ARTV makes its mark on Canadian specialty landscape

Media | 05/03/2007 8:41 pm EDT

The French-language specialty service ARTV, which marked its fifth anniversary last year, is getting its feet firmly planted in TV land according to CEO Marie Côté. The arts-focused specialty channel has doubled its market share from 0.7% last year to 1.4% today."It is an exceptional number for a cultural channel given the competition from other...

Finding a way out of creative business frustrations at FITC

Media | 05/03/2007 2:34 pm EDT

Technical imitations, new technologies and competition plague new media workers and threaten to stifle their creativity. But at the 2007 Flash in the Can (FITC) Design and Technology Festival, the message was reassuring: limitations can be overcome, new technologies should be celebrated and, with a revamped business stream,...

CTV ponies up again in Phase III

Media | 05/02/2007 7:46 pm EDT

CTV Inc. defused some of the criticism of its bid to buy CHUM Ltd. this morning by agreeing to increase by 50% the benefits it will have to pay for acquiring the CityTV chain of stations.Related storiesCTV sweetens offer to sell regulators on CHUM dealFriends in high places: CTV replies to interventionsCTV/CHUM deal "would destroy" common...

CTV sweetens offer to sell regulators on CHUM deal

Media | 05/01/2007 2:05 pm EDT

Perhaps sensing it was in for a knock-down fight from the CRTC in its bid to acquire CHUM Ltd., CTV Inc. sweetened its offer as hearings into the proposal began."We pledge that there will be zero overlap - that's zero - between any CTV station and any CHUM station," CTV Inc. president Rick Brace told the commission yesterday. As the...

Ontario’s alerting system a collaborative effort

Media | 04/30/2007 8:00 pm EDT

After years of debate over exactly how broadcast-based emergency alert services should be executed, it seems that the necessary players have finally realized that a collaborative approach is best. Dan Hefky, chief of Emergency Management Ontario says he's thrilled to have so many parties - including the Ontario government and the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB) - swimming in the same direction on this initiative. "This issue of public alerting has been around for a while, so for me to now work in partnership with the private sector on finding something that will push this thing forward is a dream come true," says Hefky. "This cannot be a singular sector solution, there have to be partnerships and that's why I applaud all of the work and effort that the OAB...

Shaw sponsors USA Network’s contentious bid to return to Canada

Media | 04/27/2007 8:04 pm EDT

After nearly two decades' absence, New York-based USA Network is once again being considered for distribution in Canada. It seems that little has changed over the years, however, with the application proving as contentious as ever.In its January 24 application sponsoring the network - one of the largest cable networks...

Back to the future for nextMEDIA’s pitch contest

Media | 04/25/2007 7:29 pm EDT

Achilles Media Ltd.'s nextMEDIA returns this year with another pitch competition for new media producers. Interestingly, while many in the industry hype mobile devices, game consoles and other platforms as the next revolution in interactive content, the competition's creators have decided to stick with a relatively tried-and-true medium."We...

How diverse is broadcast diversity really?

Media | 04/25/2007 4:20 pm EDT

Perhaps unable to find an appropriate synonym, deep within the public hearing notice for the CRTC's Diversity of Voices Proceeding (Notice of Public Hearing 2007-5) the commission raises the question of diversity within our broadcast system. To clear up the confusion, the first refers strictly to the number of representatives within our broadcast...

Friends in high places: CTV replies to interventions

Media | 04/24/2007 1:44 pm EDT

"There is no question that Canada needs strong companies with the critical mass, financial stability and intellectual capital to compete in a rapidly changing digital environment....I don't believe that consolidation in traditional media creates less choice in content or in editorial perspective." - Don Tapscott, chief executive at think...

Canada New Media Fund faces five-year review

Media | 04/23/2007 2:19 pm EDT

The Canada New Media Fund is up for review by the Department of Canadian Heritage this summer, the first such review since its inception nearly six years ago - a veritable eternity in the fast-paced world of interactive and digital content."You can imagine that what were great ideas back in 2001 just don't line up to the reality of the industry...

Police arrest alleged satellite sneak in Quebec

Media | 04/20/2007 1:21 pm EDT

The RCMP have arrested a man from Quebec's Eastern Townships for the alleged theft of satellite signals and possession of equipment that could be used for the purpose. The arrest caps a three-year investigation that relied on help from movie distributors, government regulators and Bell ExpressVu, reportedly one of the most popular satellite...

CTV/CHUM deal “would destroy” common ownership policy: Morrison

Media | 04/19/2007 2:05 pm EDT

Those concerned that regulatory approval of the recent spate of acquisitions in Canada's broadcasting industry will lead to homogeneity in broadcasting have been given an opportunity by the CRTC to speak out.However, the fact that Notice of Public Hearing CRTC 2007-5 - also known as the Diversity of Voices Proceeding -...

