New website aims to take the Charter of Rights to more Canadians than ever before

Media | 06/26/2006 4:00 am EDT

In 2003 Toronto-based Sailor-Jones Media started developing Fundamental Freedoms, a documentary in seven languages covering the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for Rogers Media Inc.’s Omni Television. The venture soon morphed into a multimedia, multiplatform project, which includes the recently launched...

Godcasting helps churches reach Christians on the go

Media | 06/26/2006 4:00 am EDT

When religious broadcaster S-VOX launched its myGodPod Christian podcasting service last month, it claimed that spiritual podcasts are burgeoning. Given the often-tenuous relationship between religion and technology, it wouldn’t be surprising if some doubted this assertion – but the evidence supports it.   Late last year CNN reported that...

Drama spending, HD among CRTC’s concerns in TV review

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

CRTC chair Charles Dalfen revealed the scope of the long-awaited television policy review at the 2006 Banff World Television Festival last week. High on the agenda: finding the most efficient way to fund Cancon, clearing up financial regulations for broadcasters, and promoting production in high-definition (HD). In his...

Change has come to CTF, but some remain skeptical

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

The 2006 Banff World Television Festival held special significance – and likely a modicum of sorrow – for the board members of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF). It was here, almost a year ago to the day, that Liza Frulla, then minister of Canadian Heritage, announced her department’s recommendation that the fund surrender its administration to...

CRTC backs off on avails, gives BDUs what they want

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

A significant component of Canada’s broadcast distribution industry was fundamentally changed on June 2 when the CRTC decided to permit cable broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) to use 25% of their local availabilities to promote non-programming services (Broadcasting Public Notice 2006-69). On the same day, the commission demonstrated consistency with the ruling by dismissing a December 7, 2005 complaint from MTS Allstream Inc. that alleged Shaw Cablesystems Ltd. violated the conditions of its licence by using local availabilities to promote non-programming services (Broadcasting Decision 2006-204). The rulings not only tread new ground in broadcast distribution, they also signify a diminishing desire to adjudicate these kinds of affairs on the part of the CRTC."You can...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

Shaw to buy two BC cablecosOn June 14 and 15 Shaw Communications Inc. announced it had entered into agreements to acquire Pemberton Cable, a Coast Mountain Communications property, and Saltspring Cablevision. In what is a fact of life in the cable distribution industry, the big get bigger and the small get acquired. "It’s the way of cable," says Peter Lyman, senior partner at Nordicity Group Ltd. "If...

CCR People

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

Sportscaster Brian Williams has joined CTV Inc. as a member of CTV and TSN’s broadcast teams where he will play a leading role in shaping and delivering Olympic broadcast coverage of the 2010 Winter Games from Vancouver-Whistler BC. Williams first reported on the Olympics at the 1976 Summer Games from Montreal and has covered virtually every Olympic Games since. He began calling university basketball play-by-play in...

Conservatives stand by CBC: Oda

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

Heritage minister Bev Oda delivered her first comprehensive speech on broadcasting on Sunday, June 11, the first day of the Banff World Television Festival. In it, she responded to some of the issues and concerns Canada’s broadcasting community had expressed about increasing competition from unregulated networks and the future of the CBC, among other...

CCR Editorial

Media | 06/20/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. What to do about Canadian programming?  No matter whether it’s television or radio, Canada’s broadcast media are, understandably, obsessed with audience share. Audiences, of course, mean advertising. But when the hottest-selling shows are conceived and created in the US, Canadian producers...

CNM People

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

ONESTOP Media Group, Canada’s largest digital information network, has appointed Paul Bolté executive VP of sales. Bolté brings more than 20 years of corporate entrepreneurship experience in creative and media innovation sales to the position. Prior to joining ONESTOP he was the VP of sales for Cineplex Entertainment. He is also known for spearheading the creation of two media creative boards in Canada: Canada Cannes;...

Consulting with new media creators paramount: Oda

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

On June 1, Heritage minister Bev Oda addressed the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. During the committee meeting, Oda faced questions from Conservative member Chris Warkentin about the emergence of new media, and how Canada’s policies and regulatory environment can adapt to meet the obstacles and opportunities it affords....

CNM Editorial

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Sitting here in lovely Banff as an interactive media event closes and a television one opens, I’m struck by the uncertainty that seems to prevail among the broadcasting "old guard" in this digital era.  Canadian broadcasters seem most threatened by unregulated content coming from the US,...

