A Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund executive is calling a recently-concluded trade mission to Australia and Singapore a success for the new business opportunities it’s likely to create.Bell Fund executive director Andra Sheffer sees significant new opportunities opened up for business in both countries. A dozen new media producers recently spent three weeks in Australia and Singapore with the support of the Bell Fund, the Canadian consulate in Sydney and the provincial film funding agencies, and spent hours in public and private meetings with dozens of Australian broadcasters, producers, animation and games shops, and funding agencies. The meetings focused on both the broad...
The Association of Universities and Colleges Canada (AUCC) says the federal government must go beyond its decision to drop a controversial scheme to remunerate copyright holders when their works are used in the classroom to explicitly recognize educational use as an exception in the Copyright Act. On March 10, Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage chair Marlene Catterall said during a University of Ottawa lecture that one of its recommendations – a blanket levy covering educational uses of material found online – would be dropped from a series of reforms to the Copyright Act that are expected to be introduced into Parliament in the coming months. The act is being updated to give...
A new bilingual online educational video game designed to break down the gender barriers is set for testing this spring. It will be among the core projects nearing completion as part of an intensive Canadian academic look at the education field on how children learn better through play. The video game, Contagion, is...
PhotoChannel products offered at 7-Eleven storesPhotoChannel and DataWave have launched a private label online photofinishing store in 500 7-Eleven stores across Canada. The service uses back-end technology PhotoChannel and DataWave to enable the sale of in-house branded prepaid cards. Consumers upload photos to 7-Eleven’s web site, place their order and check out using their prepaid card, and the pictures are delivered...
Kevin Desjardins has assumed the role of manager of communications with the Canadian Associations of Broadcasters (CAB). He comes from a background working in the cultural sector, having worked as the communications and public relations manager for the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) since 2002. While at CCA, Desjardins worked closely with policy analysts at Canada’s pre-eminent arts lobby group to keep CCA...
A key event for new media producers visiting Australia was the Adelaide International Film Festival held in late February. The festival has been the recipient of millions of dollars from the South Australian Film Corp., which also has a small broadband fund to commission original interactive media works. The festival and the funding agency have been heavily supported by the government of South Australia, and particularly...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and provincial education authorities have won a critical battle in the copyright reform debate by postponing the introduction of a blanket levy paid by schools for the use of material they find on the Internet. There’s no guarantee the measure won’t be put back on the table by rightsholders, but a cryptic reference to “alternative approaches” by Marlene Catterall at a recent lecture may provide hope the government will take an entirely different tact with respect to the issue. Not satisfied with taking blanket licensing off the table, the AUCC is arguing for a diametrically opposed measure – an explicit exception in copyright law to give teachers the ability to use whatever they find. In copyright law, almost anything may yet happen. In the copyright debate, both the ISP and education communities have now successfully turned the agenda to...
Rogers reorganizes digital TV channel lineup in OntarioRogers Cable announced March 15 it was reorganizing its digital TV lineup by theme in Ontario. Channels beginning at channel 180 will consist of news services, those beginning at 220 will consist of kid’s channels, those starting at channel 241 will be learning channels, those at channel 255 are lifestyle channels, those at 270 entertainment channels, and those at...
A trade mission by new media producers in Canada to Australia has led to at least one new joint undertaking by companies in both countries. A joint pitch to a juried contest on February 24 in Adelaide by Decode Entertainment and Australia-based Fusion Studios won the $7,500 prize offered by the South Australia Film...
The packed early summer new media festival circuit in Canada sees the second annual VIDFEST being held June 15-17 on Granville Island in Vancouver. Organized by New Media BC, and with the financial support of Industry Canada, Western Economic Development and Telefilm Canada, along with private sponsors including Radical...
Three Pl@tform winners announcedThe most recent round of Ontario Media Development Corp. funding as part of its Pl@tform program (CNM, Nov. 21/03) sees three Ontario SMEs given $30,000 development grants, mentoring, and the eventual opportunity to be showcased on the Sympatico/MSN web portal. The winners are: The Learning Edge Corp.: NovICE: A Beginner’s Guide to Hockey - an interactive and entertaining learning site...
