Ministers pledge support to private broadcastersCanadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps pledged support to private broadcasters on a number of fronts on October 28 during an appearance at the 75th annual convention of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) in Ottawa. She said she would write the Treasury Board to try to get CRTC licence fees paid by broadcasters and broadcast distributors reduced, and would push Finance minister Paul Martin to include money for the Canadian Television Fund in the next budget. Copps also pledged to have changes that would explicitly exclude Internet retransmission of broadcasters’ signals from Section 31 of the Copyright Act introduced by Christmas (see CCR Special Update, Oct. 29/01). Meanwhile, Industry minister Brian Tobin, speaking earlier on October 28, told CAB delegates that it was important to get on with the government’s agenda, including the rollout of broadband, in spite of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. "We are beginning to realize that we have to get on...
Section 31 of the Copyright Act will be closed to Internet services in the coming weeks, according to comments by both Industry Canada minister Brian Tobin and Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps. At the Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention in Ottawa this morning, the pair indicated that they are hoping to introduce amendments to the Act that would effectively remove the section’s protection for retransmission from online companies such as JumpTV.com Canada Inc. and ICraveTV Inc. In a speech to delegates, Copps said: "And section 31, which provides a loophole for Internet providers to steal your product, must be closed. They must understand that we are talking about intellectual property, which is as important in the broadcasting industry as in any other area,...
Government to close section 31 loophole Section 31 of the Copyright Act will be closed to Internet services in the coming weeks, according to comments by both Industry Canada minister Brian Tobin and Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps. At the Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention in Ottawa this morning, the pair indicated that they are hoping to introduce amendments to the Act that would effectively remove...
The association representing Ontario electrical utilities plans to open discussions with Canadian cable operators in an attempt to negotiate reasonable rates for access to utility poles. The move comes as the Electricity Distributors Association (EDA) is preparing a response to the cable industry’s appeal of a federal...
A new business model focused on Canadian content is crucial for the survival of Canadian broadcasting in the digital age, according to the president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). Speaking at the National Press Club in Ottawa on October 24, Michael McCabe said broadcasters must be able to...
Broadcast distributors are cutting prices and extending free preview periods in an attempt to lure more viewers and ultimately subscribers to the new digital specialty TV channels that launched in September. Direct-to-home satellite TV distributor Bell ExpressVu LP extended its free preview period for all new digital...
Canadian broadcasters have remained surprisingly quiet on Access Communications Co-operative Ltd.’s request for an exemption from having to perform simultaneous substitution on U.S. superstations. The Saskatchewan cable co-operative has applied for exemption for its Class 2 systems in Estevan, Weyburn, and Yorkton SK. It had initially also applied for an exemption for its Class 1 system in Regina, but has since dropped that request (CCR, Aug. 30/01). Rather than seek regulatory relief for the Regina system, Access appears poised to offer compensation to Canadian broadcasters – via the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) – in lieu of having to comply with the simultaneous...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) fears that copyright legislation could be used to entrench "corporate oligopolies" if a new exclusive right of making available provision is introduced into the Copyright Act. If that happens, the CAB warns that music creators and performers would have to authorize...
Most distributors and broadcasters are advocating a light-handed approach to the licensing of new specialty audio programming services. But broadcasters say some protection is needed for existing radio stations in the current economic downturn. Responding to the CRTC’s request for comments on a licensing framework...
Pachul will risk prison to defy CRTC orderJan Pachul, the renegade broadcaster who has been running a pirate television station in Toronto since last summer, says he’ll continue operations in defiance of a CRTC order issued today to cease-and-desist. The October 26 ruling, Public Notice CRTC 2001-109, orders Pachul to cease broadcasting without a licence by November 15 or face a contempt of court charge in the Federal...
CTV, Quebecor trim staffCTV Inc. announced Oct. 18 that restructuring would result in the elimination of about 150 positions. Most of the positions are in Toronto, with almost 20% currently vacant due to a hiring freeze imposed in the summer, management said. Efficiencies are expected from the centralization and reorganization of administrative areas such as marketing, promotion, technical and management services, CTV...