March madness: 3,000% jump in users at BlogTV.ca

Media | 04/19/2007 1:26 pm EDT

March was a make-it-or-break-it month for BlogTV.ca, the video blogging site Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. launched last year. By all accounts, says Alliance's senior VP of digital media Claude Galipeau, the service has made it."We started our marketing campaign on March 5, [when] we had 480 subscribers in our beta," Galipeau says,...

DMAA awards back after a half-decade hiatus

Media | 04/18/2007 1:28 pm EDT

After a five-year hiatus, the Digital Media Association of Alberta (DMAA)'s New Media Awards are back and "mediaFRESH."The provincial new media association has relaunched its annual industry recognition event under the above moniker, which is "designed to capture the essence of vibrancy and innovation in the Alberta (New Media) industry," says awards chair and DMAA director Bryan Traynor. "It's also a fresh approach to the marketing and communication."Traynor regards the resurrection of the awards as a rebirth, re-sprouting, and reseeding - appropriate themes for springtime - but also he also says it takes into consideration the dynamic nature of this ever-changing industry. "It's a new house that's being built [today] so you have to go...

Hearings on revised SOCAN Tariff 22 kick off

Media | 04/17/2007 9:25 pm EDT

Perhaps emboldened by the Copyright Board of Canada's decision last month on a similar tariff filing, opponents of the revised Tariff 22 advanced by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) slammed the new application as out of touch with market realities and pressed the board to reject the application as it currently...

Vortex centres on game design this year – and offers freebies for newbies

Media | 04/16/2007 9:10 pm EDT

The downside to most pitching competitions is that usually there's only one real winner. One of the good things about the Vortex 2007 pitching competition is that many people can come out winners, with several coaching sessions open not just to pitch hopefuls but to the general public at large - including one this...

Take the Charter challenge with the Fundamental Freedoms Project

Media | 04/16/2007 9:07 pm EDT

The Fundamental Freedoms Project celebrates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms on-air and online. In 1982, one of the most important documents in Canadian history was born. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides the framework for the free and democratic society we enjoy today. The Charter celebrates its 25th...

ICE 07’s pair of pitch winners markedly different

Media | 04/16/2007 12:35 pm EDT

The first-place winners of two competitions at last month's ICE 07 are about as disparate as they come in terms of their projects. Neither are newbies to pitching, producing and putting in long hours, however.Jarrett Sherman, owner of Miracle Pictures, cut his teeth at TVOntario's TVOKids division, including a lengthy stint as writer and...

Astral’s Standard acquisition the right move, could trigger more radio deals

Media | 04/13/2007 7:42 pm EDT

Canadian media companies seem determined to get deals done before the CRTC reviews questions of ownership concentration and diversity of voices later this year. The most recent big-ticket purchase is Astral Media Inc.'s $1.08-billion offer for Standard Radio Inc., announced yesterday."Today, we're announcing the birth of a new national leader in Canadian radio, a leader that will be the largest and best group of radio stations in Canada, a radio group with revenues in excess of $325 million coming from stations located in all regions of our country and covering every metropolitan market in Canada," said Astral president and CEO Ian Greenberg during a conference call...

Bell Fund internship program seeks ‘hustlers’

Media | 04/13/2007 10:40 am EDT

Coinciding with its 10th anniversary, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund unveiled a $50,000 national internship program last week. In what it hopes will continue as an annual initiative, the Bell Fund is reaching out to industry newcomers for the first time in an attempt to develop the industry from the bottom up."[This program] comes out of...

Art meets applications in OCAD’s Portage project

Media | 04/11/2007 10:30 am EDT

The transformation of the mobile phone from a voice communication tool to a handheld media device moved a step closer in March when the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) received key government funding for its Portage initiative.The program was borne from the Mobile Digital Commons Network, a collaborative research...

“We just need to be more confident”: CBC Sports’ Moore

Media | 04/10/2007 7:16 pm EDT

When he was named executive director of CBC Sports last month, former Rogers Sportsnet head of production Scott Moore knew the action would be thick and furious. The following is an edited transcript of the interview Canadian Communications Reports contributor Norma Reveler conducted with Moore shortly after he took up his...

Canadian know-how very much in evidence at International Emmys

Media | 04/10/2007 12:48 pm EDT

With only three categories for interactive television, the International Emmy Awards probably aren't the highest-profile industry event for Canadian new media firms. Nonetheless, it's quite a coup that four Canadian companies have been selected as finalists for this year's awards, with three of four nominees in...

Rogers to pay $137.5M for select CHUM assets

Media | 04/09/2007 1:51 pm EDT

CTV globemedia may have finally found a way around a thorny problem looming over its proposed acquisition of CHUM Ltd.: too many stations in select markets. Today, Rogers Communications Inc. announced it will pay $137.5 million in cash for 10 of CHUM's television assets, both conventional and specialty.The services being acquired by Rogers include...