Sara Diamond will, effective July 1, join the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) as president. Diamond is well known in the Canadian new media industry as artistic director of the Banff New Media Institute, which she founded in 1996. She is also leaving The Banff Centre as director of research. Current president of OCAD Ron Shuebrook completes his term at the same time, and will begin a one-year sabbatical....
Australia and Canada hope to embark soon on a first trial of an unofficial co-production model that was hammered out by new media producers, funding agencies and other stakeholders from the two countries. The model assumes organizations such as the South Australian Film Commission, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund...
The following is an excerpt from the March 3 keynote address by Graham Henderson, president, Canadian Recording Industry Association at Canadian Music Week. In the address, Henderson expresses optimism for the future of the music industry in a digital environment, but calls on Ottawa to ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Internet treaties and for it to follow through on its own copyright reform...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. A recently-concluded trade mission by Canadian new media producers to Australia and Singapore saw participants teach almost as much as they learned, with valuable lessons taught to everyone involved. As mission director Andra Sheffer noted frequently, it took over 30,000 kms distance from the Great...
Producers will have to wait for a technical review of Telefilm Canada’s Canada New Media Fund (CNMF) before finding out whether the program will receive additional resources. The CNMF received a one-year extension and one-time cash boost to $14 million for 2005/2006, announced by Canadian Heritage minister Liza Frulla at this year’s Canadian Film and Television Production Association conference in Ottawa. The program is now in its fifth year, and must be reevaluated by the department before either being renewed or changed. Last month’s federal budget did, however, contain some good news for new media producers, with renewed funding for arts and culture included. In its budget,...
Cableco EastLink points to the advertising policies of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to justify its position that it has the right to refuse competitor Aliant Telecom Inc. from advertising on its cable community TV channels in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. EastLink notes that the CBC has refused advertisements and...
The federal government has turned down a petition by some Quebec-based radio stations and newspapers to set aside a CRTC decision that granted a TV station the right to broadcast local advertising. Canadian Heritage announced March 2 that the government had decided not to set aside the commission’s renewal and amendment...
LG Electronics Canada is planning online public awareness campaigns on high-definition (HD) after a survey it commissioned revealed that many Canadians who buy HD-ready sets aren’t actually receiving HD programming. About 16% of those responding to the national telephone survey already have HD-ready TV sets in their...
CRTC asks for comments on allowing RAI into CanadaThe CRTC has put out a call for comments on a proposal by Rogers Cable Communications Inc. to add Italian public broadcaster RAI International to the list of foreign-owned TV stations eligible for digital carriage in Canada (Broadcasting Public Notice 2005-20). Rogers submitted its request on February 23 (CCR Update, Feb. 7/05). Comments are due on or before April...
Former DirecTV senior executive Peter Giacalone has been named as president and CEO of Toronto-based 180 Connect Inc., which provides technical support services to the direct broadcast satellite and cable industries. Founder Barry Simons is retiring as president and CEO. Prior to joining 180 Connect, Giacalone was executive VP of customer satisfaction at DirecTV, and before that was VP of finance for The News Corporation Ltd. Philippe Tousignant is taking a one-year leave of absence from his position as manager of media and Parliamentary relations at the CRTC to work at Health Canada. Richard DeLand French has been appointed vice-chair of the CRTC, and Rita A.P. Cugini has been named as representative CRTC commissioner for the Ontario region. French worked in senior management positions at Bell Canada from 1989 to 1995. He was a member of the Quebec legislature from 1981 to 1989, and served as minister of communications from 1985 to 1988. Cugini has worked with Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. since 1999, in such positions...
The executive VP of CBC English Television Richard Stursberg pledged in a February 17 speech to the Broadcast Executives Society in Toronto that the public broadcaster would place a renewed emphasis on English-language homegrown TV drama. In the speech, he also criticized the CRTC’s attempt to...
The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) is demanding that the CRTC return to its old way of releasing statistics on a channel-by-channel basis for pay and specialty TV. "It is something that has been done previously as a matter of course. I think it is important to see how our...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. The CRTC should reject all pressure to implement specific deadlines for the rollout of high definition (HD), as our U.S. neighbour has done. The commission is taking the right approach in letting the market decide how quickly HD makes its way into the majority of Canadian homes. In...