David Colville has had his term as chair of the CRTC extended by Cabinet from August 28 "until such time as a new chairman is designated." He has been acting in the role since François Bertrand left (CCR, Dec. 7/00). He has indicated that he doesn’t want the position permanently. Peter Miller has been promoted to the newly created position of VP of planning and regulatory affairs at Chum Television. He...
Canadian wireless cable operators want preferred access to a certain slice of spectrum so they can improve and expand their TV and high-speed Internet offerings. The request from Image Wireless Communications Inc. and Craig Wireless Systems Inc. comes in comments to Industry Canada’s consultation (Gazette Notice...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.It seems like all players in the broadcast industry want a bigger piece of the pie: more subsidies, more vertical integration, more ownership of programming, more control over interactive rights, and more support from government policies. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is putting a new...
Jan Pachul, the renegade broadcaster who has been running a pirate television station in Toronto since last summer, says he’ll continue operations in defiance of a CRTC order issued today to cease-and-desist. The October 26 ruling, Public Notice CRTC 2001-109, orders Pachul to cease broadcasting without a licence by November 15 or face a contempt of...
Canadian youth at risk on Internet: Media Awareness NetworkThe Media Awareness Network has found that more than half of children aged 13 to 17 in Canada are visiting private and adult-only chat rooms on the Internet, usually alone. The finding was contained in a survey released today, "Young Canadians in a Wired World: The Student’s View." The survey, of almost 5,700 students aged 9 to 17 and conducted this March, also found that 15% of children and youth who have used the Internet have gone to meet with someone in person that they had met on the ‘Net. Of those, 15% went alone to such a meeting. Boys were more likely to attend such meetings alone than girls, by a margin of 73% to 27%.Other results include the finding that 78% of youth didn’t report pornographic junk mail, 35% of respondents who report receiving hateful emails about others did nothing about it, and 29% of those respondents replied to the emails themselves. About one-quarter of youth have a personal web site, of whom 57% provide an email address, 26% provide...
Farrel Miller has pulled the plug on his bid to win a section 31 tariff for JumpTV.com Canada Inc. The company filed a letter with the Copyright Board of Canada on October 11 writing: "it wishes to withdraw its application to the Copyright Board for an Internet retransmission tariff effective immediately. JumpTV is currently reviewing its business...
The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) is applauding rare guidance from the justice minister on how new draft legislation on Internet child pornography should be interpreted. Bill C-15 puts new powers in the hands of government to combat child porn, but both the CCTA and Canadian Association of Internet Providers...
Some bitter feelings remain from the demise of the Interactive Multimedia Producers Association of Canada (IMPAC) as a national umbrella association for new media, but Canadian Heritage’s point-man for the sector says the timing for government aid to the nascent body wasn’t right. René Bouchard, director for multimedia...
A successful grant program for Quebec multimedia startups is "99 per cent" certain that it will receive a second round of funding from the federal government that will exceed the previous round by about 30 per cent. Program administrator Susan Harvey says the money, earmarked for the Fonds d’expérimentation en...
More Canadians access Internet in September: Jupiter MediaMore than 14 million Canadians accessed the Internet from home last month, a 4.4% increase over levels recorded in the month of August. Jupiter Media Metrix, Toronto, reports that the need for information and communication in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington contributed to the increase in traffic. The web monitoring firm also indicates that news sites were inundated with people trying to get up-to-the-minute information. CNN.com led the pack with 1.8 million unique visitors in September, a nearly 200% increase in traffic over the month of August. The four other most visited sites were: MSNBC.com, CBC.ca, Radio-Canada.ca, and globeandmail.com. Excite Canada cuts more staffFinancial troubles at @Home Corp. have affected its Canadian subsidiary, Excite Canada, which has had to lay off more staff. The Internet portal company reduced its staff by six more employees, leaving it with 33 full-time employees and six contract workers. The company, which is...
