TAGGED AS MEDIA

Canadians are increasingly favouring specialty TV over conventional: survey

Media | 05/06/2004 4:00 am EDT

Canadians are increasingly turning to specialty channels as their preferred television viewing option because of better programming, according to a recent national consumer research survey. The study found that 47% of Canadian TV viewers say they prefer specialty channels to conventional networks, with only 31% stating they prefer conventional networks. "The results of this study are consistent with Nielsen Media Research data, which clearly indicate that audiences for specialty channels have overtaken audiences from conventional television channels," says Brad Alles, senior VP of sales and promotion at Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting. "…In the end the message is clear,...

CNM Update

Media | 05/05/2004 4:00 am EDT

May 5, 2004 Incumbent telcos see growth in high-speed Internet subscribersTELUS Corp., Bell Canada and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) each reported strong growth in the number of high-speed Internet subscribers they signed up in the first quarter of 2004. TELUS closed the quarter with 605,200 high-speed subscribers and 309,100 dial-up subs, up 12.3% on a combined basis from the first quarter of 2003. Bell Canada increased its Sympatico DSL High-Speed Internet subscriber base by 32% in the same period to now reach 1.6 million subscribers, and saw the highest quarterly net increase in DSL subscribers since 2001, adding 115,000 during the first quarter. The company counted a total of 2.43 million subscribers to its high-speed and dial-up services. MTS saw an increase for its first quarter in the number of Internet subscribers of 11.9%, or 139,904 customers for high-speed and dial-up. During the quarter, the company added 5,821 net new high-speed subscribers.Canada again ranks first on e-government maturityCanada ranked first out...

Regulate violent, sexy video games, Canadians say in Decima Research survey

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

The vast majority of Canadians say video games should be regulated by the government to warn users about violence and sexual content they could contain, according to a new survey conducted by Decima Research Inc. for Canadian NEW MEDIA. In a national telephone survey of more than 2,000 Canadian adults over the age of 18,...

Naked News to offer version for gay audiences as original continues on PPV

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

Naked News, a Toronto-based Internet news show, has come out of the closet. A new version will now cater to a gay audience, covering issues specific to that community along with other news. World renowned for delivering the days events in the nude, the new program Naked News Daily Male was launched in March by Naked...

Ecentricarts founder wins prize for professional, volunteer activities

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

In April, The Banff New Media Institute awarded the 2004 Global Television Network Broadcast Communications Award to Michel Blondeau, new media producer and founder of Toronto-based ecentricarts inc. Blondeau will receive $5,000 toward participation in training and mentorship at Banff. While in Toronto recently, Canadian...

Dominion Institute builds on Global partnership with new SMS campaigns

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Dominion Institute has expanded on its previous VoxPoll SMS initiative with CanWest Global Communications Inc. to launch two new politically-themed projects. The first is a new VoxPoll around the upcoming federal elections, and will see Global National viewers polled on their views about election issues. The second is a...

Genies see cooperation on ITV from producer, broadcaster and distributor

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

Interactive television, the red-headed stepchild of new media, is set to come into its own as several powerhouse organizations will offer Genie award viewers an enhanced version of the staid event. In May, the awards will be broadcast on Citytv Toronto, Star!, Bravo!, MusiMax and Access, as well as on ASN in Nova Scotia, with some satellite customers able to participate in live polling, trivia games and to get additional information about the stars and filmamkers of Canadian cinema. Xenophile Media, with Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund assistance, is licensing two interactive versions of the awards show to CHUM Ltd., including the ITV enhancements for customers of an undisclosed...

Canadian ISPs and copyright holders present opposite views on ISP liability

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

Canada’s music recording industry has asked Parliament to change the ad hoc arrangement by which Internet service providers (ISPs) deal with copyright infringing material online. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) asked a meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to move to a U.S.-style...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

ClarificationThe article "Little action seen on new media exemption order as expiration date nears" in the April 16 issue of Canadian NEW MEDIA may have unintentionally left an impression with some readers that the 1999 New Media Exemption Order would expire this year. Exemption orders do not expire, but CRTC policy is to review them every five years. A CRTC spokesperson tells CNM that there are currently no...

CNM People

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

Suzanne Guèvremont, director general of the Centre National d'Animation et de Design, has been elected to a second term as president of the Alliance numériQC. Newly elected to the association’s board are Tanya Claessens, president of Kutoka, and Rémi Racine, president of A2M, who will serve as VPs. Sylvain Perron, president of Dialex, is also new to the board, and will serve as secretary, and Robert Charpentier...

CNM Editorial

Media | 04/30/2004 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.It’s likely a good thing that the attention of commissioners at Canada’s broadcast and telecom regulator are now preoccupied with the meaty issues of Voice over IP telephony and the distribution of foreign channels such as FOX News. If it weren’t, it might turn its attention to interactive...