Power to the people, ICE 07 panels exhort

Media | 04/05/2007 6:07 pm EDT

Even before Time Magazine collectively named all of us Man of the Year for 2006, the "you" media space was becoming a much-analyzed landscape for executives working within the online and mobile mediums. Delegates at last month's ICE 07 conference in Toronto explored how tethered and mobile technologies are enabling average people to log...

Regional ad losses offset by national gains: ACA

Media | 04/05/2007 10:46 am EDT

While time-shifting and on-demand programming are changing the way Canadians watch television, these personalized viewing options are also altering the economic structure for Canada's small-market broadcasters.As time-shifting gives Canadians greater choice as to when they watch their favourite TV shows, more eyeballs are watching out-of-market...

MMOGs for tots and ‘tweens: paying for the next big thing

Media | 04/04/2007 7:26 pm EDT

Just like everyone else in the gaming industry, execs in children's entertainment are looking to recreate the success of massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) such as World of Warcraft. But the creators of kid and ‘tween products recognize the rules need to be changed for MMOGs to resonate with the Internet's...

BDUs bite back at digital 9(1)(h) hopefuls

Media | 04/04/2007 12:10 pm EDT

After the CRTC heard cases for mandatory carriage on digital cable by both existing and proposed specialty services last week, it was the BDUs' turn - and they presented a unified front in condemning all applications.At issue during the hearing was whether or not section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act, which essentially gives the commission the power to earmark services deemed to be of exceptional importance to Canadian audiences and the broadcast industry for mandatory carriage on the basic tier, has served its purpose and shouldn't be extended to services in the digital cable distribution world.The BDUs appearing sought to hammer home three main points in their arguments: according such treatment is contrary to fostering increased competition, consumer choice, and a...

Shaky future, fierce debate at Canadian Music Week

Media | 04/03/2007 10:11 am EDT

The recent 2007 Canadian Music Week conference organized by Rogers Wireless featured several sessions on the digital future of the music industry and the Byzantine intricacies of digital rights management (DRM). As can be expected with such contentious issues, a diverse array of viewpoints and voices was also very much in effect.Monetizing consumer...

CBC Sports, Part 2: “Aggressive and innovative” the way forward

Media | 04/03/2007 10:10 am EDT

As the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. gears up to re-establish itself as a force in Canadian sports programming, the public broadcaster aims to "be more aggressive, more innovative and to use new technology."RELATED LINKS Part I of this storyCBC keeps weekend hockey for another six years Scott Moore, the recently...

Recent financials make case for carriage fee, broadcasters say

Media | 04/02/2007 8:38 pm EDT

The CRTC's recent financial report card on the conventional television industry portrays a sector in a protracted decline and in urgent need of regulatory intervention, according to some of the broadcasters included in the report.The document, titled Television - Statistical and Financial Summaries 2002-2006, was...

One tariff down, one to go for online music

Media | 04/02/2007 1:43 pm EDT

It is said that a good compromise lies in having both parties complain about the outcome. The tariff for online music services set this month by the Copyright Board of Canada may have struck that balance: representatives of both the rightsholder groups and the digital music retailers tell Canadian NEW MEDIA they have issues with the ruling.The tariff...

HeadGames aims to give game firms a head start on deadlines

Media | 03/30/2007 10:15 am EDT

An Ottawa firm hopes to be the outsourcing provider of choice for the Canadian videogame industry with a new business aimed at time- and resource-starved developers. "The game industry is...traditionally not strong with process, strong with tool use, strong with serious development," says bitHeads Inc. president, CEO and co-founder Scott Simpson, on the phone from San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference. His firm was rolling out its new HeadGames business unit at the event, which ran from March 5 to 8.The company isn't necessarily looking to replace full-time workers, Simpson adds, but rather allow companies to augment their staff with outside specialists. "In a lot of cases we're basically working side-by-side with the company's own application...

CBC Sports, Part I: new blood brings new hopes

Media | 03/29/2007 10:14 am EDT

Don't count the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. out of sports yet. The public broadcaster will become more aggressive in bidding on professional sports properties where and when it makes sense, says newly appointed executive director of CBC Sports Scott Moore. And inking a six-year extension with the National Hockey League for rights past the 2007-08...

Coppola scion offers insight, humour at ICE 07

Media | 03/29/2007 10:09 am EDT

As might be expected, the conference put on by the former New Media Business Alliance earlier this month featured a number of sessions on all things financing-related.On the final day of Interactive Ontario's ICE 07 event, some serious insight - and an unintentional moment of light-hearted humour - was provided by Christopher Coppola, nephew of...

Social networking, wireless applications catching VCs’ attention

Media | 03/28/2007 3:06 pm EDT

Content is king in the eyes of Canada's venture capital (VC) firms. According to two of the country's top VC companies, social networking and wireless applications are the current trends garnering the most investment.David McCarthy, the managing director of BCE Capital's Ottawa branch, says that social...

Newcomers, old hands vie for digital basic carriage

Media | 03/28/2007 2:40 pm EDT

CRTC hearings convened on Tuesday in Gatineau QC to decide whether the must-carry status some specialty channels have enjoyed in the analog world will continue on into the digital future.While the majority of services applying for digital basic carriage on digital distribution systems are going concerns that have been included as part of Canadians'...