Brigitte Doucet has been named as a full-time member of the Copyright Board of Canada for a five-year term. She was admitted to the Quebec bar in 1994 and joins the Copyright Board from the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ). There, Doucet worked as legal counsel in work relations beginning in Oct. 1999. Prior to that posting, she was legal counsel specializing in music and...
The following excerpt is from the Writers’ Union of Canada, League of Canadian Poets, and the Playwrights Union of Canada’s written submission to the departments of Industry and Canadian Heritage regarding the current copyright reform process. The authors argue that further exceptions proposed by the government are...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. For several weeks now, Canadian NEW MEDIA has been attempting to get some simple answers to some simple questions about the Ontario Media Development Corp.’s only available tax credit for new media companies in the province. For several weeks now, the agency has been stalling on providing those...
Quebec’s new media association is poised to receive $30 million in provincial and federal funding, some of which could be used to help mobilize the new media sector in other parts of Canada in an effort to build a strong national industry. Alliance Numérique president Claude Dagenais says that while the...
CCR to explore CCTA leave to appeal filing on utility pole access decisionThe next edition of CCR will report on the arguments made by the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) in its leave to appeal application to the Supreme Court of Canada on the recent Federal Court of Appeal ruling that struck down a 1999 CRTC decision on access to utility poles. As reported in the Oct. 3 edition of CCR Update, the CCTA last...
The New Democratic Party’s critic for culture and communications is confident the federal Cabinet will support her appeal of the recent CRTC decisions renewing CTV Inc and CanWest Global Communications Corp’s television network licences for a full term because of assurances made by the minister of Canadian Heritage that...
The Canadian broadcast industry is applauding JumpTV.com Canada Inc’s decision to drop its bid for an Internet-specific retransmission tariff. But industry representatives caution that the fight against iCraveTV-like services hasn’t yet come to a head, and the sector will continue to lobby for changes to the Copyright...
The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) plans to file a motion with the Copyright Board of Canada next week asking it to formally merge hearings for Tariff 17.A (pay and specialty TV) and Tariff 2.A (conventional TV), CCR has learned. A CCTA source confirmed that the move is in response to intentions expressed by the board earlier this...
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp could be facing some new competition in Ontario if Global Television gets the go-ahead to operate more TV stations in the Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener markets. The Winnipeg-based broadcaster has applied for unprecedented all-Canadian stations – turf that the public broadcaster has generally cornered. In its licence applications to the CRTC, Global argues that its proposed new stations devoted exclusively to Canadian programming would not be disruptive to the economics of the marketplace and would have minimal impact on existing conventional services in these markets – Notice of Public Hearing CRTC 2001-11. Instead, it points out that the stations...
Regional Cablesystems Inc will be raising the price of basic cable in its Sudbury and Timmins ON systems following the CRTC’s decision not to alter a 1998 policy that previously remained untested. The CRTC agreed on Oct. 4 to deregulate basic cable rates in those two Regional markets, as well as in St. Thomas and...
The CRTC has initiated a process to examine the impact of satellite TV distributors carrying one local TV signal but not others in the same market, and the effect on a small market when direct-to-home (DTH) distributors beam in out-of-market signals – PN 2001-103. Among the questions the CRTC is posing are: What effect...
Telesat Canada is evaluating a government notice calling for proposals to build and operate a multimedia satellite after a previously assigned orbital slot unexpectedly became available. Star Choice Communications Inc’s unusual move this summer to hand back its licence to build and operate a Ka-band fixed satellite in the...
Canadian broadcasters want Industry Canada to delay proposed plans for implementing mobile services in the upper analog TV spectrum (channels 60 to 69) until the transition to digital TV is complete, or at least well underway. The department proposed the sharing of the 746-806 MHz band between broadcasters and public safety...