CCR Update

Media | 04/28/2004 4:00 am EDT

April 28, 2004 CRTC denies ichannel’s request for decreased CanCon requirementsThe CRTC has denied a request by Stornoway Communications’ Category 1 digital specialty TV channel ichannel to decrease the percentage of the broadcast day and of the evening period that must be devoted to the exhibition of Canadian programs to 50% overall and 50% of the evening broadcast period (Broadcasting Decision 2004-167)....

CCTA makes moves to get more U.S. channels approved for carriage in Canada

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) is asking the CRTC to allow the U.S. channel FOX News to be distributed in Canada on a digital-only basis, and further applications for the digital carriage of foreign channels are expected this summer. The CCTA vowed last November to continue efforts to get more foreign...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

Broadcast distribution statisticsCable Class 1 and 2 systems Revenue20032002Subscription $3,604,691,225$3,430,014,091Total Revenue$4,162,949,561$3,859,793,642Pre-tax Profit$225,199,488$1,399,087SubscribersBasic6,867,8377,014,460Non-Basic5,422,4195,579,970MDS and DTH Revenue20032002Subscription $1,160,383,942$922,104,624Total Revenue$1,203,060,366$945,754,788Pre-tax...

CCR People

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

Jill Rosenberg has been named national organizer of digital media at the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). She will be responsible for continuing to develop ACTRA’s digital media strategy and facilitate the engagement of ACTRA members in digital media productions, including web sites, video games and online advertising. Most recently, Rosenberg was president, creative director and...

Senate committee interim report calls for public hearings, further research

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications released its Interim Report on the Canadian News Media this month. The interim report stems from a study of media concentration that the standing committee began last April (CCR, April 25/03). An excerpt of the report appears below. As with newspapers and radio, there has been considerable consolidation of television station ownership over time. …The top five television ownership groups owned 68% of all private television stations in 2000, an increase of nearly 40% from 1970. It also shows that single-station ownership is a rarity today, with just six such enterprises in 2000. Viewing Share by Ownership In the...

CCR Editorial

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.VisionTV’s latest request for a larger wholesale rate should be a call to action to commissioners to quickly establish a set of criteria for rate increases that both protects the consumer and provides a measure of regulatory certainty for applicants. The latest VisionTV request comes a scant year after...

WWE wins $2.1-million in case lawyer says furthers anti-TV signal piracy efforts

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) has won a $2.1-million case in the Federal Court of Canada against numerous sports bars for pirating its pay-per-view (PPV) programming in a case that its lawyer calls "a major win." William McKenzie, who represented the WWE, says that the 41 sports bars who were...

CHUM asks for flexibility in licence renewal applications for its two B.C. TV stations

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

CHUM Ltd. is asking the CRTC to allow it to reduce the amount of locally produced news it airs on its Vancouver TV station so it can become more competitive in British Columbia’s tight market. The request is made in the company’s licence renewal application for Citytv Vancouver. CHUM is asking...

Banff TV festival to take place despite financial troubles of organizing body

Media | 04/22/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Banff Television Festival "will absolutely" go ahead this year despite the red ink in which its not-for-profit parent is bathing. The Banff Television Foundation filed for bankruptcy protection on April 14 as part of a deal that includes new ownership by entertainment company Achilles Partners LLC, and that...

CNM Update

Media | 04/21/2004 4:00 am EDT

April 21, 2004 Indication that nextMEDIA may go forwardA spokesperson for the Banff Television Foundation says new owners Achilles Partners LP are still considering their options for the ancillary festivals recently launched by the organization, including the nextMEDIA new media festival (CNM, April 16/04), as the foundation restructures and focuses efforts on the upcoming Banff Television Festival. The general manager of the Delta hotel in Charlottetown PE, where the nextMEDIA is slated to be held this fall, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that he’s been assured by the festival organizers that the conference is a profitable one, and will be going ahead as planned, however. At press time, CNM was unable to reach Banff officials to confirm the private discussions have taken place. Further details will be provided as they become available. AOL Canada puts Wi-Fi box on store shelvesAOL Canada Inc. has negotiated a distribution agreement with Future Shop and Best Buy to put a new wireless home networking box and high-speed access...

Little action seen on new media exemption order as expiration date nears

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

The 1999 new media exemption order that has for five years foreborne the Internet from regulation by the CRTC is set to expire, but it looks increasingly unlikely that the commission will act to re-open the issue. The order, which classifies much of the content on the Internet as a form of broadcasting but places no...

Vancouver institution loses funding, has not met development expectations

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

Vancouver’s New Media Innovation Centre (NewMIC) was on the cusp of changing its research focus to study ambient intelligence (AmI) before the funding plug was pulled in November (CNM, Dec. 4/03). A confidential report, obtained by Canadian NEW MEDIA through Access to Information provisions, paints a picture of an...