Corus Quebec is bringing in a high-profile lawyer to fight an appeal to the federal government by two employee unions, which want a CRTC decision approving a radio station swap between Corus and Astral Media overturned. Lucien Bouchard, the former Conservative member of Parliament who resigned to lead the Bloc Quebecois...
TELUS’s Darren Entwistle remains cautious on TV serviceTELUS Corp. president and CEO Darren Entwistle continues to be cautious about the launch of the company’s TV service, stating during a February 18 conference call that he has not yet given it the greenlight. "I made the comment previously that taking a concept and offering it effectively in the marketplace such as moving into a new industry like entertainment...
Monday, February 28, 2005 Tomorrow Starts Today sees major boostHard on the heels of last month’s announcement that Telefilm Canada’s Canada New Media Fund would see an injection of $5 million, the federal government has made public a big $178-million a year for five years renewal of the Tomorrow Starts Today funding initiative. The program is an umbrella for several programs including the Canada New Media...
An unknown party that has applied for a national general interest pay television licence has the potential to cut into the multimillion dollar profits of the current regional pay monopolies, but many in the industry aren’t sure how to respond because of a lack of details about the filing....
Industry Canada has begun a public consultation on the introduction of ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless technology into the Canadian market – a development that is predicted will eventually eliminate wired connections in the home, including between the set-top box and the television. Industry Canada’s call for comments on...
The budget had some promising elements for the cultural community, but fell short of what is needed, according to industry players. The industry was disappointed that the budget made no mention of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), despite repeated pleas for a long-term, stable commitment to the fund from the federal government. Last year, the CTF was renewed for two years, which means that the government’s annual portion of $100 million is in place for TV and film production until March 2006. But many complain that there’s no certainty after that. "Where are the commitments to the Canadian Television Fund that we had hoped for?" asked Stephen Waddell, national...
Canada’s more liberal attitudes are allowing producers here to push the envelope more than Americans when it comes to depicting sex on television, agreed panelists at the "Is TV Getting Too Sexy?" session at a producer’s conference earlier this month. During the session held at the Canadian Television and Film...
The annual television festival is putting more of a focus on international players, and is expanding into new program areas such as reality television, news and lifestyle programming, according to Achilles Media principal Robert Montgomery. With its new name the Banff World Television Festival, he says that the June 12-15...
Corus, Astral confirm radio swap with the CRTCCorus Entertainment filed confirmation on February 4 that it agreed with CRTC conditions surrounding a swap of radio properties with Astral Media. Astral submitted its confirmation of the deal on February 8, the CRTC announced on February 22. (Broadcasting Decision 2005-15-1). The CRTC stated that the two parties had 30 days to confirm the deal, with the CRTC conditions, from...
Len Pendergast has joined the Independent Film Financing Inc. as VP. He will oversee all aspects of accessing and administering global incentives on behalf of its clients and will be responsible for sourcing and implementing new business opportunities for IFF and Los Angeles-based Comerica Entertainment Group. Most recently, Pendergast was director of tax credits for the Ontario Media Development Corp. Julia...
Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell told the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications in an appearance before it on February 23 that the broadcasting industry in Canada has never been less concentrated than it is today. The Senate committee is studying media concentration in Canada. Below is an excerpt from O’Farrell’s presentation. Today, broadcasters operate in a highly de-centralized media environment, characterized by more choice, more sources of information and entertainment than anyone thought possible in 1970. Yet, it has become an article of faith among certain commentators and observers that Canadian broadcasting has...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Broadcasting should be included in any review of the telecommunications industry. The federal government in its budget announced this week indicated that it was going to appoint a panel to review Canada’s telecommunications policy and regulatory framework (see article on page 7). As advocated by...
The constitutionality of the levy scheme on blank CDs may again be debated judicially if the Supreme Court of Canada opts to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling by the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), supported by a phalanx of deep-pocketed retailers. The large chains of stores filed a leave to appeal application with the...
Digital signage – networked advertising screens that catch consumers’ eyes indoors and out – is set to become mainstream as prices for the technology plummet, participants at a recent conference heard. At the Digital Signage Inaugural Summit in Toronto on February 9 and 10, speakers from national manufacturers and...