ReGenesis TV-interactive “simulcast” showcased at nextMEDIA

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

A real-time new media project synched to the broadcast of ReGenesis, the cult bioterrorism TV show, made Canadian convergence history on June 11.   The finale of the show’s second season featured a reward for loyal members of the audience who had interacted with the characters and storyline throughout the...

nextPITCH funding recipients all have Habitat connection

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

Members of the top three projects to win production funding at a recent pitch competition might have the Canadian Film Centre’s Habitat New Media Lab to thank for their success, at least in part.  Xenophile Media’s Evan Jones, Jacqueline Nuwame of Eventide Media and Rawl Banton of Wa Wow Enterprises presented the top three pitches at nextPITCH, an event held at Achilles Media’s nextMEDIA festival in Banff AB on June 10, which gave selected finalists five minutes to sell a jury on their concept for a short piece of multiplatform content. All win development funding from Sun TV for their trouble, all are based in Toronto, and most interestingly, all also attended the Habitat New Media Lab to hone their interactive chops. First-place winner Total Drama Beach, from...

CNMAs won’t rest on laurels: Froman

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

With a record crowd of approximately 550 registered attendees at this year’s Canadian New Media Awards, you’d think the maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ would apply. This is new media, however: striving to remain on the cutting edge is imperative, and Canada’s industry awards are no exception.   The CNMAs are all about...

Artists’ group treads a fine copyright line

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

With government interest in reforming the Copyright Act resurgent, a coalition of artists, galleries, curators and others in the fine arts are determined to have their say on "appropriation art" and how it relates to copyright.   The Coalition of Art Professionals was founded mid-May expressly to influence the copyright reform...

Oöober showcases user generated content on mobile devices

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

User-created content is increasingly staking a claim for itself in the mobile space, with indie rock bands and DJ’s using the near-ubiquity of cell phone penetration in the 12-to-24-year-old age group to expand the reach of their brands. One Toronto firm is joining the ranks of those hoping to capitalize on the...

Quebecor’s portal, Toronto TV station team up to tap into user-generated content

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

Quebecor Media Inc. properties Canoe.ca and Toronto broadcaster Sun TV teamed up last month to launch a convergence/participatory media project dubbed Canoe Live.   The offering aims to give Torontonians a say in how their city gets covered in the media by allowing them to submit video footage and still images...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 06/12/2006 4:00 am EDT

Take a trip with Tigga and ToggaImagine a world where every object has a sound waiting to be discovered and every creature has a song. Welcome to the musical world of Tigga and Togga Interactive!  The site is based on Tigga and Togga, the 26x3-minute preschool musical series from Cuppa Coffee Studios, which will be debuting soon on TVO with strong support from Head of Children’s Programming Pat Ellingson. Now, thanks to the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, Tigga and Togga has expanded with an interactive website that captures the spirit of the television show and breaks new ground in musical interactivity. Tigga and Togga Interactive is a place where young viewers can further explore the musical concepts that create the foundation of the television series. Featuring a dazzling array of musical concepts and styles, you become the conductor of a veritable symphony of sound – exploring, creating and sharing in the music that makes the world go round. Online, kids will find interactive activities focusing on the...

MTS complains about local avail use

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

In Broadcasting Decision 2006-204, the CRTC dismissed a complaint by MTS Allstream which alleged that Shaw Cablesystems and Videon CableSystems had made improper use of local avails to promote non-broadcasting services (see p.6). Below is an excerpt from MTS’ complaint.  MTS alleged that Shaw was in violation of its condition of licence by using...

Closed captioning bill flawed, accessibility advocates say

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

A member of Parliament has introduced a private member’s bill to make closed captioning mandatory for all programming, but two experts on the matter say that while it’s a well-intentioned effort, it may ultimately have little effect as written.  On May 19, Bloc Québécois MP Caroline St. Hilaire (Longueuil –...

CRTC rules against TSN, but leaves door open for future multiplexing

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

In what amounts to little less than a slap on the wrist, the CRTC clarified The Sports Network Inc.’s conditions of licence regarding simultaneous distribution of multiple feeds, essentially telling TSN to ask before it multiplexes in future.  The CRTC’s ruling concerned a January 17 complaint by the Canadian...

The Golf Channel becomes a casualty of cable’s migration to all-digital

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Rogers Cable informed its customers this week that as of July 6, The Golf Channel (TGC) will be available exclusively on digital cable. While the move seems a minor step in the complete migration from analog to digital, it says something about the power of Rogers when it can arbitrarily take a channel off the analog dial,...

New on-demand interactive weather service launches on Bell ExpressVu

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Interactive television has grown in fits and starts since the first experiments in the 1970s, but a new partnership between Bell ExpressVu and Pelmorex Media Inc. aims to broaden its appeal by harnessing the power of on-demand weather information.  In a country like Canada, where the weather can shift dramatically in...