Canal Évasion seeks licence change on spending on Canadian programmingCanal Évasion has again asked the CRTC for a licence amendment relating to its required expenditures on Canadian programming – Public Notice CRTC 2001-104. The French-language specialty channel is requesting authorization to defer the balance of underexpenditures on Canadian programming for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2001 over the next three years, ending Aug. 31, 2004. In June, the commission denied an earlier licence amendment application from Canal Évasion because it would have reduced the channel’s required Canadian programming expenditures. Stornoway buys diginet focusing on short filmsStornoway Communications has acquired a controlling interest in digital specialty television network Movieola – The Short Film Channel. Terms of the deal, which is subject to CRTC approval, were not disclosed. Stornoway, which owns diginets i channel and bpm:tv, will operate Movieola in partnership with its original creators. The channel was launched last month and...
Len Cochrane has been appointed president of the Teletoon specialty television network. Cochrane, formerly president and COO of The Family Channel Inc, replaces John Riley, who was recently named president and CEO of Astral Television Networks, which owns 100% of Family Channel. Teletoon is 40%-owned by Astral. A recent restructuring of the CRTC’s broadcasting directorate into the newly named broadcasting...
Is Canada heading towards a cable model of "big basic" channel packages? CRTC commissioner Andrew Cardozo apparently thinks so after the CRTC approved, by majority vote, applications by Rogers Cable and Regional Cablesystems to deregulate their basic cable offerings. Cardozo, who dissented from the decision,...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Should the CRTC be more of a policy enforcer than a policy initiator? NDP MP Wendy Lill apparently thinks it should be more of the former, judging by her view that the regulator went too far when it recently renewed the TV licences of CTV and Global for seven-year terms. In filing a petition with...
Breaking newsJumpTV drops section 31 bidFarrel Miller has pulled the plug on his bid to win a section 31 tariff for JumpTV.com Canada Inc. The company filed a letter with the Copyright Board of Canada yesterday through its lawyer Sunny Handa who wrote: "it wishes to withdraw its application to the Copyright Board for an Internet retransmission tariff effective immediately. JumpTV is currently reviewing its business...
Nova Scotia’s Department of Education is looking for partners to help continue an online learning program that was unexpectedly shut down a week and a half after it began. The 83-student pilot program, which was to have run two years, had barely got off the ground when its operator, Knowledge House Inc, shut its doors due...
A group of prominent electronic content providers hope to better understand and exploit information sent to end users’ desktops through the formation of a new institute. The president of the E-Content Institute says 16 companies with information to sell have banded together in a tough economic climate to ensure they’re...
A high-ranking executive from the new CanWest Global Communications Corp’s Canada.com portal has taken Canadian NEW MEDIA to task for an editorial he says unfairly maligns the newly re-launched web site. In a recent op-ed column, CNM bemoaned the perceived lack of local content on the site, which has been re-packaged in...
An Ontario entrepreneur is hoping to line up some heavy-hitting wireless partners to commercialize an interactive technology first developed at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC). Stephen Boyd and new partner Adam Evans have built a technology architecture for interacting with big and small screen content using cell phones and...
Organizers of the Baddeck International New Media Festival say they’re prepared for lower attendance this year in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States and a generally depressed Canadian multimedia industry. Still, the situation won’t be a worst-case scenario for this country’s premiere new media event, says assistant producer Moka Case. While overall attendance still can’t be predicted, Case says "everybody who we need to be here is coming." Of the international contingent – transatlantic fliers who might potentially have been the most apt to cancel their plans – all but one of the confirmed invitees are attending. As for Canadian delegates, Case...
Copyright consultation process extended to October 22Over 600 submissions have now been received by the departments of Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage discussing the Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues and its corollary on section 31 of the Copyright Act. Because of the volume of submissions, which now include the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian...
new Government On-Line advisory panel has been announced by the Treasury Board. Guy Savard, vice-chair of the board and chair of the board for Quebec operations at Merrill Lynch Canada, and Barbara Stymiest, president and CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange, will co-chair the panel. Other members include a roster of familiar faces from across the spectrum of academia and the private sector. They are: Andrew Bjerring,...