Law firm merger creates powerhouse communications practice

Media | 03/27/2007 4:00 am EDT

Consolidation is a fact of life in Canada's telecommunications landscape, not just among big service providers but also the companies that support them. On March 12, Ottawa legal boutique Johnston & Buchan LLP announced it would merge with Toronto-headquartered Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.On April 1, Johnston...

Conventional media urged to change channels at ICE 07

Media | 03/26/2007 8:38 pm EDT

The organization formerly known as the New Media Business Alliance - now Interactive Ontario as of March 21 - presented a two-part session at last week's ICE 07 event seemingly aimed at helping old-media broadcasters embrace the upside of letting go of total control over their content. The first panel in the series, titled "Alternate channels...

CBC keeps weekend hockey for another six years

Media | 03/26/2007 7:08 pm EDT

In the battle for the right to televise National Hockey League games on the weekend, the public sector has emerged victorious.Executive VP of CBC Television Richard Stursberg and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced a new agreement in Toronto today that will see the CBC retain broadcast rights to NHL games in English Canada through to the 2013-2014...

Insight and Data

Media | 03/26/2007 4:00 am EDT

Editorial roundtable with Ciel Satellite Group: Decima Reports sat down with Dave Lewis, president and CEO, Scott Gibson, VP and general counsel, and Gerry Wall, VP of regulatory affairs, to talk about the upstart satellite operator, the changing competitive landscape and the reasons it will succeed in the market. Editorial roundtable with Ken Engelhart, VP of regulatory affairs with Rogers Communications: he...

Approval of emergency alert services may not lead to immediate rollouts

Media | 03/16/2007 4:00 am EDT

Although the CRTC recently proposed amending the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to facilitate broadcast-based emergency alert services, and even encouraged some broadcasters and BDUs to begin implementing those services, it’s hard to say when and in what form they might appear.In any event, Canadians expecting an emergency alert service from Weather Network and Météomédia parent company Pelmorex Communications Inc. – perhaps the most obvious provider of such a service, and an early favourite judging by first-round interventions – likely shouldn’t hold their breath. "It’s just not clear to us what, if anything, is going to happen," says Paul Temple, Pelmorex’s...

New services shouldn’t fall under digital migration policy, CRTC told

Media | 03/16/2007 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC appears to have confounded many in the industry with its upcoming public hearing examining which services should get mandatory carriage in the digital environment.Notice of Public Hearing 2007-1 is an omnibus proceeding, the television aspects of which are partly devoted to how current dual-status specialty...

Honey, we shrunk the kids’ programming industry

Media | 03/16/2007 4:00 am EDT

Turn the dial to CBC or TVOntario during the weekday, or specialty services such as YTV and Treehouse any time, and you might be convinced that Canada’s children’s programming industry is healthier than ever. But according to a panel at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s (CFTPA) Prime Time conference last month, the picture...

Use on-demand strategically: Prime Time panel

Media | 03/16/2007 4:00 am EDT

At the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s Prime Time conference in Ottawa last month, a panel session titled "Conventional & Specialty Broadcasting: Still Viable in an On-Demand World?" explored whether on-demand video services are competitive with or complementary to linear broadcasting.For many, on-demand means...

Grab kids growing up digital: Nordicity

Media | 03/16/2007 4:00 am EDT

The Nordicity Group recently released a report on the future of children’s programming. In the section dealing with the current state of the industry, an excerpt from which appears below, Nordicity argues that the genre is the perfect vehicle for reaching younger demographics in the on-demand, multi-platform era.This report will argue that...

CCR Editorial — March 16, 2007

Media | 03/16/2007 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC had much to consider when pondering how best to implement emergency alert services in Canada. But by falling into lockstep with its move away from heavy-handed regulation, the commission may have neglected the interests of ordinary Canadian citizens.Emergency alerts have the potential to save lives, and as Rogers’ Ken Engelhart pointed out, implementing them is more an issue of public service than of competition. However, during the public process for emergency alert services the BDUs overwhelmingly opposed the notion of a mandatory alert system, while intervening alert providers favoured a single, compulsory service for the whole country. With all due respect to the intentions of our BDUs, it’s hard to believe they’re as interested – or knowledgeable – in ensuring the...

Will Copyright Board agree to hear CPCC’s new MP3 levy request?

Media | 03/09/2007 5:00 am EST

Last month, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) announced a return to a path it’s been down before: the group, which gathers levies on blank media and pools the funds for distribution to musical rightsholders, filed a tariff application with the Copyright Board of Canada proposing levies of up to $10 on flash...