CRTC to issue new local avails policy

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC put to rest the decade-old debate over the use of local availabilities by Canadian BDUs last week with its decision in Broadcasting Public Notice 2006-69. The commission approved applications from cable operators Rogers Cable Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Bragg Communications Inc., who are now free to make more use of...

Rogers Cable asks to carry satellite radio

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Rogers Cable Inc. appears to have been bitten by the satellite radio bug, filing an application last month asking to carry satellite radio services on its digital cable network in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.  The company is requesting permission to carry both the Canadian Satellite Radio and XM Canada services, despite the...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

CRTC settles part of inside wiring disputeBroadcast distributors servicing buildings that house transient residents – such as hotels, hospitals and nursing homes – will not have to open up their inside wiring to competitors, according to Broadcasting Public Notice 2006-68. The CRTC ruled on May 29 that its stated goal of increasing end-user choice would not be served by granting access to the inside wiring in such...

CCR People

Media | 06/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

The CBC announced that Sally Catto will return from Australia to head up the broadcaster’s English-language drama programming. Catto was a CBC employee from 2001 to 2005, and as such oversaw dramatic production at the public broadcaster. Her roles included development, licensing and production initiatives for drama, working as a story editor on projects in development, evaluating and selecting submitted ideas for productions, and supervising the production and delivery of programming for the CBC’s prime time television schedule. She rejoins the corporation from SBS Independent, an arm of Australian public brodcaster Special Broadcasting Service. Prior to her first stint with the CBC, Catto worked as a production and development exec with Toronto’s Accent Entertainment, as well as an agent with Harrison Artist Management and Westwood Creative Artists.  Novanet/MSC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Novanet Communications Ltd. has appointed to Michael Di Lillo as Quebec regional sales manager. Di Lillo brings over 20 years of account...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

QuickPlay launches Blackberry playerQuickPlay Media of Toronto has launched QuickPlayer for BlackBerry, an audio content player for Waterloo ON-based Research In Motion’s popular handheld device. Although BlackBerries are generally considered a text-based productivity tool rather than a portable media player, QuickPlay VP of marketing Mark Hyland says the profile of the average BlackBerry user is changing....

CNM People

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

Bill Sweetman, the Toronto-based founder of the Multimediator online directory, has been tapped to lead Internet strategy and planning at the interactive arm of ad agency MacLaren McCann. Sweetman will serve as VP, Internet Strategy at MacLaren McCann Direct & Interactive, a role the company says he’s well-suited for considering his 15 years’ worth of online marketing experience and multimedia savvy. Starting his...

CBC has kept pace with changes in broadcasting, technology: Rabinovitch

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

Last month, CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch addressed the Law Society of Upper Canada’s national symposium. While CBC executives have been vocal on their plans for TV programming, the broadcaster’s convergent properties have received less coverage. In his speech, excerpted below, Rabinovitch outlines the...

CNM Editorial

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Canada’s broadcasters are biting their nails over the pace of technological advance, as evidenced by recent policy hearings.  At the Commercial Radio Policy Review hearings in Gatineau earlier this month, Canada’s private radio broadcasters voiced a litany of complaints and concerns about the...

Digital Wizards a hit down under

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

Cambridge ON-based Digital Wizards made history earlier this year as the first Canadian interactive producer to collaborate with an Australian counterpart on a new media project.   Erky Perky is a co-production between Digital Wizards and Omnilab Australia on the interactive media side, and Toronto-based CCI Entertainment and Ambience Entertainment on the broadcast production side. The series will air on Corus Entertainment Inc.’s YTV specialty channel here, and on Seven Network in Australia, and the interactive project is 70% funded by the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund and 30% from the Australian Film Commission (AFC) via a pre-licence sale to Seven Network. The four-way production features the adventures of Erky and Perky, two dirt-loving bugs who accidentally get transferred from their beloved hot dog cart to an immaculate kitchen. While the broadcast property is shot in 3D computer animation, the online portion features a "virtual animation engine" dubbed Bug-O-Vision that lets kids make their own...

Legit adware players will self-regulate,but not those lurking in the dark

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

When it comes to the adware inserted in many "free" software products such as games and file-sharing applications, standard market controls don’t apply because consumers aren’t viewed as customers – they are the product.   That revelation comes from David Fewer, an intellectual property and...

Wireless advertising has a way to go yet

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

 When it comes to advertising, innovation and penetration are key: catch consumers’ attention, create a buzz, and watch your profits soar. Not surprisingly, marketers are always on the lookout for new ways to push their products, and mobile marketing is one new way.  A recent study by Decima Research confirms what many of us already knew:...

