Ascalade Communications Inc. will seek protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Richmond BC-based maker of telecommunications gear announced today.

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The social music service for mobile and web users, Social.FM, has announced an agreement to have mobile distributor Handmark market and deliver Social.FM through its global channels. As a result of the partnership, wireless users in Canada, the US and Europe will have access to an immersive social music experience directly from their mobile devices. "Handmark is a recognized leader in applications and services for a mobile generation, so it makes sense that Social.FM chose Handmark as our mobile application partner," said Srivats Sampath, president and CEO of Social.FM. "Within the next several months, we shall release a series of innovative social media services that will fundamentally transform the way that wireless customers discover, enjoy and share social media on their advanced multimedia handsets."

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Centennial College in Toronto announced on February 28 it was launching Canada’s first comprehensive sports journalism program, which will cover print, broadcast, online and multimedia reporting in one intensive year. "Journalism programs in Canada have ignored sports to a large degree," says Malcolm Kelly, coordinator of the program. "Sports reporting goes beyond the box scores to convey the context, the culture and the history of the athletes and their accomplishments." Students will learn interviewing, beat reporting, sports history and culture, the business of sports, and statistics and sports imaging. They will also be assigned a six-week job placement as part of their program, working at a Toronto-area sports media outlet. The college is taking applications now for the January 2009 start date.

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On February 29 the Copyright Board of Canada denied the application by copyright collectives the Audio-Visual Licensing Agency Inc. (AVLA) and the Société de gestion collective des droits des producteurs de phonogrammes et de vidéogrammes du Québec (SOPROQ) for an interim radio reproduction tariff. The collectives, which represent the record labels, were seeking an interim payment to be put in place pending the board’s final decision on the labels’ proposal to collect royalties from private radio stations for reproducing sound recordings. In light of the denial, the board will now hold a consolidated proceeding for all pending radio tariffs for 2008. To read the board’s decision, click here.

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On February 29 the Copyright Board of Canada denied the application by copyright collectives the Audio-Visual Licensing Agency Inc. (AVLA) and the Société de gestion collective des droits des producteurs de phonogrammes et de vidéogrammes du Québec (SOPROQ) for an interim radio reproduction tariff. The collectives, which represent the record labels, were seeking an interim payment to be put in place pending the board’s final decision on the labels’ proposal to collect royalties from private radio stations for reproducing sound recordings. In light of the denial, the board will now hold a consolidated proceeding for all pending radio tariffs for 2008. To read the board’s decision, click here.

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