During the dawn of the old new economy, the promise of new media was said to lie in the unprecedented levels of communication its technologies could support. In 1995 and 1996 a series of new media professional organisations set up shop to encourage members of our community to share experiences, educational resources and to...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. It shouldn’t be surprising that attendance is expected to be down – by how much isn’t yet known – at this year’s Baddeck Fest. The attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center will figure prominently in some people’s decision to stay home. Even more importantly, the general malaise...
NDP MP files Cabinet appeal on CTV/Global TV licence renewalsThe NDP’s critic for culture and communications has filed a petition to the federal Cabinet asking it to overturn the CRTC’s Aug. 2 decisions renewing the television licences of CTV Inc and CanWest Global Communications Corp. Wendy Lill says CTV and Global’s stable of broadcast, print, and Internet properties "constitutes an alarming concentration of power over public expression in this country." The MP for Dartmouth wants Cabinet to send the decisions back to the commission with clear directions, calling for a limited licence renewal of one year for CTV and Global’s network licences while asking the CRTC to develop a policy for the "orderly divestment of cross-owned properties in preparation of a cross-ownership ban." She concludes in her Sept. 13 petition, "The dangerous and unprecedented increase in media concentration permitted by these CRTC decisions must not be allowed to stand." More details: Decision CRTC 2001-457 Decision CRTC...
Industry insiders have confirmed that a new $1-million e-content fund is being set up at CANARIE Inc just a few months after the organization released a major report on the need for more R&D in new media. Canadian NEW MEDIA has learned that the money will be drawn from Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Digital Cultural Content Initiative (CDCCI), and...
Toronto’s Liberty Village New Media Centre (LVNMC) says it’s developed a plan for staying in business without having to compete with the private sector. The centre – which last year received $1 million from the Ontario government to help fast-track new media startups to commercial success – will rely on multiple...
Shaw Communications Inc hopes to show that public support is on its side with a new survey showing that most of its customers approve of how PrideVision is being offered. The recent survey of 650 Shaw cable subscribers reveals that 89 per cent prefer having the new gay and lesbian channel distributed on a "request...
Jan Pachul had promised a media circus at the CRTC hearing on Sept. 19 in Hull PQ looking into his illegal broadcasting activities. But what actually transpired was quite different – a subdued, quiet process in an almost empty hearing room in which the pirate broadcaster responded simply, "I...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is concerned that a move by Shaw Communications Inc to merge its cable and satellite units will prompt the new corporate entity to renegotiate existing affiliation agreements – PN 2001-95. If the CRTC approves the merger, the CAB warns that the commission should forbid any changes to existing...
Proposed changes to the Income Tax Act that would eliminate a tax shelter used by the film and television production community could end up hurting not only U.S. production in Canada but also have negative spinoff effects on the domestic industry. Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc said Sept....
A lack of financing at Novus Telecom Group Inc has forced the Vancouver broadcast distributor and Internet service provider to abandon plans to expand into Toronto – at least for the time being. Novus finds itself in a cash crunch, but company president George Burnes is confident that adequate financing will be in...
Groupe Vidéotron ltée pulls out of CCTA to save moneyLe Groupe Vidéotron ltée has pulled out of the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) as a cost cutting measure. "It’s a matter of cost," says Luc Lavoie, spokesperson for parent company Quebecor Inc. He notes that Vidéotron will save just over a million dollars by dropping its membership in the cable association. Janet Yale, CCTA president and...
