Canada’s largest south Asian broadcaster, Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN), has announced the launch of ATN Cricket Plus on Shaw Cable. The 24-hour premium specialty channel is dedicated to cricket, including World Cup coverage and the Indian Premier League. "We are very pleased to add ATN Cricket Plus on Shaw Cable in Vancouver," said Shan Chandrasekar, president and CEO of ATN, noting the strong demand for premium multicultural and sports channels in the city. Vancouver is home to over 260,000 residents of South Asian descent and some 750,000 people who are of British heritage – more than a million potential cricket lovers. ATN Cricket Plus has premiered major cricket events such as the World Cup in spring 2007, Twenty 20 World Cup in fall 2007 and it broadcast the following games live this year: New Zealand versus England Test series & ODIs; Pakistan versus Zimbabwe; and South Africa versus West Indies. It is currently broadcasting the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), whose world rights have fetched over US$1 billion for the BCCI.

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Research in Motion Ltd. inked two deals last week that demonstrate the company is continuing to expand into new markets and solidify the BlackBerry’s presence in the enterprise community. A deal with Brightpoint Inc. will help Waterloo ON-based RIM expand the geographic reach of its products into area such as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Brightpoint has more than 25,000 B2B channels around the world. Another deal will see RIM and SAP work together to bring enterprise applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) to BlackBerry users. The agreement is also significant in that existing SAP and BB users won’t have to spend a lot of money to get to the new service. "Organizations that already have the SAP CRM and the BlackBerry solutions deployed will require only basic user training and minimal incremental IT infrastructure investments," read a statement.

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StrataGen Systems, the transit business unit of DDS Wireless International, has secured the business of Los Angeles-based ASI. StrataGen will be the primary transit provider for ASI’s paratransport fleet – a contract work about $3.32 million.

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Octopz, a Toronto-based start-up that develops advanced online collaboration technologies for creative professionals won the Canadian Innovation Leader award at the inaugural Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX). Octopz was one of 20 of the country’s hottest innovation companies to present during a four-hour showcase at The Carlu in Toronto. The award winner was determined by a vote among attending delegates carried out via text message. "We are thrilled to win this award, which ideally positions us for the next phase of growth," said Ron McKenzie, CEO of Octopz Inc. MacKenzie swayed attending delegates with an impressive and polished presentation that described the platform’s ability to accelerate decision making and speed-to-market for companies in the advertising, design and media sectors. The award winner was determined by a vote among attending delegates carried out via text message. CIX was organized by three Canadian investors, Robert Montgomery, Sean Wise and Rick Nathan, who saw a void in the marketplace for events leading to funding opportunities and partnerships.

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Toronto-based High Fidelity HDTV won eight awards at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, the oldest independent film and video festival in the world. "We’re extremely proud of the work we do at High Fidelity HDTV Media Inc. It’s a great feeling when so many of your programs are so well received by international reviewers", says Director of Production Craig Colby. "For a relatively new production company, receiving a Special Jury Award, two Platinum Remis and a Gold Remi is an especially big deal." The 41st edition of the yearly festival was held April 11 to 20th of this year. The all-HD broadcaster won: a Special Jury Award for Hubble’s Canvas; Platinum Remi’s for Motivated! and My Oasis interstitials; a Gold Remi for Festival Bound; Silver Remi’s for Oasis Earth, Pit Crews and Ultimate Dream Day; and a Bronze Remi for My Rush interstitials.

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