Pixpo’s Web broadcasting idea attracts attention and investment

Media | 05/29/2006 4:00 am EDT

A Vancouver firm secured US$6.5 million in venture capital earlier this month for its novel approach to online user-generated content: a service that’s part Flickr, part Youtube and part podcasting.   "We use a very unique way to allow many people – if not all the people – who want to watch your...

CCR Editorial

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. After more than 20 years, the status quo in pay television has been broken with the licensing of Allarco Entertainment Inc.’s pay TV service on May 18. But will Canadian consumers necessarily be better off?  In green-lighting Allarco, the CRTC refused to entertain the idea of limiting pay TV...

Allarco’s pay TV application gets green light from CRTC

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

In the competition for new pay TV licences launched last year (CCR, Aug. 9/05), one applicant has finally emerged victorious.  Edmonton-based Allarco Entertainment Inc.’s proposed pay TV offering, simply titled Allarco Entertainment, won over the CRTC with its commitments to original Canadian productions, including...

Cancon quotas remain contentious issues in radio policy review

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

It’s no surprise that Cancon quotas were at the forefront during the Commercial Radio Policy hearings last week, but the importance of emerging artists – and their ability to help broadcasters hit minimum Cancon levels more quickly – was a key talking point in that discussion.  As many broadcasters affirmed...

CCSA will offer focused, but scaled-back, regulatory assistance to its members

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

While the Canadian Cable Sys-tems Alliance (CCSA) has announced that it is stepping up to fill the regulatory-assistance void left by the closure of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Associa-tion, it will have to be much more selective as to which matters it gets involved in.  "We want a very focused...

Kincardine Cable fighting DTH providers for customers

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

While Canada’s largest BDUs duel it out over the question of multi-address subscriptions (CCR, May 4/06), one smaller cable operator is waging a much grimmer fight against the practice.  Bryan Walden, president of Kincardine Cable TV Ltd., a small cablesystem servicing the town of Kincardine ON on the shores of Lake Huron, says his business has...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

Panikkar wins approval for more HD licencesHigh-definition TV impresario John Panikkar has won licenses for his fourth and fifth proposed HD specialty channels. AHD and MeridianHD were approved on April 27 and 28 respectively, and will feature content relating to extreme sports and other "high-octane" content in the instance of AHD, and programming relating to culture and human geography in MeridianHD’s case. Both applications received interventions supporting the proposed services. Panikkar’s third Category 2 application for an HD channel, 15 DegreesHD, was denied in August 2005, while his first and second applications for OasisHD and Treasure HD were green-lighted by the commission in that same month (CCR, Mar. 24/06).  Telefilm’s exec search continuesReports that Urban Entertainment CEO Michael Jenkinson would take over the reins at Telefilm Canada’s English-language unit were premature (CCR, May 5/06), the public film and television funding agency reported. Executive director Wayne Clarkson will fill the role of...

CCR People

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

The Canadian Film and Television Production Association has named Barbara Whitmer the director of member services and outreach. Whitmer brings previous experience in developing and enhancing membership and member services from her work with the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the Sierra Club of Canada and the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. She also holds a Ph. D. from the University of Toronto. In her new...

Documentaries gaining momentum, Telefilm’s Clarkson tells policy summit

Media | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board recently held a Documentary Policy Summit on May 1 in Toronto. At the event, Telefilm Canada executive director Wayne Clarkson pointed to numerous successes in Canadian documentary film production within the last year, but also cautioned that the recent election might dampen...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

Test your wits as a Ghost TrackerGhosttrackers.tv brings the paranormal world of ghostly entities, ectoplasm, orbs, cold spots, ghostly lights and spirits into your home. Based on YTV’s hit TV series Ghost Trackers (broadcast Thursday, Saturday and Sunday evenings) and produced by CCI Entertainment, the website invites you to test your wits as a Ghosttracker.  This website is more than just a Ghost Trackers fan...

CNM People

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

The membership of Quebec new media body Alliance numériQC brought back Rémi Racine for a second term at the helm of the organization last month.Racine, president of Montreal-based game developer Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M), will also serve at president of Alliance numériQC’s administrative council for another year. With an ever-growing commitment to digital interactive media on the part of Quebec’s...

Time for new rules for new media, SOCAN tells CRTC in submission

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

In Broadcasting Public Notice 2006-48, the CRTC called for comments on a new exemption order for mobile television services. In his submission, excerpted below, Paul Spurgeon, general counsel and VP of legal services at the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) takes the commission to task for allowing the five-year review period for the 1999 New Media Exemption Order to come and go, and asks the commission to revisit its 1999 assertion that four-fifths of Internet content is alphanumeric. Rather than conduct a comprehensive review of the 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the commission proposes to expand the scope of its exemptions with an ad hoc order that is based on assumptions regarding the "near future." As Paragraph 45 of Broadcasting...