NMBA’s “Son of iSummit” promises to be a blockbuster sequel

Media | 03/09/2007 5:00 am EST

Ontario’s New Business Media Alliance is marking a coming-of-age for its annual event, now in its second year, with a new venue, a different approach to agenda-building, and a name change from the once-used iSummit to Interactive Content Exchange 2007 (ICE 07)."Rebranding the event this year gave us another...

iPhone makes the right connection with the Mac user community

Media | 03/09/2007 5:00 am EST

After a somewhat tumultuous launch fraught with the threat of trademark infringement lawsuits, Apple Inc.’s iPhone appears to be on a relatively smooth course for deployment later this year.According to Decima Research, Canadian NEW MEDIA’s parent company, awareness of the new device is very high among Canadians. A poll...

Newsmakers: UK’s Ofcom proposes new media agency

Media | 03/09/2007 5:00 am EST

Earlier this year, the UK’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) followed up a 2005 review of "public service broadcasters," or PSBs – roughly equivalent to Canadian over-the-air broadcasters – with another process looking for input on how PSBs can best work with the new media community.As part of that consultation, Ofcom has put forward an...

CNM Editorial — March 9, 2007

Media | 03/09/2007 5:00 am EST

As hard a subject as it is to fathom at times, copyright is at the heart of all media, including new media.There are numerous aspects of copyright legislation and policy that directly affect producers – ownership rights, user rights, derivative works, et cetera – and some that, on first glance, may not seem so obvious. The levy on blank recordable...

Prime Time panel studies consolidation from all angles

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

It was a decision made nearly eight years ago, but the reverberations are clearly still being felt today. In a session titled "Consolidation in the Canadian Broadcasting System: What are the Policy Implications?" at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s Prime Time annual conference last week,...

Shaw, Péladeau retreat, Barrett advances

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

Over the past two weeks, the battle over the Canadian Television Fund has shifted from press conferences to Parliamentary committee hearings. Since February 12, when Québecor Inc. head Pierre Karl Péladeau announced his plan to make the Québecor Fund the alternate destination for CTF contributions made by his firm’s Vidéotron ltée cable unit, the...

Telus slams OTA consent clause in mobile TV order

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

A new exemption order aimed at distinguishing between wireless telco-based mobile video services and yet-to-launch mobile TV services has some wireless network operators upset over its unique take on the broadcast retransmission regime, while others are indifferent.  "There’s a fundamental difference between the rights that [over-the-air]...

Room for more than two at the top, says competitive satellite provider

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

While the CRTC is pushing broadcasters and BDUs towards high-definition programming as fast as they can go, the ability of satellite providers to deliver the bandwidth necessary for the HD transition will be pushed to its limits very soon. Not surprising, then, that the CRTC and Industry Canada are hoping to foster competition in the provisioning of satellite-based bandwidth. But with one entrenched firm currently holding the vast majority of orbital real estate – and the considerable barriers to entry in the satellite space – that might be a Herculean task. Nevertheless, Ciel Satellite LP CEO and president Dave Lewis says his firm is up to the challenge."Certainly, we’re new,...

Cable subscriber fees try to balance viewer wants and broadcaster needs

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

With great programming and increased channels comes even greater subscription fees, or so it might seem to the average Canadian consumer. Digital cable, DTH, video-on-demand, pay channels, and pay-per-view are only a handful of choices now available to viewers, but there is an ever-growing number of unregulated options to...

Newsmakers: Interpreting Broadcasting Act for the digital era is key, von Finckenstein says

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

At the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s Prime Time 2007 conference last week, new CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein outlined the principles that will govern his five-year term in the position, as well as the challenges he will have to deal with during that period. Below is an...

CCR Editorial

Media | 03/01/2007 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Television Fund is a lynchpin of TV broadcasting in Canada. Not only does it provide capital for homegrown productions, it’s also an important part of the business plans of BDUs and broadcasters alike.That’s why the Shaw/Vidéotron "rebellion" is so worrisome. While recent pronouncements from Heritage Minister Bev Oda and new CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein have stilled the waters somewhat,...

Devices, and not the memory within, are digital audio recorders: CPCC

Media | 02/21/2007 5:00 am EST

In its 2008-2008 private copying tariff application, the Canadian Private Copying Collective asks for a levy on digital audio recording devices such as MP3 players to be reinstated. The CPCC collected nearly $4 million under such a levy until December 2004, when the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Copyright Board of...

CNM Editorial

Media | 02/21/2007 5:00 am EST

The CRTC’s latest foray into making rules for new media is a head-scratcher from the get-go.The most obvious question when reading the commission’s analyses and determinations in Public Notice 2007-13 is: when did the CRTC get vested with the power to make copyright policy? But that’s exactly what it’s done by instating a qualifier that, in order to be eligible for inclusion under PN 2007-13, services must have prior consent of the broadcasters whose signal they’re retransmitting. The commission also puts an oar in the water on the matter of how such services are distributed by stipulating that they must be point-to-point streams rather than a multicast or multipoint signal. But aside from the thorny questions of retransmission rights or broadcaster consent, the very raison d’être for having yet another exemption order for repurposing old-media content for new-media networks is suspect. After all, the 1999 New Media Exemption Order, which provides a harbour for "broadcasting services delivered and accessed over the...