André Bureau has quit as president/CEO of Astral Broadcasting Group. He will keep his title as chair of the board of Astral Media Inc. A former CRTC chair, Bureau has been with Astral since 1990. No replacement has yet been named. Bureau’s decision to relinquish an operational role in favour of industry and government relations comes as the organization shifts its management reporting structure. Effective immediately, according to an internal memo obtained by CCR, each head of a wholly-owned, major business unit will report directly to Astral Media’s president/CEO, and will be members of the company’s new management committee. That group will be joined on the committee by several of Astral Media’s VPs and Bureau. Bureau will also either chair or be a member of the board of Astral’s TV businesses in which the company is involved as a partner: namely, Teletoon, MusiquePlus, MusiMax, Séries+, Historia, Viewer’s Choice and Canal Indigo. Susan Bower, currently COO at the Vision TV group of channels, has been appointed...
As the CRTC begins wading through submissions from industry groups on a proposed over-the-air digital TV policy, Michael McEwen, secretary-general of the North American Broadcasters Association, told an international audience of broadcasters and regulators about North American broadcasters’ point of view on the transition...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.It will be interesting to watch how the CRTC handles PrideVision’s complaint against Shaw Communications and its satellite TV unit Star Choice regarding treatment of its service during the free preview period of new digital specialty services. This case will no doubt test the commission’s resolve in...
Canada’s satellite provider and its broadcasting customers have asked the federal Cabinet to overturn a CRTC telecom decision that indirectly requires broadcasters to subsidize the cost of providing telephone service in rural and remote areas of Canada. Having failed in May to convince the...
Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier’s failure to change a recent CRTC broadcasting decision through the courts has prompted him to use what he knows best – the political process – to bring about changes in Canada’s broadcasting regulatory system. Gauthier’s recent unsuccessful attempt to convince federal courts to...
Defence of Outer Dimension mountedA 26 half-hour episode run of Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension has been moved into production by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp partner CinéGroup, based in Montreal. The live action series is based on web characters created by Tom Lynch (Caitin’s Way, The Secret World of Alex Mack). The show is slated to air in the winter of 2002 on both YTV in Canada and the Fox Kids Network in the U.S. The series is touting new 3D backgrounds and special effects for a hybrid live action/computer generated animation that will immerse the audience in the action. More details. E-Cruiter makes fifth acquisitionE-Cruiter.com Inc, Ottawa, has made another major acquisition to cap a string of five since April. This time, the HR software firm has signed a definitive agreement to purchase 6FigureJobs.com Inc. The Connecticut company offers a variety of career management, recruitment advertising, resume database and targeted research services to senior-level executives, employers and executive recruiters. The deal...
Hundreds of individual Canadians have added their voices to those opposing any attempt to introduce U.S.-style copyright legislation in this country. On a web site listing comments in response to a government white paper on Internet copyright issues, a random sampling indicates many Canadians are worried about losing their...
A trio of Canadian partners say they never imagined the difficulties involved in creating a pan-national educational web site when their project took shape five years ago. Yet, despite the challenge of overcoming regional biases and of arranging funding from public sources, the York Region District School Board-led project...
The National Film Board (NFB) is taking a strong stand in favour of greater Canadian content online, even if the venerable institution was short on specifics in a recent brief to a Parliamentary committee reviewing the Broadcasting Act. In its Sept. 10 submission to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, the NFB calls...
Collideascope develops new ecosystem learning toolHalifax-based Collideascope Digital Productions is in the final development stages of a new digital ecosystem online. Company president Steve Comeau recently told CNM that the project is being developed in conjunction with the Banff Centre for the Arts, and that he is now looking for a syndication and licensing deal for the property, likely with a content aggregator....
Paul Lamontagne has been appointed president of Look Communications Inc. He’s responsible for planning and implementing the re-launch of the company’s activities and its ongoing operations. He was executive VP and COO of Look’s Quebec and eastern Ontario region when the company launched in 1998. Diane Quinn has been appointed the new executive director of Women in Film and Television, Toronto, a non-profit...
With a high per capita income and education, a strong technology infrastructure and a current Internet penetration rate pegged as high as 50%, it is safe to say Canada has embraced the Internet. Rated as the second most wired country in the world just behind the U.S. by The Conference Board of Canada, with 2001 Internet Ad revenues forecasted to reach...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Canada’s Competition Bureau has stirred up a storm with proposed guidelines on how it would interpret advertising laws in cyberspace. The guidelines it published earlier this summer for comment have been swiftly and in no uncertain terms opposed by almost every major stakeholder in the country....