A Toronto start-up company is hoping to strike deals with cablecos and oth-ers to rapidly move its interactive set-top box into North American homes. Following a trial with a Virginia-based wireless cableco, SBS Interactive Inc. is pursuing a dual licensing/retail strategy for its Duo technology – hardware and application...
Macromedia has unveiled a new version of its ColdFusion software, codenamed Blackstone, to ease the creation of web-based, interactive applications for mobile phones and other handheld devices Using SMPP, the same as simple text messaging, Blackstone allows a developer to easily create text-based applications with...
CBC Radio 3 sees overhaulCBC Radio will undertake a comprehensive restructuring of CBC Radio 3 to give it an increased focus on radio programming while maintaining a history of innovation on the web. As part of the re-alignment, according to a media release, Radio 3’s web strategy will change. Its NewMusicCanada.com, RootsMusicCanada.com and JustConcerts.com will be merged and re-launched as part the new online home for...
Leo Adler, national affairs director of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center has been appointed as a member to the Federal Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security. The group will work with the federal government to develop measures relating to national security. Its first meeting will take place in early March in Ottawa. The Friends group has been very active in highlighting online instances of hate and racist material....
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Canadian NEW MEDIA was unable to run, this week, a story based on its conversation with Lynda Brown, head of New Media BC, about the upcoming VIDFEST conference. To be held June 15-17, the conference has a five-track agenda concentrating on the most exciting digital content areas in the industry today,...
A delay in securing a carriage agreement has likely benefited Jeffrey Elliott, who will soon launch BiteTV, a short-form entertainment digital specialty TV channel that will rely heavily on mobile video content and SMS to beef up its interactivity. Elliott has inked a distribution deal with Rogers Communications Inc. for the channel, originally called Glassbox (CNM, Feb. 7/02). The channel signal has already been delivered to Rogers for testing, and Bite TV is slated for a soft launch on February 28, and a hard launch on March 15. TELUS Corp., which has not yet commercially started its TV service, has also agreed to carry the channel. On Rogers, the channel – 198 on the dial – will...
Shaw’s telephony service could be in all its major markets within a year: CEOShaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw told Canadian Communications Reports that its Shaw Digital Phone, which launched in Calgary on February 14, will likely expand to all of the cableco’s major markets within a year from now. But he won’t disclose what cities are up after Calgary for competitive reasons. “What we are saying is (we’ll...
TELUS Communications Inc. hopes to launch its TV service sometime this year, according to TELUS’ executive VP of government and regulatory affairs. It’s been a long time in the making as TELUS received its broadcast distribution licence back in August 2003 (CCR, Aug. 22/03), and at that time pledged to be up-and-running...
Conventional TV earnings decline between 2003 and 2004: CRTCRevenues for Canadian conventional private TV increased marginally between 2003 and 2004, while earnings before interest and taxes declined, according to a financial report released February 10 by the CRTC. Revenues rose marginally – from $2.087 billion to $2.105 billion between those two years for a 1% increase, but EBIT declined 22.7% as programming expenses...
Canadian Digital Television (CDTV) president Michael McEwen called on Canada to develop a na-tional high-definition (HD) rollout plan – and fast, before homegrown audiences switch to the U.S. networks to get their fill of HD programming. In his keynote address at the Canadian Satellite Users Association (CSUA)...
Andrea Wood, executive VP of business and legal affairs, has been appointed as the head of the integrated operational and corporate legal departments at Alliance Atlantis Communications, effective immediately. Based in Toronto, she will oversee all operational and corporate legal activities for the company. She joined Alliance Atlantis in 1992. The following directors have been re-elected to the board of directors at Cossette Communication Group Inc.: Claude Lessard, chair and CEO; François Duffar, VP of the board and president; Robert Beauregard, president of Beauregard Group; John Bernbach, president and COO of Not Traditional Media; Nicole Côté, president of Psycho-Logic Inc.; Serge Gouin, president and CEO of Quebecor Media Inc.; David McKerroll, CEO of CIT Capital Finance; and Peter Post, CEO of Cossette Post. Barbara Williams has been appointed as senior VP of programming and production for CanWest MediaWorks television assets in a realignment of the senior management team. Williams will have overall responsibility for...