CNM Editorial

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.The CBC’s recent decision to cancel its cutting-edge ZeD program might allow it to boost its fortunes by allocating that money to produce more commercially appealing content, but it’s a loss for the evolution of digital media.  On the face of it one might be tempted to believe that ZeD was just...

New online video clearinghouse at CBC.ca

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

After years of featuring multimedia content throughout its site in various locations, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has launched a dedicated portal to showcase the wide range and depth of video it creates.   "We produce a lot of video," says Bob Kerr, director of business development and digital programming for the CBC, explaining...

Tribal Nova enters new era with kids’ portal

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

Montreal new media distributor Tribal Nova is moving from piecemeal distribution of online games and video to offering a one-stop turnkey kids portal, thus entering a new phase in its content sales strategy.   "Kidstudio is a concept that we developed in [partnership] with certain Internet providers or broadcasters, to put online services...

NextMEDIA, Vidfest issue challenges to content creators with summer events

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

Canada’s two summertime interactive media events have launched new content competitions in a bid to find and promote the best short-form and mobile content.   Both the NextPITCH competition at Achilles Media’s NextMEDIA event and the New Media BC-organized Vancouver International Digital Festival (Vidfest)’s...

Q&A:Catching up with Claude Galipeau

Media | 05/15/2006 4:00 am EDT

As a leading member of Canada’s new media community, Claude Galipeau needs no introduction for most readers.   At the end of March he left the CBC, where he had been spearheading their digital content initiatives, and...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Did culture get short changed by the Federal Budget?With the release of the first Federal Budget from the newly elected Conservative Party of Canada, those in the arts community say they’re starting to see the realization of their fears about the new government’s indifference towards culture. "Different cast, same script," said Stephen Waddell, president of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and...

CCR People

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

After a year of wooing him, CanWest MediaWorks Inc. has finally named Brett Manlove to the position of senior VP, broadcast sales and marketing. Previously the company’s VP of local sales since 2001, Manlove came to CanWest MediaWorks when it acquired WIC Western International Communication’s television broadcast assets in 2000. Manlove began his broadcast career in the 1980s with an account executive post at WIC’s...

Three emergency alert service applicants compete for approval

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC began weighing proposals for a nationwide all-channel alert (ACA) emergency system last week on May 1, with Pelmorex Inc., Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) and Bell ExpressVu all vying for the prize. "We have designed a properly managed and operated alerting system that is fully funded and sustainable over...

Telefilm provides roadmap from now to 2011

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Telefilm Canada recently released its corporate plan covering the 2006-2007 funding year to the 2010-2011 funding year. In the plan, From Cinemas to Cell Phones: Telefilm Canada Reponds to the Multiplatform Challenge, the funding agency outlines some of the changes surrounding the Canadian Television Fund’s administration – a role Telefilm formally assumed last month – as well as measures taken to improve accountability. The plan, which is excerpted below, also refers to the appointment of a feature film executive to make investment decisions – see page 6 for that story.  In June 2005, the federal government announced the creation of a "one board, one administration" structure for the governance of the Canadian Television Fund. In recognition of Telefilm’s record,...

CCR Editorial

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. What is a subscriber? Is it a mailbox, or a mobile phone account? A physical location, or an IP address? The recent spat between Vidéotron ltée and Star Choice Communications illustrates the difficulty of answering that question.  In its "account stacking" complaint to the CRTC,...

Cable and DTH square off over business practices

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Vidéotron ltée and Star Choice Communications Inc. have been sparring since late last year over a widespread satellite provider policy that the cableco claims is anti-competitive, but the DTH BDU says is a standard practice in the industry.  "I think Vidéotron’s just trying to create noise for us," says Ken Stein, senior VP of...

High expectations for Telefilm’s new film czar

Media | 05/05/2006 4:00 am EDT

Beleaguered, embattled and even admitting to a certain degree of entropy, Telefilm Canada’s executive director Wayne Clarkson announced a new saviour for English- language feature films Monday 24th at Toronto’s toney King Street West Spoke Club.  Michael Jenkinson was anointed as the film fund’s first-ever feature film executive for the...

New Canadian musician’s coalition unveils its copyright manifesto

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

A group of Canadian recording artists including Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne and Sarah McLachlan have formed a new organization, The Canadian Music Creators Coalition. The group, which has expressed dissatisfaction with organizations such as the Canadian Recording Industry Association, approaches music distribution from...