Libraries, used record stores and anyone working in multimedia could find their freedom to use intellectual property unnecessarily restricted if the Canadian government passes U.S.-style legislation meant to protect copyright owners from digital piracy, according to a senior lawyer for a prominent...
The Competition Bureau is facing a serious backlash from some high-powered opponents in its bid to introduce new guidelines for online advertising. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Bar Association, Telus Corp and Bell Canada are among those raising a red flag in written comments responding to the proposed guidelines, released earlier this summer (CNM, June 14/01). The comments are in addition to those made by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers and the Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada (CNM, Sept. 5/01) on how the bureau should enforce the Competition Act on the Internet. Industry sources suggest privately that the bureau has no choice but to re-work its draft guidelines in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are fundamentally flawed. But, in an...
Quebecor sells TQS shares to Cogeco, Bell GlobemediaCogeco Inc and Bell Globemedia Inc have acquired the 86.02% stake that Quebecor Media Inc holds in the TQS network for $62 million. Under the deal, Quebecor will also be repaid $12 million that it advanced to TQS. Bell Globemedia is providing $74 million in cash to cement the deal. The agreement between Cogeco and Bell Globemedia involves not just the acquisition of...
Digital launch gets underway Sept. 7, more channels expectedThe launch of between 40 and 60 new digital specialty channels got under way last week. "As with anything new, there are some hurdles to be expected in this launch," says Michael McCabe, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, in a release. "Yes, the new services will be operating in a highly competitive environment. And yes, this is...
John Riley has been named president of Astral Media’s Astral Television Networks (ATN) group. He has worked for 13 years with Astral Media, most recently as head of the Teletoon English and French networks. He will be responsible for the operations of ATN’s five pay and pay-per-view services, The Movie Network, Moviepix, Viewer’s Choice, Super Ecran and Canal Indigo. Paul Lamontagne has been appointed president...
Canadian broadcasters, producers, distributors and other industry groups this week began filing submissions to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, articulating their visions of the future of the Canadian broadcasting system in general and the Broadcasting Act in particular. In its filing, the...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Are competition and the promotion of Canadian culture compatible goals? The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) believes they are, and it’s hoping to convince the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that both can be achieved through a re-writing of the Broadcasting Act (see story on page 1). Re-opening legislation is never a pleasant task. Once opened, every word and clause in the law is open to scrutiny and pressure to have it eliminated or changed. In the case of the Broadcasting Act, supporters of the status quo will point out that the legislation was designed to be technologically neutral, and as such, the emergence of new technologies and new competitors shouldn’t matter. The act, they will argue, is flexible. But the legislation was drafted at a time when monopolies dominated the Canadian broadcasting landscape. Producers, programmers and distributors all agree that our system is now...
The cable industry is asking for significant legislative changes that would require the CRTC to deregulate competitive industries, give consumers more choice over what television channels they receive, and reduce or eliminate foreign ownership restrictions. In a 12-page brief to the House of Commons...
The cable industry and satellite relay distribution undertakings (SRDUs) are asking the CRTC to clarify whether small cable operators have won the right to source U.S. television signals from American satellite providers. In doing so, the two sides have apparently reopened a longstanding and...
Regional Cablesystems Inc is preparing to revamp its digital TV offering following a market trial that found some customers unhappy with the price and size of channel packages. All 2,600 subscribers at Regional’s Kirkland Lake ON system were converted to digital earlier this year as part of the trial. "What we...
Nearly a half-billion dollars and almost 15,000 jobs would be eliminated from Canada’s independent film and television production industry if the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) isn’t renewed, according to a new report. Assessment of the Economic Impact of the Canadian Television Fund was commissioned by the Canadian...