Wayne Clarkson unveiled a new vision for Telefilm Canada – one aiming for a collaborative approach to production with the provinces and other agencies, and that focuses on training new talent – earlier this month in Ottawa. In a speech before a room full of producers at the Canadian Film...
Canadian Heritage minister Liza Frulla announced $5 million in public funding for the new media industry on February 3 during a speech she delivered at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) conference in Ottawa. She also talked about the importance of investing in culture....
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to financially help the Canadian broadcasting industry make the transition from analog to digital and HD. CDTV president Michael McEwen has called for government tax credits, a special one-time allocation to help the CBC build up its high-definition offerings,...
Debate over what ails the Canadian TV drama had a familiar ring at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) conference in Ottawa earlier this month. Producers and unions continued to cry that the private broadcasters aren’t spending enough on homegrown programming and that they aren’t scheduling...
Managing how broadband is used will be a key challenge in moving to a high-definition (HD) world, panelists at the Canadian Satellite Users Association (CSUA) conference agreed. One participant likened the transition to a throwback to the analog world. Digital channels take up a fraction of the space of their analog...
Friday, February 11, 2005 Ringtone tariff proceeding postponedThe Copyright Board of Canada has postponed its hearing into a proposed royalty rate for mobile phone ringtones that use copyrighted music. The hearing was to have taken place on February 15, but was cancelled as objectors to the rate were not yet ready to make their arguments. A conference will be held by the parties on Tuesday, February 15 to...
Foreign services should have to apply for changes in licence conditions: CABThe president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says that foreign services should have to appear before the CRTC to seek regulatory approval for changes to their channels, just as Canadian services do. Glenn O’Farrell’s comments followed the CRTC’s decision that there was insufficient evidence that Viacom-owned...
New made-in-Canada online ad format standards are being touted as an important way to reduce the cost of advertising online. On January 17, the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB Canada) announced three new formats on which its members would standardize: a super banner, big box and skyscraper. Common pixel and...
An expanded Canadian New Media Awards (CNMA) program sees the involvement this year of Ontario’s New Media Business Alliance (NMBA) and the Society of Wired Women to judge nominations. The event, to be held at the Carlu Theatre in Toronto May 30, sees the NMBA and its fellow Canadian coalition of new media associations and Wired Women providing the judges to over-see the selection of 19 award winners. One award, for outstanding contribution to the industry, is being chosen by CNMA founder Adam Froman. This year’s awards are the fifth such event, and follow a one-year hiatus. There were no awards in 2004 as public sector sponsorship was delayed due to the federal election. Though there was initial planning again to hold the awards last fall, discussions with the NMBA and its...
The Canadian new media industry’s marquee trade show appears to finally be on solid footing under new owners Achilles Media. Julia Walden, who has been hired by Achilles to oversee the production of nextMEDIA, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the show is set to proceed June 11 and 12 in Banff, just before the Banff Television Festival. Achilles has...
Clarkson promises new media will be a priorityNew Telefilm Canada head Wayne Clarkson told an audience February 3 that new media will be an important priority in his leadership of the agency. In a speech to the Canadian Film and Television Production Association annual meeting, he told listeners that new media’s "creative opportunities are only beginning to be revealed. The road ahead is filled with risk. It takes...
Len Pendergast has joined Independent Film Financing Inc. as VP. He will oversee all aspects of accessing and administering global incentives on behalf of the company’s clients, and for sourcing and implementing new business opportunities for it and LA-based Comerica Enteratainment Group. Perndergast was previously director of tax credits for the Ontario Media Development Corp. That position will be filled on an acting...
A dozen Canadian new media producers and funders are looking forward to a government-supported trade mission to Australia and Singapore as an opportunity to establish new contacts, find partnership opportunities and sell product. The mission, from February 19 to March 9, sees the producers on a four-city tour that includes...