First results in for OMDC’s $7.5M fund

Media | 02/21/2007 5:00 am EST

The motion capture studio at Toronto’s Seneca College – the only independent facility of its kind in the province – is ready to really get moving. It was just awarded $150,000 for expansion, including a clean-up facility, from the Entertainment and Creative Partnerships Cluster Fund, an initiative administered by the Ontario Media Development...

New mobile TV order raises retransmission, DVB-H issues

Media | 02/21/2007 5:00 am EST

In an attempt to clarify the rules for offering television services over wireless carriers’ networks, the CRTC may have further muddied the operating environment by issuing two separate exemption orders for such services since they were first launched two years ago.Prompted by the pending launch of mobile video services...

Use of the third screen isn’t at the expense of the tube: YTV

Media | 02/21/2007 5:00 am EST

Contrary to all the talk of the constantly increasing migration of eyeballs from the television to computers – including a request from the Governor-in-Council that the CRTC prepare a report examining the impact on Canada’s broadcasting environment in the face of new technologies (CNM, Sept. 20/2006) – the Tween Media...

New media ‘the future’ at the National Arts Centre

Media | 02/21/2007 5:00 am EST

There are many in the new media community who would likely give anything to be in Maurizio Ortolani’s situation. As producer, new media at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre (NAC), he has access to one of the fastest networks in the world, produces podcasts and other digital media with some of the biggest names in the arts,...

Look’s BDU licence trumps exemption for wireless telco mobile TV, CEO says

Media | 02/14/2007 5:00 am EST

The head of multi-point distribution system (MDS) operator Look Communications Inc. says the CRTC’s recent exemption order for telco-based mobile video services is a vindication of its strategy – and a development that may forestall more competition from such sources.  "This continues to put in a very...

CFTPA proves to be a strong ally for CTF

Media | 02/14/2007 5:00 am EST

It’s been three weeks since cable BDU Vidéotron ltée announced it would follow Shaw Communications Inc.’s lead and halt its financial contributions to the Canadian Television Fund. When Canadian Communications Reports last went to press, we reported that the CTF, its supporters and the BDUs had issued a flurry of media releases stating their views...

TV is proving to be irreplaceable: YTV

Media | 02/14/2007 5:00 am EST

While there has been a lot of debate within the broadcasting industry about the extent of the Internet’s impact on traditional television, it’s almost universally accepted that the constantly evolving menu of always-available, online content is drawing Canadians away from their TV sets to some extent, and will continue to do so. However, the recent...

The last mile is the hardest: moving viewers and operators to HD

Media | 02/14/2007 5:00 am EST

High-definition deployment is facing a number of challenges in Canada, from consumer reluctance to the expense and administration of upgrading set-top boxes. At the Canadian Satellite Users Association’s Canadian Digital Broadcasting Summit held in Toronto on January 29 and 30, media advisors and executives from both...

CCR People

Media | 02/14/2007 5:00 am EST

The Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing of Canada (CTAM Canada) recently announced the results of an October 2006 vote to elect a new board of directors. Astral Television Networks’ senior VP of marketing and sales Dominic Vivolo will serve as president of the organization for the coming year, while newly named vice-presidents Mike Lee, chief strategy officer at Rogers Communications, and Mountain Cablevision president John Piercy will also join the executive.The group's newly named secretary, meanwhile, is Jean-Pierre Caveen, director of affiliate relations at Cogeco Cable, while Chris Fuoco, VP of affiliate marketing at Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting, steps into the role of treasurer.Other 2007 board members include: Harris Boyd Consulting’s Harris Boyd (also Membership Committee chair); Manon Brouillette, VP of market development at Vidéotron ltée’s consumer division; David Purdy, VP and GM of television at Rogers Cable (also chair of the Sponsorship Committee); Sean Luxton, VP of content distribution at...

Two newcomers help make 2006 a record year for gaming sales

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

Canadians rung up record sales for console and handheld gaming systems last year with total sales of hardware, software and accessories nearing the $1-billion mark according to a recent report from research firm The NPD Group.Of course, you might expect the results to be skewed owing to the arrival of not one but two new...

HD formats, prep time keep podcasting grounded

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

Since Youtube’s explosion into pop culture, the desire to create polished user-generated content has manufacturers working overtime to develop consumer products rivalling those used by professional broadcasters.At the Canadian Digital Broadcasting Summit, held on January 29 and 30 in Toronto, delegates were shown some of these cutting-edge cameras and...

Past CNMA up-and-comers: where are they now?

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

With nominations now open for the 2007 Canadian New Media Awards, it seems fitting to revisit the six companies recognized as having particular potential at past installments of the awards. But since their respective wins, experiences among the winners of the Most Promising New Company of the Year award run the gamut from growth that would be the envy...