CRIA launches appeal over decision to not force ISPs to release file-sharers’ names

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) has launched its expected appeal of last month’s Federal Court of Canada ruling that ISPs won’t be required to identify 29 people suspected of sharing music files (CNM, April 2/04). On April 13, CRIA filed its appeal with the Federal Court of...

Adult industry self-regulatory body sets up shop in Toronto in preparation for new TLD

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

A new self-regulatory body for the online adult entertainment industry has been given its Canadian incorporation papers as it sponsors a new top-level domain (TLD), .xxx. The body, the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), has been set up as a not-for-profit organization to...

CRIA disputes academic claims that sharing has no effect on music sales

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) is taking dead aim at a recently released study that purports to show that peer-to-peer file-sharing has next to no impact on music sales. The study, The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis, was released by the University of North Carolina (UNC)...

Litigation tops list of concerns for digital content companies doing global business

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

The globalization of digital content and business is a growing concern for companies that must now consider their compliance with laws in far-off lands, a new study argues. The report, Global Internet Jurisdiction, prepared by a committee of the American Bar Association under the co-chairmanship of University of Ottawa law...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

CCTA copyright request on back burner at committeeThe Canadian Cable Television Association’s (CCTA) request that the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology examine the issue of ISP liability in the context of ongoing copyright reforms won’t move forward just yet (CNM, April 2/04). Committee chair Brent St. Denis tells CNM that the body is still considering other legislation. "I haven’t really...

CNM People

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

Oliver Bock, executive VP of sales at Hip Interactive Corp., has resigned his position effective April 2. Greg Risen, who has been with Hip for three-and-a-half years as director of sales in Canada will be appointed VP of sales. Pierre Lessard and André Caron have been reappointed as members of the National Film Board for a period of three years. Kristina Babulic has joined the Canadian Cable Television...

CNM Editorial

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.By way of an administrative order, the CRTC could extend the current exemption forebearing Internet content from regulation, but we hope they won’t. We understand that the commission has a lot on its plate right now. A new process examining Voice over IP telephony has just been announced, and the ground is fresh for competitive telecommunications providers. Incumbents Bell Canada and TELUS Communications are hoping processes around VoIP and Aliant’s forebearance proceeding will give them greater flexibility to compete. A process on interactive television continues to simmer on the back burner, and the television industry is changing with new viewing technologies such as high definition taking advantage of higher capacity digital networks. While both television and telephony preoccupy the regulator, however, change has been hard and fast in the Internet world since the exemption order was first issued...

Banff Festival to get new lease on life but fates of other festivals unknown

Media | 04/16/2004 4:00 am EDT

The future of the new media industry’s well-regarded nextMedia conference is uncertain as its owner, the Banff Television Foundation, files for bankruptcy. Banff took over the event in 2003 as it faced its own shaky financial future, but now the foundation is facing an estimated $820,000 deficit, new ownership and a...

VCom scoops up Saskatchewan’s Image Wireless Communications

Media | 04/15/2004 4:00 am EDT

VCom Inc. is set to purchase Saskatchewan-based wireless cable TV and Internet provider Image Wireless Communications Inc., Canadian Communications Reports has learned. An Image Wireless employee told CCR today that the company is currently "in transition - in the process of being taken over by another company,"...

CCR Update

Media | 04/14/2004 4:00 am EDT

April 14, 2004 CHUM Ltd. signs deal to purchase Craig MediaToronto-based CHUM Ltd. announced April 12 that it has signed a definitive $265-million agreement to purchase all of the shares of Craig Media Inc., which owns the A-Channel conventional TV stations in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, the new over-the-air station Toronto One, and a number of digital specialty channels. Because its flagship Citytv...

Foreign specialty TV channels make ‘no tangible contribution’ to Canadian system

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

Speaking before the Broadcast Executives Society on March 25, Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell noted that foreign specialty channels distributed in Canada made absolutely no tangible contribution to the homegrown broadcasting system. The speech provoked the Canadian Cable...

CRTC orders ExpressVu to stop adding customers to its i Weather service

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC has put a stop to the growth of Bell ExpressVu LP’s inter-active service, i Weather, telling the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributor that it cannot acquire any more subscribers until the results of the commission’s iTV proceeding are announced and its dispute with Pelmorex Communications Inc. is resolved. The commission asked Bell ExpressVu to provide it by April 16 with the number of subscribers it had to its weather service as of the date of its March 31 licence renewal and not to accept any more customers (Broadcasting Decision 2004-129). During licence renewal hearings for Bell ExpressVu, Pelmorex once again complained that the satellite TV distributor would...

