTV to make an Internet retransmission bid in 2000 – a battle that was only resolved this spring when the federal government finally put into force Bill C-11, which bans retransmission of over-the-air television signals via the Internet without the approval of copyright holders (CNM, Dec. 11/02). Further details will follow in an upcoming issue of Canadian NEW MEDIA.Private copying levy to be revealed December 12The Copyright Board of Canada will release its decision on the private copying tariff this Friday, December 12, at 10 a.m. At that time, makers of such recordable media as smart cards, MP3 players and other devices, and other non-CD digital storage media manufacturers and sellers will know what, if any, levy will be applied to their products. The decision has been greatly anticipated since a hearing on the matter in February (CNM, March 6/03). Music rightsholders have argued that levies on blank CDs should be increased, and further applied to a broad new range of media.No DMCA in Canada, says PIACThe Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre has released a new report, The Consumer’s View of Copyright. The report argues that copyright reform will affect a broad number of users, and examines the role of copyright in the digital age. The report’s author, Sue Lott, concludes with the recommendations that Ottawa shouldn’t model Canada’s copyright reform on the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, that the government shouldn’t proceed with legal protection for technological measure, that an expanded fair dealing provision of the Copyright Act is needed, and that the term of protection for unpublished works should not be extended. The full report is available at http://www.piac.ca/.Web site offers users the Winning EdgeA Toronto-based company, Winners Edge Info Services, is offering “highest probability” lotto numbers on a new web site. The site is based on a statistically based algorithm that company officials say has predicted 12 jackpot-winning tickets in nine lotteries across North America since November 1. Says company president Bill Samagalsky in a media release: “All odds claims are verifiable and can be viewed on our ‘Show Me’ page. Our system uses a unique statistics-based formula. Winners Edge odds advantages are math-driven, proven and published."New digital distribution service promises legitimate peer tradingSoftware house ANNO 2003 has debuted a new system called Payshare that allows original content owners to register their product and then make the product available online. Customers buy the product, and have the option to register with Payshare as co-publishers. Co-publishers then re-distribute the content, taking a piece of the retail price. ANNO sales director Norbert Boehnke says in a press release: “Payshare undermines traditional distribution models. Anyone – from home movie makers to unsigned bands or established artists – can sell their content digitally, at no risk of piracy and with a higher profit margin. Traditional music labels or movie distributors suddenly have little value to offer.”

CNM Update

Broadcast | December 11, 2003

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