P2P can reward labels and artists without curbing user freedom

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

In 1998, a young man with a shaved head wanted an easy way to search music files online – and inadvertently ignited a time bomb by creating Napster. The music industry roared into litigious battle, shutting Shawn Fanning’s company down and slapping lawsuits against the succession of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks that...

Canada Council’s first 2007 funding deadlines

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

A reminder: the first deadlines of 2007 for two of the Canada Council for the Arts’ new media funding programs are looming. Applications for the council’s Research and Production Grants and New Media Residencies initiatives are due by March 1 in order to be eligible for the first funding allotment of the year. While both are open to artists working in new media and audio media, the former program provides monies for subsistence and research costs to encourage "independent artist-controlled networks," while the latter aims to create opportunities for artists to pair up with a host agency for a period. Neither program is open to producers engaged in commercial new media projects. More information can be found online at http://www.canadacouncil.ca/mediaarts/...

Von Finckenstein can cover all bases, says former CNM editor

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

Jeff Leiper, past editor of Canadian NEW MEDIA and former director of consumer research for Canadian markets at Yankee Group Research Inc., has a wealth of experience analyzing the interplay between copyright, broadcasting, Internet consumption and regulation. Here, he offers his take on the recent appointment of Konrad von...

CNM Editorial

Media | 02/07/2007 5:00 am EST

Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs is clearly a man who’s tired of being in the hot seat over digital rights management (DRM).In a manifesto titled "Thoughts on Music" posted on Apple’s site on February 6, Jobs points the finger squarely at the music industry for the proprietary nature of its Fairplay DRM system. "Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to...

Black Walk bags licence for Trailers

Media | 01/31/2007 5:00 am EST

A proposed specialty channel airing ads for film and television productions was given the green light by the CRTC last week, despite stiff resistance from members of the very industries it means to promote.Toronto’s Black Walk Corp. applied for a licence for Trailers, an English-language Category 2 service that would offer trailers and other...

Newsmakers: First impressions of the new CRTC chair

Media | 01/31/2007 5:00 am EST

As has been widely reported, on January 25 Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda appointed former Competition Bureau of Canada head and Federal Court of Canada justice Konrad von Finckenstein as the new chairperson of the CRTC. While most in the industry were reserved about the appointment and adopted a wait-and-see attitude, Ken Stein, senior VP...

Only Imagine conceives a world with paid ads on local avails

Media | 01/31/2007 5:00 am EST

For the third time in nearly as many years, an application has been put forward to commercialize the free local advertising time granted to Canadian BDUs by US satellite-delivered programming services.  The application by Only Imagine Inc. – a creation of former Craig Media Inc. CEO Drew Craig and Jeff Thiessen,...

CTF faces a struggle in 2007 due to cableco funding withdrawals

Media | 01/31/2007 5:00 am EST

Attention was focused on the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) last week as Vidéotron ltée announced it was following in the footsteps of Shaw Communications Inc. and discontinuing its financial support of the CTF. If the flurry of press releases deriding the BDUs after the Vidéotron announcement are indicative of anything,...

Alberta’s two main cities can’t sustain more TV competition, CHUM tells CRTC

Media | 01/31/2007 5:00 am EST

The commission is again considering applications to operate new TV stations in Alberta’s two largest cities, but CHUM Ltd. wants the CRTC to stand by its 2004 decision not to license new competitors in Calgary and Edmonton (CCR, Feb. 27/04).  Public hearings begin February 12 into applications by Crossroads...

DTH players push department to license Telesat in key slots

Media | 01/31/2007 5:00 am EST

As Industry Canada heads into the home stretch of licensing critical orbital resources to give more capacity to Canada’s two DTH operators, Bell ExpressVu LP and Star Choice Communications Inc., the two firms have thrown their support behind the bid from Telesat Canada as the one most able to provide them with the...

Ontario interactive industries see eastern promise in India

Media | 01/24/2007 5:00 am EST

Representatives from a trio of Toronto area new media shops are currently in India with Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty as part of a trade mission backed by the province’s Ministry of Culture. For two of the three, it’s a homecoming of sorts.While he was born and raised in India, Arnie Guha, a partner in e-marketing and usability firm Phase 5 Consulting Group, went back for the first time just five years ago. He says the experience instilled in him the desire to create a new company, Flash Karma, devoted to producing interactive content for mobile devices. "There’s a sense of optimism right now in India" in regard to all things tech, Guha says. "It’s always had smart people, but not always the recognition."Thanks to a father who worked for the Canadian...

Ontario’s video game talent on display in game contest

Media | 01/24/2007 5:00 am EST

In the end, it was a one-in-seven chance that hopefuls in Telefilm Canada’s Great Canadian Video Game Competition would make the first cut. Now, 10 of the 69 applicants will each get $50,000 for their hard work, as well as a chance to compete for the grand prize of up to $2 million in total financing.While the first-round...