CCR Editorial

Media | 04/08/2004 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 was right to take into consideration capacity constraints in renewing the licences of satellite TV distributors Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice. The regulator also correctly noted that the need for more capacity will likely intensify as broadcasters begin to add high-definition (HD) versions of...

Court to consider case involving disgruntled Shaw customer adjudicating proceeding

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

The Federal Court of Canada will hear May 4 in Toronto the matter of Shaw Communications Inc. v. Craig Paquet. In the proceeding that began two years ago, Shaw is attempting to have the Human Resources Development Canada adjudicator in a labour dispute removed from the case. Craig Paquet is an independent contractor...

Capacity constraints force Star Choice to drop some pay-per-view channels

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

Star Choice Communications Inc.’s decision to drop some pay-per-view channels due to capacity constraints has caused concern with at least one cableco in the Quebec market but seems to be having little effect in the rest of Canada. "Unfortunately, we have lost seven Indigo channels. Those are the French versions...

CRTC opens door to partial channel carriage by satellite TV distributors

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC has opened the door to satellite TV distributors using omnibus or partial channels and A/B switches to ensure the delivery of more local programming to subscribers, an approach that broadcasters oppose. It’s a development favoured by direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributors Star Choice Television Network...

Star Choice gets full-term licence renewal despite protests from broadcasters

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC has renewed Star Choice Television Network Inc.’s licence for a full seven years despite strong opposition from broadcasters. The direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributor’s licence was renewed from April 1, 2004 until Aug. 31, 2010 (Broadcasting Decision 2004-130). The CRTC found that "a full-term...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

Four French-language projects receive monies from film fundFour French-language author-driven films are the first to receive funding under the 2004-05 main program of the Canada Feature Film Fund’s selective component. Receiving funding are Robert Morin’s Et que Dieu bénisse l’Amérique, about a serial killer; Bernard Émond’s Jeanne et François, about a doctor and an orphan; Robin Aubert’s...

CRTC calls for comments on possibility of regulating programmer audit rights

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

While saying they endorse the principle of audit rights for specialty TV services, distributors oppose the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) framework on the matter. That framework was included as an appendix in a CRTC process announced March 31 that calls for comments on the possibility of amending the...

CCR People

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

Don Mazankowski has been nominated by the Shaw Communications board of directors as lead director. The lead director is an outside and unrelated director appointed by the board of directors. Mazankowski was a member of Parliament from 1968 to 1993. He has been a director of Shaw since 1993 and is currently chair of the corporate governance committee of the board. Longtime executive Doug Wilson has been appointed...

Status quo approach to VoIP hurts small cablecos, says CCTA head Hennessy

Media | 04/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

The cable industry says the status quo approach taken by the CRTC in its preliminary views on a regulatory framework for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony services will prevent small cablecos from entering the market. The CRTC’s approach, according to the Canadian Cable Television Association, will inhibit small cablecos from entering the VoIP market, and thus will make them uncompetitive with Bell Canada’s satellite TV distribution arm Bell ExpressVu LP. The cable industry argues that it must be able to bundle telephony with its TV service to remain competitive with Bell’s bundles. CCTA acting president Michael Hennessy says more should have been done to ease the way...

CNM Update

Media | 04/07/2004 4:00 am EDT

April 7, 2004 Changes afoot at Banff Television FoundationDetails are sketchy, but Pat Ferns is apparently set to step down as CEO of the Banff Television Foundation. Sources and media reports indicate that a new CEO will be appointed, and hint at the new involvement of a third-party Winnipeg company in running the foundation’s various events. Ferns is apparently to stay on with the organization in an...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

D-Box sets up high profile advisory committeeD-Box Technology Inc. has announced the creation of an advisory committee comprised of: Leon F. Gosselin, president and CEO of Axcan Pharma Inc.; Peter Morand, president and CEO of the Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund Inc.; and Edward Jung, co-founder of Intellectual Ventures. This committee is expected to help accelerate D-Box’s growth in the $11-billion home...

CNM People

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

Pierre Arpin has been appointed to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. Since 2003, Arpin has been president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, and has served at various art galleries over the years. Sylvie Courtemanche has joined TELUS Québec on a part-time basis as director of regulatory affairs. She continues to work two days a week on her own broadcast consulting practice. Courtemanche...

Telefilm fund needs more money: coalition

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

On March 16, the heads of Canada’s most active new media associations wrote to Canadian Heritage Minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer to emphasize the contribution the sector makes to Canada’s economy. To bolster that contribution, the ad hoc coalition recommends that Telefilm Canada increase the funding to the Canada New Media Fund to levels...

