CNM Short Takes

To own or not? CBC respondsA sidebar article in the March 3 issue of CNM explored issues that arise from the relationship of Rick Mercer’s Monday Report producers Island Edge with the CBC. In response to that article, CBC New Media executive director Claude Galipeau writes: Your story implies that all of the online components of the web feature "Rick Mercer’s Monday Report" are owned outright by the CBC, and not at all by Island Edge. The legal and contractual complexities of online copyright related to co-produced television programs don’t lend themselves to such a simplistic conclusion. CBC licenses the television program Rick Mercer’s Monday Report from Island Edge Productions. As such, Island Edge owns the copyright to the television program. While the web feature cbc.ca/mondayreport is produced by CBC.ca staff, all of the clips, still images and content from the television program remain the property of Island Edge Productions. However, anything that is created by CBC.ca for the Monday Report web feature (done in collaboration with the Island Edge producers) remains the property of CBC. That said in this case, there would be no compelling web feature without the television content. It would be challenging to separate individual web components owned by an independent producer from CBC created content without express permission from both parties. Clearly, copyright issues become complicated when building web properties in this manner but it’s still an effective strategy in terms of costs, in terms of coordinated bi-media programming, and in terms of driving traffic. Of course, if any independent producer wants to produce web content, that producer is absolutely free to do so and CBC.ca often links to such properties. But Island Edge chose a different route in this case, preferring to have our own talented in-house web development team build and maintain the site. Working as an integrated team with the on-air production unit allows us to create programming with a common front for the online and TV audience. Having the web content reside inside CBC.ca’s architecture also allows us to drive a high amount of user traffic and achieve great web exposure for the program. Local signal regs amendedAn Order in Council will change the Copyright Act regulations by amending the definition of "local signal" to make it applicable to all retransmitters eligible for compulsory licences and by eliminating the special rule for wireless terrestrial retransmitters. The change renders the Act technologically neutral and is expected to be gazetted in early April. The change means the regulations will apply equally to direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV providers, cablecos and wireless cablecos to take advantage of the same royalty-free redistribution of local signals, and that some signals received by a DTH subscriber will be considered local signals where the subscriber lives within a broadcaster’s local market. Prior to the change, all signals delivered to a DTH subscriber were considered distant signals. On the subject of signal regulations, distributors are gearing up for a fight over the proposed tariffs for retransmission of distant radio and television signals for 2004 to 2008 filed by the relevant collectives last summer. The current discount on French signals in French-language markets would not apply to subscribers who receive one or more English-language signals or English-language specialty or pay television services on a discretionary basis, or who are served by a system that offers a basic service consisting of signals, or signals and specialty services, the majority of which are in the French language. A hearing on the proposed tariff won’t happen any earlier than spring 2005. The new tariff would also increase the tariff on distant signals by 42% to $1 per subscriber. Canadian government maximizes Internet potential Over 10 million Canadians visited a government entity via the Internet in January 2004. The study, conducted by comScore Media Metrix Canada, reports that this represents more than 60% of the online population and about 33% of the total Canadian population. They found that the highest usage and duration metrics were found in people aged 35 and up with a household income of under $60,000 and without children. It was also found that the Canadian government ranks higher than the United States, the United Kingdom, and France in the per cent of people reached online, average usage days per visitor, average minutes per visitor, and average pages per visitor. Millions flow into Canada’s research communityThe Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has invested $585.9 million into Canada’s research community to help support research infrastructure in areas such as health, the environment, nanotechnology, sustainable communities and the new knowledge economy. The support is for 126 projects at 57 Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other non-profit research institutions. Acadia University received $194,583 for The Acadia Digital Culture Observatory, which supports information and communication technologies research. The Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the Banff Centre for the Arts received $1,518,032, which will go to its digital studio of art and media and design. McMaster University received $353,651 for equipment for digital cinema research. Université du Québec en Outaouais got $511,785 for efficient processing of multimedia data, and the Université du Québec à Montréal received $1,022,808 for research into new textual and literary forms. Winnipeg multimedia firm to infiltrate European marketsWinnipeg’s multimedia firm KidsWebTv will receive $14,314 in funding from the Government of Canada to help it penetrate European markets. This money will also help the firm to participate in three trade shows in Europe. Financial assistance is provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Trade Routes program, which helps arts and cultural organizations increase their export capacity and sell internationally. Canadian NEW MEDIA will feature KidsWebTv in its upcoming issue. Games companies sent to industry BootcampNew Media BC will select 10 local games companies to participate in an E3 Bootcamp. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is the world’s definitive game industry conference, and takes place in Los Angeles every May. Industry veterans will run the selected companies through a series of mentoring sessions and hands-on workshops in the weeks leading up to the event. This is the first time such a boot camp has been offered and organizers expect it to showcase the best of British Columbia’s emerging talent in games development. New service provider already boasts impressive clientele listA new e-business service provider, called Fjord Interactive Marketing + Technology, has been formed through the combination of its Cossette Interactive and Proximi-T business units. The company already has 150 employees and says it "fills the gap in the market that no other single company has yet addressed." It offers services such as usability methods, design and production of promotional and corporate web sites, and content management. Its list of clients already includes McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint, Bell, and General Motors of Canada, among others. Internet boosts advertising campaignMolson Canada, through a joint research venture with the Canadian Media Optimization Study (CMOST), has found that using both television and the Internet in advertising campaigns results in an uplift of 48% in tagline association, 16% in key brand relevance metric, and 35% in event sponsorship association. Molson was the first company to participate with CMOST and now knows that incorporating the Internet within a multimedia campaign can be more effective then solely relying on television. Survey reveals entertainment, technology convergence trendsAn informal survey by Blast Radius in January found that 56% of participants believe that both traditional consumer electronics companies and technology companies will find equal success in the digital device market over the next five years. The survey was conducted at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, whose attendees were polled. It also found that 64% believe the cell phone to be the device that will lead the convergence of mobile computing. Kids Help Phone line evolvesStatistics from the Kids Help Phone show Canadian children are changing the way they use the organization’s counseling services. The group launched its online service in 2002, which allowed kids to pose questions over the Internet. Kids Help Phone is now extensively researching how Canadian kids want to communicate and how they can best meet their needs.

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | March 17, 2004

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