Franny’s Feet Online is the interactive sidekick to Decode Entertainment’s television series Franny’s Feet. The online web site is designed for parents and their children (ages 3-6) to surf online together. Much like the show, the site is centered around Franny, a young girl who helps her grandfather in his shoe shop. Franny tries on different pairs of shoes and her imagination takes her away on far-off adventures. The web site consists of a series of games and activities that draw on the central themes of Exploration, Imagination, Sharing and Experiencing. Site highlights: Users can visit ‘Grandpa’s Globe’ for the opportunity to explore different environments and cultures all around the world. ‘Franny’s Words’ focuses on word association where preschool and kindergarten audiences learn new and different words. Users can also join ‘Franny’s Friends’. Users can upload a picture of themselves along with a story about their own adventure to be saved in Franny’s Scrapbook. Some stories will be...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. It would be tempting to adopt wholesale the Canadian Culture Online Program advisory board’s recommendation to put new media funding dollars under the control of a new agency. After all, there’s clearly momentum in the sector. It’s worthwhile remembering, though, that across the board of ICT...
Canadian Heritage has announced that the Canada New Media Fund, administered by Telefilm Canada, will be increased to $14 million for 2005/06. The announcement was made February 3 at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s annual conference by Canadian Heritage minister Liza Frulla. The additional $5 million will be welcomed by the...
Canada Post hopes to build on its position of trust in the Canadian marketplace to deliver targeted interactive advertising to consumers. The company is testing a new service dubbed fetch that entices potential customers to ask for more information on items they see advertised in print, hear on radio and see on television....
New media content producers are becoming edgy about the fate of the Inukshuk Learning Plan fund in the wake of a takeover of parent company Microcell Telecommunications Inc. by Rogers Wireless Inc. One producer who has asked to remain anonymous was invited to submit a second phase application to the...
Canadian Heritage has announced that the Canada New Media Fund, administered by Telefilm Canada, will be increased to $14 million for 2005/06. The announcement was made today at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s annual conference by Canadian Heritage minister Liza Frulla. The additional $5 million will be welcomed by the new...
Corus Entertainment is still mulling over a CRTC decision that could finally end a limbo period for seven AM stations in Quebec and a Quebec City FM station that Astral Media has been trying to unload for three years. Corus had agreed to an $11-million swap of radio stations in the province with Astral, but it is...
SaskTel signs VOD agreement with Sony Pictures InternationalSaskatchewan Telecommunications has signed a multi-year video-on-demand (VOD) distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television International. Sony Pictures will provide SaskTel with current releases and movies from its film library for its Max TV service. "This agreement with Sony Pictures Television International will expand the choices our Max Front...
Diana Cafazzo and Sandra Richmond have joined the entertainment law firm headed by Stephen Stohn and Roy Hay. The firm, now called Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond, is expanding to other practice areas. The two newest members of the law firm previously worked for McMillan Binch LLP. Marit Stiles has been appointed as director of research at the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA)....
The CRTC this week found insufficient evidence that SpikeTV was competitive with any Canadian specialty or pay TV service, ending an almost two-year bid by the Canada’s private broadcasters to have the rebranded U.S. channel removed from the country (CCR, March 25/04, June 30/03). The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and some private broadcasters on their own argued that when new owner Viacom International switched its focus to the 18-45 male demo, it had become competitive with some Canadian channels such as the Category 1 Men TV. Foreign services cannot be partially or totally competitive with any existing Canadian TV channels (except if they are general interest ethnic channels in which most of the programming is in a language other than French or English). Thus, the CRTC...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. The CRTC has to seriously work out ways to speed up its decisions on the broadcasting side. This week, the commission finally released its decision on SpikeTV, making no changes to the carriage terms of the rebranded U.S. channel (see Newsmakers). It took the CRTC close to two years to come to the...
Canada’s private broadcasters are asking the CRTC to further delay a look at whether the U.S. channels HDNet and Discovery HD Theater should be permitted entry into Canada on a digital basis. But the cable industry, which has been waiting almost two years for a response on the matter from the regulator, is calling...
Bell ExpressVu says that the CRTC’s proposed changes to winback rules will help it crack the multiple unit dwelling (MUD) market. The proposed changes clarify that not only are cablecos prohibited from contacting for 90 days condo boards, but also from wooing back with special deals individual MUD...