CNM Editorial

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.The recent creation of a new coalition of Canadian musicians will no doubt find favour with those who believe that user rights figure prominently in the Canadian copyright equation.  The advent of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC) follows on the heels of a decision in April by six of Canada’s largest independent record labels to break with the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). Both moves involve many of the same players: Vancouver’s Nettwerk Records, for example, which seemed to lead the split with CRIA and which manages CMCC members such as Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan. On the face of it, however, CRIA and the CMCC aren’t that far apart: both profess the belief that both sides of the consumer marketplace will eventually dictate a fair level of copyright control and usage. However, CRIA approaches the matter with the view that user rights should be restricted as much as...

Flash finds a loving home at the fifth annual FITC festival

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

 Playing with data, playing with video, flex for everyone and geek art: this year’s FITC (Flash in the Can) Design and Technology Festival offered myriad business, technical, and creative presentations catering to a crowd of enthusiasts of Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash software.   The fifth annual conference,...

Little-known SR&ED program can take the sting out of development costs

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

Working on tech-intensive projects doesn’t have to mean months of fruitless research and hundreds of billable hours with nothing more than an understanding of what doesn’t work to show for it. Few small and medium-sized businesses take advantage of the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program...

Musicians speak up, stand up for consumers

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

Canadian musicians have a new voice, consumers have a new ally, and opinions in the music industry have become further fragmented with the formation of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC).  Members of the new organization, which was founded April 26, feel the major record labels and their industry associations are no longer speaking...

Toronto college uses video podcasts to put documentary festival in the picture

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

Students at Toronto’s Centennial College will hone their new media chops next week when they begin podcasting the day’s events from the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival. Starting on May 2, student volunteers and one faculty member at the college’s Centre for Creative Communications will be working...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

Bell Fund releases names of 19 winners in Feb. 1 roundSix new media-and-broadcast producers received production grants from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund in its latest round of funding, including Shaftesbury Films for 11 Cameras, Breakthrough Entertainment for Captain Flamingo, Nelvana Ltd. for Digata Defenders, Productions Pixcom Inc. for Les Superépiciers, and Marblemedia’s This Is Emily Yeung.  Also...

CNM People

Media | 04/28/2006 4:00 am EDT

The Digital Media Association of Alberta (the organization formerly known as Alberta New Media) held its annual general meeting on April 5. Nigel McEathron of Calgary-based interactive marketer RareMethod was named chairperson of the association, while Ken Bautista, president of Edmonton’s HotRocket, was named to the position of vice-chair. A total of fourteen new directors from a diverse variety of backgrounds...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

Conservative election email: CCR exclusiveWith a review of the Canadian broadcasting industry and the CBC on the horizon, speculation abounds as to where the new Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) government stands on these issues. The following is an election-time email to Conservative Party staff obtained by CCR which contains a rote response for inquiries about the state of Canadian broadcasting under a CPC government....

CCR People

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

The CBC’s quest for a new head of arts and entertainment programming has finally come to an end: Fred Fuchs, an entertainment industry veteran with such productions as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Virgin Suicides to his credit, assumed the role of executive director, arts and entertainment programming on April 3. Formerly president of Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope movie studio, Fuchs has worked with...

Western producers increasingly turning to foreign markets: report

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

British Columbia Film, Sask-Film and Manitoba Film and Sound produced a report titled Out of the West: Export, Growth and the Western Canadian Production Industry. Excerpts from the document appear below; the entire report can be downloaded from SaskFilm’s website (www.saskfilm.com).  Overall, the Western Canadian production industry has evolved differently from the industries in Ontario and Quebec. Western producers have adapted to the vagaries of the domestic and international marketplace by undertaking a varied slate of productions that may include distinctively Canadian projects produced for the domestic market, internationally financed productions for the global market, and some...

CCR Editorial

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. As someone who grew up listening to independent Canadian music – acts like 54-40, The Northern Pikes, Chalk Circle – I confess I felt some sadness when writing about the dire straits the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records, or FACTOR, finds itself in. It’s all the more puzzling...

Private radio pull-out could sink FACTOR

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

A 20-year-old funding agency that helps Canadian musicians with recording costs could disappear as a consequence of the CRTC’s Commercial Radio Policy review.  The executive in charge of Canadian Heritage’s Canada Music Fund, the largest source of funding for the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent On Records (FACTOR), says that if a request...

Technology is altering the broadcasting landscape – as it has before

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

Broadcasters, industry associations and the CRTC have a lot to consider in the upcoming television policy review, including the effect new technologies might have on conventional broadcasting. But no amount of technological advancement will negate the need for quality content, or usurp the commission’s ability to...

Product placements effective, Decima Research survey finds

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

Product placement in popular American television programs seems to be resonating with Canadian viewers, according to the results of a new online survey from Decima Research. The data is part of the April 2006 Decima Quarterly.  The survey asked an online panel of more than 1,500 English-speaking Canadians whether or...