CNM Editorial

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.The recent decision by the Federal Court of Canada on music sharing should rightly have an asterix next to it in the record books. The rhetoric has been steadily ratcheted up to send the message to Canadians that file-sharing is perfectly legal in the wake of Justice von Finckenstein’s ruling, but caution is called for. The judge noted in his ruling that having a music file in a shared drive while using peer-to-peer applications is not a form of copyright infringement on its own. It remains to be seen whether, if a user can be shown to knowingly allow that file to be downloaded by another, sharing is a protected activity. The court ruling established a burden of proof that will be difficult for the recording industry to meet, but it has not closed the door to ruling the music industry’s way if it presents better evidence. Until then, users rights groups are like the American athlete setting a world record...

Download ruling leaves door open to improved evidence, appeal by CRIA

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) will appeal a March 31 Federal Court of Canada ruling against its efforts to get at subscriber information for 29 individuals suspected of violating music copyright laws (CNM Special Update, March 31/04; CNM, Feb. 20/04). Though the ruling by Justice Konrad von Finckenstein...

Expert disputes copyright hearing testimony by CRIA lawyer Pfohl

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

A noted Ottawa copyright expert says that there could be dire consequences for Canada if it implements the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet treaties. His view contrasts sharply with March 9 testimony by the record labels’ counsel to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Macera and...

WIPO disagreement continues as ISPs request Industry committee involvement

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

It looks increasingly unlikely that a stalemate between the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and department officials from Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage over World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty implementation can be solved without leadership from the federal Cabinet. During meetings March...

CFI funding to create networked visualization lab at Banff/Emily Carr

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

A new interactive media and design lab receiving over $1.5 million in federal funding could be the beginning of a network of such facilities spanning the country. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) in early March gave the funding jointly to the Banff Institute of the Arts and the Emily Carr School of Design so...

Saskatchewan association sees local benefits to national effort

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

The president of the struggling Saskatchewan New Media Developers Association (SNMDA) says joining a national effort to preserve Telefilm Canada funding for interactive content is just one part of an effort to help kickstart the province’s new media sector. The body was recently a signatory to a national letter to...

Wireless games company sets up in Atlantic Technology Centre

Media | 04/02/2004 5:00 am EST

Magnet Games Marketing Inc., a company that creates text-messaging-based marketing campaigns and electronic games, is relocating to Charlottetown PE where it’s moving into the Atlantic Technology Centre (ATC), run by Technology PEI (TechPEI) "I was very impressed with how quickly they moved and responded to our...

CCR Update

Media | 04/01/2004 5:00 am EST

April 1, 2004 Satellite TV operators won’t have to carry all CBC regional stations, CRTC rulesCiting satellite capacity concerns, the CRTC has gone against the recommendations of a House of Commons parliamentary committee that ruled direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributors should be forced to carry all the CBC’s regional TV stations. The CRTC stopped short of that recommendation in renewing the...

CRIA denied subscribers’ IP addresses in download case

Media | 03/31/2004 5:00 am EST

Justice Konrad von Finckenstein has denied the Canadian Recording Industry Association the names of 29 individuals whose identity was alleged to be known only to their ISPs. The judgement, handed down this morning, says that the plaintiffs – Canada’s big name record labels – did not make a prima facie case that there...

CanWest aims to leverage content as the consumer becomes king

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

On March 11 before the Vancouver Board of Trade, the president and CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp. discussed how the customer has finally become king in the digital media revolution. The speech by Leonard Asper echoed some of the comments made by Louis Audet in Montreal earlier this year (CCR, Jan. 30/04). Asper also discussed his company’s strategies for operating in a more consumer-driven media world. …The basic premise for today is that the new digital technologies have now established the consumer as King. People used to say that content is king, but content is now the gold that the King consumes. And let’s replace the word "King" with Boss. Most of you have already seen how digital interactive media have changed your businesses. …For media companies...

CRTC considers halting distribution of rebranded Spike TV in Canada

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

The CRTC has finally begun a process to determine what can be done if Viacom International Inc.’s rebranded Spike TV is competitive with a number of existing Canadian specialty channels (Broadcasting Public Notice 2004-14). The commission notes that it could remove the rebranded station from the list of foreign services...

CCR Editorial

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Executives at Manitoba Telecom Services and Allstream won’t commit to a near-national digital TV service, but odds are that’s one direction in which the combined company will head (see article in this issue). It’s a logical step. MTS will gain a national fibre backbone through its acquisition of...

Craig aiming for new carriage deals if he gains control of PrideVision

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

If the broadcast veteran behind iCraveTV gains CRTC approval to acquire PrideVision TV, William Craig appears headed for a battle with distributors over the channel’s carriage terms. Craig’s plans to rejuvenate the ailing Category 1 digital channel PrideVision hinge almost exclusively on renegotiating its carriage...