The CEO of the joint venture by CBC/Radio-Canada, Standard Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio to bring subscription satellite radio here says that its rivals are unfairly blasting Industry’s Canada proposal to allow the use of foreign satellites. "I think specifically it was positioned as this big surprise that...
Vidéotron ltée became the first of Canada’s big four cablecos this week to add a telephony option to its existing cable TV and Internet services, a move that the company president and CEO says should help to continue to reduce customer churn. Existing Vidéotron customers are being offered significantly reduced prices on the hybrid telephone service compared to non-customers. Robert Dépatie noted during a January 24 conference call that churn on the video side was at 13%, one of the lowest in the country, and at 16% on the Internet side. The significant discounts on the telephony service for existing Vidéotron customers are expected to further reduce those levels. The phone...
Hip Interactive Playboy game ships to retailersHip Interactive Corp. has seen its Playboy: The Mansion multi-platform video game shipped to retailers. Available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC platforms, the game allows players to manage the business of the Playboy empire. The game is published by ARUSH Publishing. In other Hip news, the company has announced that the launch date for its Pariah game will be May 3,...
Early reaction is positive to a bombshell report recommending that a new agency be created to oversee funding to the new media community, and that the federal government’s Culture.ca portal be operated by an arms-length body. A report by the advisory board to the Canadian Culture Online Program (CCOP), A Charter for the...
The Canadian Society of Copyright Consumers (CSCC) is closing its doors after nearly 80 years in operation. The organization filed to surrender its charter with Industry Canada late last year. The organization, says executive VP and the group’s sustaining organizer Lyman Potts, has found its role increasingly co-opted by in-house counsel in ongoing...
Telefilm Canada officials say that they will rectify the problem of different evaluation criteria being communicated during the last Canada New Media Fund round. They say that internal measures will be taken to ensure that consistent comments about criteria are used across the country. Sources tell Canadian NEW MEDIA that...
Many in the Canadian new media industry are excited by the volley of new product announcements made earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas. While a new generation of convergent devices – most of them taking advantage of fast-plummeting processor prices, dirt cheap Chinese manufacturing and...
Telefilm replies to ReevesTelfilm Canada writes: "Telefilm Canada was surprised to read in Canada NEW Media’s year-end issue that Reeves Interactive had not received financial support from Telefilm for their sequel of www.grandeourse.tv. We would like to address this by pointing out that Reeves Interactive had never submitted an Expression of interest letter or an application for financing through the Canada New...
Ralph Holt has been named as the national head of Telefilm Canada’s English Feature Film program. He has been with Telefilm Canada for 17 years. Until recently, Holt held the joint positions of regional director for the Atlantic region and national sector head for English feature film. An internal reorientation of roles within English-language operations in November 2004 resulted in the positions of section heads (for...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Frederick Jackson Turner would likely be very pleased with the Canadian Culture Online Program advisory board’s report. Almost as soon as Turner wrote his frontier thesis in 1893, his theory was attacked on all sides. His simple premise, that people who move into the frontier develop new modes of...
VDN Cable wins Class 1 distribution licence for Toronto marketThe CRTC has granted Montreal-based VDN Cable a Class 1 cable broadcasting distribution licence to serve the Toronto market (Broadcasting Decision 2005-1). During the process, Rogers – which delivers its cable TV service to many multiple unit dwellings in Ontario’s capital – told the commission that it should not issue a BDU licence to VDN until it was satisfied that the applicant’s proposed distribution of TQS met all of the criteria for the distribution of a distant Canadian signal, which the CRTC found it did. VDN plans to use the Class 1 cable licence to serve the multiple unit dwelling market in Toronto, opting to target buildings there with Satellite Master Antenna Television (SMATV) systems, or those with numerous grey or black market TV customers (CCR, Aug. 17/04). VDN is hoping to establish a customer base of about 10,000 in Toronto.Western Channel wins extension in deadline to launchThe CRTC has approved an application by Craig Media Inc., acquired since by...
Canadians want the choice of watching homegrown programming on TV, with domestic drama ranking in the middle of the pack in terms of having the option of watching a specific kind of TV show, according to a Decima Research omnibus survey. Almost half (47%) of the 2,2025 adult Canadians polled say having a certain...