Bell will spread out its IPTV investment with a hybrid approach

Media | 04/21/2006 4:00 am EDT

The big question facing telephone companies as they build networks for delivering IP-based television services is: fibre to the premise (FTTP), or fibre to the node (FTTN)?  With FTTN, fibre extends to the last kilometre, but signals travel over copper to reach individual homes. For the time being, copper bonding and VDSL2 technology will be used to increase bandwidth to address longer loops and offer premium IPTV services, said Bell Canada director of access network technology Jean Huppé at VON Canada, a recent conference devoted to digital telephony. "Fibre to the premise is the end game, but completely fibre-izing access [for all subscribers] could take 10 to 20 years," Huppé said. "[FTTP] focuses the investment to one specific area at a time, leaving the...

Breakthrough licence sends dangerous message: Copyright Board members

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

Last month, two members of the five-person Copyright Board, Justice William Vancise and Stephen Callary, published their disagreement with a decision to licence Breakthrough Entertainment’s use of excerpts from a book with an unlocatable author. Excerpts from the two members’ decision appear below.  …From a legal...

CNM Editorial

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.The CRTC’s decision to shy away from regulating mobile video services last week shouldn’t have surprised anyone.  After 1999’s landmark decision to not attempt to regulate the way Internet services and content are delivered in Canada, the CRTC had little choice but to make the decision it...

CRTC decides mobile TV belongs under 1999’s exemption order

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC has dispelled the cloud of uncertainty hanging over mobile television services since their Canadian debut last year, determining that such offerings do indeed fall under the New Media Exemption Order of 1999.   "The commission considers that exempting mobile television services promotes innovation in...

Cancon will survive online, but regulation won’t help: iSummit panel

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

A lunchtime panel on "the idiosyncrasies of the Canadian marketplace" at the first-ever iSummit on March 31 tackled the difficult issues around what it means to be Canadian in an ever-competitive and open world.   Moderator Steve Billinger, senior VP of broadcast at Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc., lobbed...

New interactive website aims to boost aboriginal tourism

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

The federal government is hoping to bring more tourism dollars to First Nations communities with a new Web portal, titled the Virtual Tour of Aboriginal Canada (VTAC).   According to David Henley, acting director-general in the economic development branch of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (DIAND),...

Desjardins Group unit uses multimedia to smooth retirement planning

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

From serious games to self-serve portals, corporate Canada is increasingly making use of interactive media to educate and inform employees and customers alike. But Desjardins Financial Security is using it as a tool to help workforces at the corporate clients it serves adequately plan for retirement – and stay out of...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

Get BOOKED with Reel Girls Media Produced by Reel Girls Media, BOOKED.TV is a dynamic, interactive project that exploits the runaway popularity of forensic crime in popular culture. Using the latest in Web technology, BOOKED.TV offers webisodes, podcasts, expert chats and a discussion forum, designed to deliver information straight from Canada’s CSI teams. Our experts include (but are not limited to): Blood Spatter...

CNM People

Media | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

Motion simulator manufacturer D-Box Technologies Inc. of Longueuil QC has named Jean-Pierre De Montigny to the position of chairman of the board. In addition to the new role at D-Box, De Montigny is also vice-chairman of the board at Toronto’s Blackmont Capital, an investment dealer and capital markets firm. As well, he was president of Desjardins Securities from 2001 to 2005 and executive VP and CFO at Telesystem...

Telcos and cablecos increasingly tuning in to each other’s markets

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

They say it’s difficult to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, but telephone service providers and cablecos are doing just that these days: tackling each other’s traditional markets. However, according to representatives from each side, the move is no stroll in the park.  Kelvin Shepherd, president, consumer markets at MTS Allstream Inc., explained the challenges his firm – a Winnipeg phone service provider – faced when it started operating in the TV world. Meanwhile Pat Kiely, director, business operations at Mountain Cablevision Ltd. in Hamilton ON, described how difficult it was for his firm to turn on phone service. Both spoke at VON Canada, a technology conference in...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

TV profits up, but Cancon lags foreign content: CRTC reportThe CRTC released its annual report on the well-being of Canada’s private television broadcast industry late last month. In the document, titled Television Statistical and Financial Summaries 2001-2005, the commission noted an overall upward trend in revenue and profitability over the five-year period from 2001 to 2005; however, while total revenue increased 15%...

CCR People

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

David Goldstein has been named to the position of VP, government and regulatory affairs at CHUM Ltd. in Toronto. The move is an internal one: since 2003, when he joined the firm, Goldstein had served as national director of government affairs, radio and television within the CHUM organization. In his more than 15 years in the broadcast industry, Goldstein has also held the position of director, government affairs and VP,...