CNM Update

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

March 25, 2004 New media players to Scherrer: HelpThe heads of the New Media Business Alliance, New Media BC, Alliance numériQC, Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s new media committee, Technology PEI and the Saskatchewan New Media Developers’ Association have all signed and sent a letter to Canadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer on the matter of the Telefilm Canada...

Subscription radio, digital radio create challenges for private radio industry: CAB

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

Even though net profits in the private radio industry grew 31% to $210.4 million in 2003 from the previous year, according to CRTC statistics released last week, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ new VP of radio warns that the positive trend may not continue. "We are just back to the level we were back in 1975, almost 30 years ago," he says. "During the 1980s and 1990s, the radio business was struggling. So just because we have a couple of good years, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be this way for the next 10 or 20 years," says Pierre-Louis Smith. The FM and AM radio industry saw its revenues rise 7.8% to almost $1.2 billion, and in the five...

CCTA opposes proposed royalty changes on retransmission of distant TV signals

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) is opposing proposed royalty changes on the retransmission of distant television signals for 2004-08 for fear that cablecos will lose their Quebec discount and also because it considers the proposed increase too large. The Copyright Board of Canada is not expected to hold...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

TELUS reaches agreement with CAB on out-of-market signalsTELUS Communications Inc. has agreed to pay 50 cents a month for each subscriber to its yet-to-launch digital TV service who receives distant Canadian signals, and 25 cents per subscriber who receives a second set of U.S. 4+1 signals (Broadcasting Decision 2004-111). In exchange for the compensation, TELUS will not have to perform non-simultaneous program deletion...

Copyright Board sets rate for Tariffs 2.A and 17

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

The Copyright Board of Canada has set the royalty rate conventional broadcasters must pay to use music in their programming (Tariff 2.A) at 1.8% of the station’s gross income from 1998 to 2001, and increased it to 1.9% for 2002 to 2004, states a March 20 decision. At the request of the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), but over the...

CCR People

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

Pierre Karl Péladeau, most recently president and CEO of Quebecor Media, has been appointed president and CEO of Quebecor World Inc. He replaces Jean Neveu, who has been interim president and CEO of Quebecor World since March 2003. At Quebecor Media, Serge Gouin becomes president and CEO, and Erik Péladeau has been appointed chair of the board. Gouin was previously chair of the board of Quebecor Media. As a result of...

MTS, Allstream say national digital TV service possible – but not for a while

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.’s $1.7-billion acquisition of Allstream Corp. means that it will have the backbone to expand its digital TV service nationally, but executives from both companies won’t definitely confirm that’s part of their plan. Allstream president and COO John MacDonald was more bullish about the...

Schisms on financing CanCon still evident as government renews commitment to CTF

Media | 03/25/2004 5:00 am EST

Amid industry glee that the government has restored its $100-million contribution to the Canadian Television Fund, schisms remain on just how Canadian programming, particularly drama, should be financed. Following the release March 23 of the ruling Liberal party’s budget, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and...

CNM Editorial

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.At about the mid-point of new Canadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer’s first address to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, my cell phone rang with the first bars of Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It. I’d downloaded the ringtone in the course of some exhaustive,...

CCR Update

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

March 17, 2004 CRTC investigating Corus over allegations that two small-town radio stations are targeting nearby big citiesThe CRTC says it will perform “an extensive monitoring” of the programming broadcast by Corus Entertainment Inc.’s CKDK-FM Woodstock and CING-FM Hamilton radio stations in Ontario to determine if they are airing a sufficient amount of local programming. The move follows a complaint...

Telefilm fund renewal met with approval, but recipients say more money is needed

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

The Telefilm Canada Canada New Media Fund (CNMF) will be renewed for one more year at the same funding level as last, Canadian NEW MEDIA has learned. Though contracts have yet to be signed, both Ted Bairstow, head of the Canadian Culture Online Program (CCOP), and Earl Hong Tai, Telefilm’s new media sector chief, confirm the extension. While both government officials and new media producers are pleased with the renewal, work has already begun to convince government to extend the fund even further. Bairstow tells CNM that the extra money was available to put the fund on another year’s footing as Ottawa extends the CCOP with $30-$35 million in additional cash. "Much of it will be...

Toronto company chosen to produce television series with Discovery Channel

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

Even as a handful of entrepreneurs and small enterprises win public support to break out of the fee-for-service cycle, SNAP Media and its partners have won the nod from Discovery Channel Canada for a massive new project that may well create the template for future convergence projects not just here, but abroad. In...

Broadcast-related web sites may see more advertising dollars thanks to comScore

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

An ad-hoc coalition of public- and private-sector new media stakeholders has been successful in encouraging comScore Media Metrix Canada to significantly increase its monitoring of Canadian Internet users. The expansion in comScore’s activities could mean that interactive players are able to secure more advertising...

