CNM Short Takes

Musicrypt edges toward profitabilityToronto digital music distribution firm Musicrypt Inc. recently released its financial statement for the first half of 2005, ending June 30. The firm is still in the red with a net loss of nearly $800,000, but that’s a considerable improvement on the $1.4 million loss it reported last year during the same six-month period. Revenue grew during the half as well, soaring more than 300% from a paltry $32,000 in 2004 to $150,000 this year. Musicrypt’s service is used for secure delivery of digital audio content by radio stations, music studios and other entertainment and broadcasting industry applications. Mainframe makes less in Q1 2006Animation house Mainframe Entertainment Inc. reported that although it grew its revenues by 14% year-over-year in its first quarter of 2006, higher production costs ate into the top line and led to a more than 40% drop in gross profit. The Vancouver firm, which has produced such notable content as ReBoot and Beast Wars, brought in $4.7 million in revenue for the first quarter of its 2006 fiscal year, up from $4.1 million in the same quarter of 2005. However, gross profit dropped from $1.4 million to $827,000 year-over-year, and EBITDA weighed in at $269,000, down from $710,000. The future looks somewhat rosier, according to the company: the higher production costs are due to an increased number of active productions in the works, and "the benefits of these active productions will be evident in following quarters as the Company completes and enters into new distribution contracts on proprietary projects," a press release states. Chalk one up for more moneyChalk Media Corp., a Vancouver-based producer and distributor of interactive digital content catering to the educational and do-it-yourself markets, announced it has raised nearly $1 million in funding, and is looking to drum up another $1 million through a private placement warrant offering. The firm offers video production, web development, Flash animation and instructional design expertise and services to a variety of clientele, including Bell Canada, Future Shop, Microsoft, and RBC Financial. GPS partners with Party PokerSurrey BC’s GPS Industries has entered into a joint marketing program with Party Gaming PLC’s Party Poker division to bring two great games together: golf and poker. Gibraltar UK-based Party Poker will promote an online poker tournament through the Canadian firm’s global positioning system (GPS) Wi-Fi handsets and cart-mounted units at 15 courses representing approximately 20,000 golfers. In return, GPS Industries will get a fee for every player who signs up for the tournament through the handsets; Party Poker will also distribute promotional material such as ball markers and tees, as well as provide $50 worth of credit to each new registrant’s account opened with $50 or more in it. GPS Industries’ handsets provide players with such on-the-course information as yardage to the hole, leader boards and more, and are used by a total of 80,000 golfers at courses in Canada, the United States, Australia, Spain, France, Scotland, and South Africa. SAT starts fall season with partySeptember 1 marks the launch of the fall season at Montreal’s Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), "a transdisciplinary centre dedicated to the creation, dissemination and conservation of digital culture," according to the group’s website. To mark the event, SAT is holding an evening of electronic music and visuals at its space at 1195 boulevard Saint-Laurent. SAT’s operations include an art, science and industry liaison office, a 10,000-square foot installation space that can be rented by artists, an international program aimed at publicizing and showcasing the work of Quebec artists, research into content over IP networks, a production studio, and more. Pearl Jam offers ‘digital bootlegs’Sony BMG Music will offer professionally recorded sets from Seattle rock band Pearl Jam’s upcoming Canadian tour in a rather novel format: hours after the end of each of the band’s 15 Canadian concerts, a "digital bootleg," as the band is calling them, will be available for download for $9.99 each. The files will be encoded at the relatively high bit rate of 192k, and will be free of all digital rights management – the band is encouraging fans to freely transfer their music to portable devices or burn it to disc for their own enjoyment. In addition to concerts from Pearl Jam’s Canadian tour, which kicks off September 2 in Vancouver, Sony BMG Music will also have several U.S. dates available. Québec new media on the world stageAlliance numériQC thinks there is demand for its members’ talents and products in the international wireless market, and is looking to capitalize on it. The organization is bringing a delegation it calls "Mission Québec Mobile Entertainment" to two separate wireless industry events in San Francisco in late September. The eighth annual Mobile Entertainment Summit, to be held at the Nob Hill Masonic Center from September 26 to 29, will be attended by approximately 2,000 members of the wireless content industry, including developers, distributors, editors and network operators. Alliance numériQC is offering a package deal for members and non-members alike that includes admission to all conference sessions and networking events, strategic information on attendees, and the possibility of linking up with investors through private pitch meetings. The second event, CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2005, will take place at the Moscone West Convention Centre and bring together constituents of both the enterprise and entertainment worlds of wireless data, covering vertical and horizontal enterprise data integration, mobile content, gaming, and more. Alliance numériQC is still talking with the conference’s organizers to try and secure preferable pricing for its members. Parties interested in taking part in Mission Québec Mobile Entertainment have until September 7 to sign up with Alliance numériQC. Satellite radio hardware comes to CanadaCross-border shoppers rejoice: a new retail partnership announced August 26 between Canadian Satellite Radio and Best Buy and Future Shop means retail sale of pre-paid satellite radio subscription cards will now be available in Canada. Best Buy’s U.S. stores have been selling the service for nearly two years now. (For more on satellite radio in Canada, see this issue’s cover story.) TV/web host launches web siteQuébécois television and online personality François Charron has launched his own web site at http://www.francoischarron.com/, which offers links to such interactive content as Flash animation games and RealPlayer videos, as well as roundups of technology-related news and gadgets. Charron is a contributor to Salut Bonjour on Quebecor Media Inc.’s TVA network. ATI announces digital photo competitionMarkham ON’s ATI Technologies Inc. recently announced a contest dubbed "Snap! Share! Win!" for digital photographers and music videographers aged 13 or older. Entries will be judged by a panel that includes rock music photographer Catherine Carter and fashion photographer Robert Maxwell – the best entry will garner the grand prize of a $5,000 digital imaging system consisting of a Dell XPS Gen 5 desktop computer with a 24-inch flat-panel display, a Canon Optura digital video camera, Kodak EasyShare camera and printer, and Adobe Photoshop software. The contest is open until September 23, and more details can be found at http://www.ati.com/snapsharewin. MIXX it up in New YorkThe Internet Advertising Bureau and Adweek Magazines are launching the Mixx Awards For Marketing and Interactive Excellence during the Mixx 2005 interactive advertising conference and expo at the Millennium Broadway Hotel, New York. With judges from IBM, Colgate Palmolive, Microsoft and TD Waterhouse, the Mixx Awards will recognize winning strategies and fresh thinking in the up-and-coming medium of interactive marketing and advertising. (For more on interactive advertising see the digital signage story on p. 3.) Matrix cards enable content to goSanta Clara, CA’s Matrix Semiconductor Inc. introduced its miniSD memory cards for mobile devices, a product line that provides "a cost-effective, programmable, permanent, non-volatile memory used in publishing content for mobile devices," according to a press release. The Matrix miniSD cards are currently being tested in 16 MB and 32 MB storage capacities, with larger 64 MB and 128 MB versions to be available by the end of the third quarter and volume shipping for all models available by the end of 2005. "Primary applications for the miniSD cards include pre-recorded games, audio, and video for...enabled handsets," said Matrix Semiconductor VP of sales and marketing Dan Steere. Industry research shows that the number of mobile phones equipped with memory card expansion slots will more than double from 2004 numbers by year’s-end, and the miniSD format will hold about a 30% market share.

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | September 2, 2005

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