Broadening the gaming generation

Media | 01/24/2007 5:00 am EST

Success in the video game industry has largely been predicated on games designed to appeal to adolescent male fantasies. But this core market is extremely saturated – and is also aging along with the rest of society: today, the average gamer is actually a 30-year-old man, according to the San Francisco-based International Gaming Development...

Logic, coupled with advocacy, is trump at the Copyright Board: Vancise

Media | 01/24/2007 5:00 am EST

With deliberations and hearings on online music services taking place later this year at the Copyright Board of Canada, it seems fitting to examine the thoughts of Copyright Board chairman Justice William Vancise on how tariffs are set. While the remarks below – redacted from a longer speech – were made late last year...

CNM Editorial

Media | 01/24/2007 5:00 am EST

Contract negotiations are often a time where firm stances and tough talk reign, but insinuations at the talks between ACTRA and the CFTPA and APFTQ that new media productions might turn to non-union talent are worrying.Both producers and performers admit that production and adaptation of work for new media is the main barrier to getting a new Independent Production Agreement signed at this point. Although each side in the...

ACTRA, CFTPA/APFTQ start talking again, but new media still a problem

Media | 01/24/2007 5:00 am EST

As contract talks resumed on January 23 between producers and striking performers, the same stumbling block remained in place: how to craft an Independent Production Agreement (IPA) that divides the currently modest new media pie to both parties’ satisfaction."I would say that easily 60% to 70% of the total air time during these negotiations has been devoted to trying to find some sort of common ground with new media," says Steven Comeau, co-chair of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s new media committee and co-founder and president of Halifax’s Collideascope Digital Productions Inc. The CFTPA and its francophone counterpart, the Association des...

No sign of talks resuming in actor/producer labour spat

Media | 01/16/2007 6:21 pm EST

For the first time since its founding in 1943, the association representing 21,000 Canadian performers and actors in film, television and new media went on strike on January 8. But long before that day, the face-off between producers and their talent devolved into a "they-say, we-say" situation where facts and...

Bitove’s HDTV Networks files for OTA licence

Media | 01/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Quintessential Canadian entrepreneur John Bitove has created another stir with his second foray into broadcasting. This time, he’s proposing to do what many broadcasters say is prohibitively expensive: set up a network of terrestrial digital transmitters and deliver over-the-air high-definition television to eight major markets. HDTV Networks...

When it comes to the digital transition, don’t forget about radio

Media | 01/16/2007 5:00 am EST

More than 11 years after it was issued – and in the face of a stalled analog-to-digital switchover – the CRTC amended its Transitional Digital Radio Policy as part of the recent commercial radio policy review (CCR, Dec. 20/06). In revising the digital radio broadcasting (DRB) policy, the commission relied heavily...

Hunt still on for permanent head of CRTC

Media | 01/16/2007 5:00 am EST

When CRTC ex-chair Charles Dalfen announced his retirement in October last year, speculation abounded as to who might fill his rather large shoes. Given that the Conservative government appears to still be making its mind up about the commission, there was little surprise when broadcasting vice-chair Michel Arpin was named to the chairperson’s...

Bell’s IPTV aims to redefine home entertainment

Media | 01/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Bell Canada continues to unveil details bit by bit of what it calls a next-generation wireline television service. During BCE Inc.’s annual business review conference on December 12, 2006, CEO Michael Sabia said development of Bell’s IPTV offering will be completed in 2007 – and it won’t be a "me-too" type of...

Newsmakers: Two broadcasting veterans return with lofty plans for local avails

Media | 01/16/2007 5:00 am EST

A new company, Only Imagine Inc., has asked the CRTC for a relay distribution undertaking licence to monetize BDUs’ local availabilities on US satellite programming services. Drew Craig, ex-CEO of now-defunct Craig Media Inc., and Jeff Thiessen of Trinity Television fame are heading the venture. An excerpt from the...

SpiralFrog ready to jump into Canada next year

Media | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

The joint venture representing the reproduction rights of Canadian songwriters, composers and music publishers has given its blessing to New York’s SpiralFrog, which aims to fight unauthorized music sharing through ad-supported downloads.David Basskin, president of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd., which along with the Société du...

Mobile video players waiting to see what North Americans will watch

Media | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

At the first annual NATPE Mobile++ forum in Las Vegas last January, the TV production industry was abuzz about the seemingly unlimited potential of cell phone video content. Executives from mobile carriers, small-screen content aggregators and non-linear network programming sold each other on the notion that everyone will...

Worldwide new media market will top $50B by 2009: Telefilm’s Clarkson

Media | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

Telefilm Canada executive director Wayne Clarkson and chairperson Charles Bélanger appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last month as part of a review of Telefilm’s mandate and priorities. They told the commission that while rationalization and streamlining in other areas have freed up nearly $3 million for reinvesting in productions, the Telefilm Canada New Media Fund in particular needs additional investment if it’s to capitalize on the opportunities offered by emerging forms of interactive media. Below are select excerpts from Clarkson’s portion of the presentation, titled "Modernizing Telefilm in the multiplatform era."  We face...