New program promotes interactive media projects

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

At least three of the five winners of the new Pl@tform program say the initiative seems custom-made to help them break out of the fee-for-service cycle to begin creating original intellectual property. The program is being funded by the Ontario Media Development Corp., and administered by the New Media Business Alliance (NMBA). Method Group (Above...

MPs demand to see legal opinion on private copying provided to departments

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

Parliamentarians responsible for shepherding through modernizing reforms to the Copyright Act say they’re outraged that the government is withholding crucial information from them. On March 9, members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage heard from Canadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour...

Supreme Court finds Law Society’s fax service not in breach of copyright laws

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

Activists for users’ rights are cheering a March 4 Supreme Court of Canada decision in favour of the Law Society of Upper Canada, but copyright reform experts caution the ruling is just one piece of a broader digital puzzle. The court ruled in the case that the Law Society, which runs a fax service and provides photocopy machines in its legal library to aid researchers, didn’t violate copyright laws when it sent excerpts from legal texts published by CCH Canadian Ltd. to student and legal researchers. The publisher had argued that the excerpts from legal rulings, which included summary information added by its own editors, didn’t fall under Canada’s fair dealing exceptions, which...

CIPPIC addresses court in CRIA case

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

Canadian music sharers may face hefty court costs and fines if the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) and its team of lawyers have anything to do with it. CRIA is attempting to force Canadian Internet service providers, such as Rogers Cable Inc., Telus Corp. and Shaw Cablesystems, into releasing the personal information, names and...

CPCC files same tariffs on private copying as approved by board in 2004

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

The body responsible for collecting tariffs on blank media says it didn’t have enough time to propose new rates for 2005, and has submitted exactly the same proposed levels as were decided in December by the Copyright Board of Canada. On March 5, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) submitted its proposal to the...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

To own or not? CBC respondsA sidebar article in the March 3 issue of CNM explored issues that arise from the relationship of Rick Mercer’s Monday Report producers Island Edge with the CBC. In response to that article, CBC New Media executive director Claude Galipeau writes: Your story implies that all of the online components of the web feature "Rick Mercer’s Monday Report" are owned outright by the CBC, and...

CNM People

Media | 03/17/2004 5:00 am EST

Lee Richardson has been appointed chief executive of Chartwell Games Corp. He holds an MBA from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow), and is a Fellow of the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing and a member of the UK Academy of Marketing. Harold Redekopp is stepping down from his position of executive vice-president of CBC Television at the end of the year. He plans to embark on a new career and focus on assisting...

Craig Wireless wins leave to appeal CRTC’s approval of UBS control of Look

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Craig Wireless International Inc. has taken its fight to gain control of Look Communications Inc. to the Federal Court of Canada, winning the right to appeal a CRTC decision that allowed Unique Broadband Systems Inc. (UBS) to become the majority stakeholder in the wireless cableco based in Ontario and Quebec. Craig Wireless...

CNM Update

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

March 11, 2004 Minister promises action on WIPO ratificationCanadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer told a packed meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on March 9 that she hopes to have legislation that would let Canada ratify the WIPO Internet treaties in place by this fall. Getting Canada to a position where it can sign the treaties will mean drafting...

Craig Wireless wins leave to appeal CRTC’s approval of UBS control of Look

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

CCR Editorial

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.That fuzzy guy on a couch (he doesn’t have digital television) in Bell ExpressVu’s TV commercial seems to be scaring cablecos into finally introducing all-digital lineups. Both Mountain Cable and Source Cable and Wireless, which have already duplicated their analog signals in digital, mentioned the...

Heritage committee gives Scherrer grilling on foreign ownership stance

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

New Canadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer was put on the hot seat on March 9 by the committee bearing her department’s name. For close to two hours, the minister was grilled by members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage about her support for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the Canadian Television Fund, and especially on her position on lifting foreign ownership restrictions on telecommunications carriers and broadcast distributors. An all-party gang of committee members returned again and again to the question of foreign ownership, asking the minister to agree or not that the future of Canadian television content relied on a Canadian-owned distribution system....

Broadcasters likely to seek lower CanCon requirements for struggling diginets

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Fearing the demise of yet more digital specialty TV channels, broadcasters will likely soon be pushing the CRTC to lower Canadian content requirements for the diginets. The Category 1 digital services, which have higher Canadian content requirements but are guaranteed carriage, in particular, are expected to appear before...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Shaw sues CTV for millions, claiming it overpaid wholesale feesShaw Cablesystems launched a lawsuit earlier this year against CTV Inc. in an attempt to reclaim almost $6.5 million it says it overpaid in wholesale fees to TSN and more than $1.9 million it paid to Discovery Channel. In court documents filed with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in January, Shaw indicates that its affiliation agreement with CTV entitles...