Leitch Technology Corp.’s acquisition of privately held Inscriber Technology Corp. should provide the video systems supplier with stronger focus on software solutions for the broadcast industry. The acquisition completed on January 7 is valued at $18 million, including the assumption of Inscriber’s $1.5 million debt. The purchase is to be...
CDTV committee pushing high-definition productionCanadian Digital Television (CDTV) has formed a committee to push producers and broadcasters to produce more content in high-definition (HD). Members of the organization’s HD content production committee will make their first public push at the Canadian Satellite Users Association (CSUA) conference in Toronto February 1 and 2. As well, for the first time, the Canadian...
Ralph Holt has been named as the national head of Telefilm Canada’s English Feature Film program. He has been with Telefilm Canada for 17 years. Until recently, Holt held the joint positions of regional director for the Atlantic region and national sector head for English feature film. An internal reorientation of roles within English-language operations in November 2004 resulted in the positions of section heads (for...
Canadian satellite pirate Marty Mullen will be spending the next seven years in a Florida jail. Not the typical choice of retirement residence for a wealthy Canadian, but nonetheless appropriate for a man shown to be a prolific North American satellite pirate. Mr. Mullen was also ordered to pay restitution of US$24 million based on evidence submitted by NDS and DirecTV. As the Canadian member of the team that helped make this happen I was present in court for the sentencing hearing. The Canadian press reported extensively on Mr. Mullen’s case, but nowhere in the coverage was there mention of two issues raised during the sentencing process that reflected on the state of affairs in Canada. The first was a discussion of the effect of the R v. Therriault and D’Argy decision in...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. The migration issue has been a thorn in the industry’s side for many years now and it is time that the players reconvened around the table and hammered things out. There is a need now for rules to begin an orderly transition to digital. The CRTC’s public notice of last week gives the...
The CRTC appears to be looking to a divided industry to come up with the answers to establish rules for the migration to digital in a public notice it issued last week. Broadcasting Public Notice 2005-1, which is a call for proposals for a framework for the licensing and distribution of high-definition pay and specialty...
Aliant Telecom Inc. has filed a Part VII complaint against Bragg Communications Inc. and its EastLink subsidiary because the cableco has stopped accepting the telco’s advertising on its cable channels in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. From July 31, 2003 until June 23, 2004, Aliant...
Opponents to the entry of two American-based subscription radio services into Canada are attacking an Industry Canada proposal that would essentially permit their plans to move ahead. The proposal has given the opposition a second opportunity to express their views against XM Satellite Radio and...
As expected, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada a court decision that removed the private copying levy from MP3 players and other digital audio recorders (CNM, Dec. 17/04). In a ruling made public Decmber 17, The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed two applications for judicial review of...
Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Stakeholders coming to grips with CCOP board reportReaction to a report filed by the Canadian Culture Online Program (CCOP) advisory board on the future of that initiative will be featured in the next issue of Canadian NEW MEDIA. Late last year, the advisory board made several recommendations, including the establishment of two new agencies to oversee the editorial direction of the...
Alliance Atlantis applies to use new CRTC ad incentivesAlliance Atlantis Communications Inc. is poised as the first broadcaster to tap into the CRTC’s advertising-based incentives aimed at getting more Canadian TV drama produced and watched. The specialty TV broadcaster has applied to the commission for licence amendments for Showcase Television, History Television, BBC Canada, The Independent Film Channel Canada, and...
Our thanks go out again this year to the many readers who contributed to our year-end issue, wrapping up 2004 and looking forward to 2005. These organizations and companies uniformly see light on the horizon for the new media industry, which was the recipient of several body blows in 2003. Each is able to point to important...
The Federal Court of Appeal has confirmed the Copyright Board of Canada’s controversial year-old private copying decision with respect to zero-rating and its constitutionality (CNM, Dec. 19/03). However, the court has reversed the board’s decision on the matter of levies on non-removable memory. The decision has led to widespread discussion about the legal status of music downloading. Some state that a ruling by Konrad Von Finckenstein last April that downloading is protected under the private copying regime is now no longer valid. The decision seems to point to the elimination of personal computers from the private copying regime as it delineates between memory and devices....