Let Eastlink use local avails for non-broadcast services: CAB

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

As it did with an earlier plea by Rogers and Shaw (CCR, Jan. 12/06), the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has lent conditional support to Eastlink Cable’s request to use the permitted 25% of local avails to promote its bundles and telecom services. Below is part of a submission by CAB VP of television and...

CCR Editorial

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Late last year, Vidéotron complained to the CRTC that Shaw’s Star Choice DTH service was allowing users to buy multiple dishes and receivers for use in locations other than their primary residence, but only charging them for one monthly subscription, a practice dubbed "account stacking"....

Pelmorex, CBC and ExpressVu vie for public warning licence

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

Three broadcasters have thrown their respective hats in the ring as potential suppliers of a national television-based alert system for warning Canadians of natural disasters and other emergencies, but at least one constituency is panning all three applications.  Paul Temple, senior VP of regulatory and strategic affairs at Oakville ON-based Pelmorex Communications Inc., one of the hopefuls in the all-channel alert process, says there is an urgent need for a system to instantly advise Canadians when their lives and property are in danger. "There’s no national public alerting service in Canada at all," he says. "I don’t think people really realize that…I think they just kind of assume there’s a way they’d be warned, when in fact there isn’t." As the...

Controversy drives CRTC to reopen file on Chinese digital satellite channels

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

Bowing to pressure from an array of opponents, the CRTC has reopened public consultation around an application by nine Chinese-language general interest channels owned by China Central Television (CCTV) after the process had officially ended.  The move is an unprecedented one, and the first instance since the...

Shaw free to offer terrestrial and DTH PPV services nationally

Media | 04/10/2006 4:00 am EDT

Two months after issuing its decision regarding terrestrial pay-per-view (PPV), the CRTC has handed Astral Media Inc. another blow with a ruling that allows Shaw Communication Inc.’s direct-to-home (DTH) PPV service to expand beyond its western Canadian power base.  Both the terrestrial and DTH PPV services operated...

CNM Editorial

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.No one was more surprised than I was when CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen announced at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s annual conference in February that the commission would be re-examining the New Media Exemption Order (NMEO) of 1999.  I was convinced the commission would...

Changing demographics are transforming media, say panelists at NMBA’s iSummit

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

Creativity, convergence, copyright and communities were all hot talking points at this week’s first-ever iSummit, an interactive media conference organized by the Toronto-based New Media Busin-ess Alliance.   Keynote speaker Alexander Manu, director of the Beal Centre for Strategic Creativity at the Ontario...

Canada’s first mobile short film festival open for entries

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

A mobile short-movie competition launched this year may not take its place alongside the Toronto and Montreal international film festivals anytime soon, but if comparable events abroad are any indication it will garner its share of critical acclaim.   "It’s certainly a new idea in Canada, it’s the first...

After a 30-year career, Vera Frenkel continues to bend reality through art

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

What do you do with the empty buildings left behind from government-mandated hospital closures? Well, converting them into artists’ residences seems like a logical, believable choice.   Welcome to the Institute, "a professional and residential haven, providing support to some of the leading artists of our...

Contentious copyright issues come out in lunch session

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

With the fate of proposed amendments to the Copyright Act of 1985 unsure after the Conservative Party of Canada’s recent victory at the polls, a lunchtime panel made up of law academics, rightsholder group members and a Canadian Idol judge examined the likely course of copyright reform in Canada.   When asked by...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

Tira Wireless draws US$13M investmentTira Wireless Inc., a Toronto-based provider of technology that enables mobile content development and deployment, recently announced a US$13-million investment by Lehman Ventures in the firm. With its Series C funding, which will be used to round out the firm’s service portfolio and expand global support and distribution, Lehman Ventures joins Brightspark Ventures, Flagship Ventures...

CNM People

Media | 03/31/2006 5:00 am EST

Dynasty Gaming Inc. has hired Mark Billings as the company’s chief financial officer as part of a new strategy to expand its reach in the online gaming sector. Billings comes to the Montreal firm from a VP post at Desjardins Securities, where he worked with small-cap companies to both garner financing and take them public. Prior to working for Desjardins, he worked for online casino operator Golden Palace, where he also held the position of CFO. He holds an MBA from Harvard University. With Billings’ arrival, acting CFO Anthony Barbusci returns to his position of VP and corporate secretary. "We are delighted to have an individual with Mark’s experience, vision and skill sets join our team," said Dynasty Gaming CEO Albert Barbusci. "In additional to his financial expertise, he will bring an in-depth knowledge of online gaming industry practices and standards." New directors have joined the advisory board at Toronto’s iseemedia Inc., a developer of content creation and adaptation software for the Web and...