Hamilton cablecos duplicate analog signals in digital to compete against satellite TV

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Two small Hamilton ON-based cablecos have become the first in Canada to duplicate all the analog signals they distribute in digital to better compete with their all-digital direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV rivals. Privately owned and family-run Source Cable and Wireless Ltd., serving about 16,000...

CCR People

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Harold Redekopp, executive VP of CBC Television, has announced to employees that he will be quitting at the end of the year. He plans to start a new career that will focus on his desire to "assist with the spread of a strong civil society in emerging democracies." Danny Ciraco has joined the entertainment and media law firm Stohn Hay LLP as a new associate. Dean MacDonald, executive VP and chief...

Canadians’ awareness of HDTV high, but penetration still low: Decima survey

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Few Canadians claim to own a high-definition television (HDTV) and the required set-top box to receive HDTV programming, but there seems to be a bright future for HDTV in Canada, according to a new survey conducted by Decima Research Inc. HDTV technology awareness is high and an important number of Canadians say they will likely buy an HDTV set within the next three years. While a high number of Canadians say they’re aware of the technology, adoption of the superior television picture and sound quality remains limited. The Decima Research survey, conducted last month for Decima Publishing Inc., shows that while two-thirds of Canadian households say they are aware of a digital...

Greenberg calls for support for a distinctly Canadian broadcast system

Media | 03/11/2004 5:00 am EST

Astral Media Inc. president and CEO Ian Greenberg called March 4 for continued support for a distinctly Canadian broadcasting system. Speaking at the Empire Club of Canada, he outlined the indispensable role the media sector plays in Canadian society. So I simply told the organizers that I would be talking about...

CPCC files unchanged blank media levy for 2005

Media | 03/05/2004 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) today filed its proposed private copying tariff for 2005 with the Copyright Board of Canada. The CPCC has not asked the board for any increase over the 2003/2004 tariff set by the board in a ruling just last December. Canadian NEW MEDIA will have full details and analysis of the filing in an upcoming issue....

Supreme Court rules in favour of users in CCH decision

Media | 03/04/2004 5:00 am EST

The Supreme Court of Canada has again made it clear that it will protect users’ rights in copyright as it ruled on the case of CCH v. Law Society of Upper Canada today. The decision, written by Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin, says it wasn’t copyright infringement for the Law Society’s Toronto legal library to...

CRIA target says he won’t settle in the event of a lawsuit; confident that case is weak

Media | 03/03/2004 5:00 am EST

One of the individuals whose identity is being sought by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) says he’s unlikely to try to settle a future copyright infringement suit, and believes the music labels have too shaky a case to successfully prosecute. The 24-year-old Calgary man says the...

Monday Report and kids games build record traffic for CBC.ca site

Media | 03/03/2004 5:00 am EST

CBC.ca is crediting the popular success of the new Rick Mercer vehicle Rick Mercer’s Monday Report, as well as the growing strength of its online children’s games, for leaping to the top of the pack as a web draw for Canadians. According to data from ComScore Media Metrix, the public broadcaster’s web site drew more...

SMS deal with MacLaren McCann puts broadcasters, advertisers on notice

Media | 03/03/2004 5:00 am EST

A new deal announced February 24 between Impact Mobile and giant ad agency MacLaren McCann should give notice to other firms and broadcasters that text messaging - or SMS - is a credible and important platform for reaching consumers. The two companies inked a deal that will see MacLaren use Impact’s services and...

Bonwick talks tough on WIPO ratification

Media | 03/03/2004 5:00 am EST

Liberal Member of Parliament Paul Bonwick will introduce a working plan on March 9 to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that would see the body work toward ratification of the WIPO Internet treaties by February 2005. In a recent interview with Canadian NEW MEDIA, Bonwick talked tough about giving direction to both the departments of Canadian...

Music-sharing is music industry’s best hope for viability: Fading Ways label chief

Media | 03/03/2004 5:00 am EST

Current music industry woes are partly the hangover of the excesses of the 1980s, argues the head of a small Toronto indie label hoping to reverse trends with a new business model. Neil Leyton, head of Fading Ways Records Ltd., says the amount of money being spent to promote artists is untenable in the current economic...

Reeves still finds itself shut out from copyright/DRM funding program

Media | 03/03/2004 5:00 am EST

A year and several letters of industry support later, Reeves Interactive continues to find itself shut out from the Electronic Copyright Fund (ECF), much to its president’s frustration. The group has been touting its TraceRight digital rights management software as a way to put audio-visual material securely online and is seeking public assistance to do so (CNM, March 21/03). A year after being told by officials at Canadian Heritage’s ECF to win industry support for the project, the company was told again recently that it is ineligible for funding - despite letters of support for the project from most of the collectives in Quebec with their hands in A/V production. Reeves...