Canada is taking a misguided approach in its attempt to develop new global trade rules for culture, according to a senior official with the U.S.-based Motion Picture Production Association (MPPA). Speaking to delegates at a forum held in Toronto earlier this week, Bonnie Richardson, VP of trade and...
Despite a proliferation of programming from around the world with the emergence of the multichannel universe and the Internet, a majority of Canadians approve of the CRTC’s policy that restricts the distribution in Canada of foreign TV channels competing with Canadian services. The results emerged from a Decima Express...
NetActive falls victim to VC scarcityNetActive Inc, an Ottawa-based secure download software provider, has reportedly shut down operations. The company, a spin-off of Nortel Networks Corp was reportedly unable to secure new venture capital to continue its business. The company employed 38. In 1999, the company, then called Channelware was spun out from parent Nortel. The name change came in February 2000 when the company...
A downturn in the new media industry has created an employers’ market for talent, but a recruitment firm specializing in the sector is optimistic it can weather the storm. Al Pitt, a founder and president of PixelScout Inc, says since opening its doors a year ago the industry has taken a 180-degree turn when it comes to...
The founder of Filament Inc, a high-profile Ottawa new media shop, says reports that his company has gone into receivership are false, though the firm is looking at several options to escape a financial crunch. A recent article in an Ottawa-based trade newspaper claimed that the Bank of Montreal, one of Filament’s major creditors, had called in a line of credit, forcing the company to shut down. Alfredo Coppola, who founded Filament and now serves as its "chief usability architect" says he’s "shocked" that the rumour is making the media rounds, and insists that no action’s been taken to shutter operations. "There’s no question we’ve had some financial...
A year after its initial public offering, ZAQ Inc has given up on the web site design business to concentrate on new computer, wireless and interactive television tools that manage customer relations. Last month, the company announced it would lay off between 25-30 people to save $2 million per...
Video game ratings system delayed in BCThe new British Columbia government’s preoccupation with tax cuts and new funding measures means it won’t have time to introduce a new ratings system for video games this month, as originally planned. The guidelines, mandated by legislation passed this spring by the previous government, were to have been drafted by Sept. 1 (CNM, Apr. 19/01). However, Premier Gordon Campbell’s...
Bell Globemedia has opted not to renew the contract of Janet Callaghan, who was in charge of BCE Inc subsidiary’s convergence strategy, less than a year after hiring her. She was hired in January as senior VP of integrated marketing to lead cross-promotional opportunities linking the company’s multimedia operations which include, CTV, The Globe and Mail, and the Sympatico-Lycos Internet portal. Prior to joining Bell...
The personal digital video industry is upon us. It used to be that people would document their lives in photographs and the printed word: This photo album is our wedding, this is our trip to Italy, here’s the kid, the dog, the cat and the budgie. Nowadays, people document everything on video both as a means to show others...
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. We all need to use industry shorthand to save time and effort. There are times, however, when it takes on the viperous character of Orwellian Newspeak. One of the best examples these days is the word content. There’s likely little malevolent intent behind the casual use of the word, but through overuse, we’ve begun to accept that everything is content. The result is that weather, story-telling, journalism, bus schedules and sex chat are all lumped into the same category. We’ll feed the masses content, executives tell one another, to ramp up sticky eyeballs. But people don’t sign up for AOL or visit Yahoo.ca to view content. Still, VPs of biz dev tell each other and investors that content is the key to subscriber growth and transactional revenues. This fundamental disconnect between senior execs and consumers leaves marketers with the impossible task of selling bland and homogenized content to...
Internet service providers and Internet advertisers are taking the Competition Bureau to task over proposed new guidelines that could make ISPs liable for online content and prevent foreigners from visiting some Canadian web sites. The regulatory battle ignited this summer when the bureau received some angry responses to...
Statistics Canada is warning that a digital divide between younger Canadians and seniors using the Internet could set back the government’s Connecting Canadians and Government Online initiatives. Late last month, the bureau released a detailed breakdown of seniors’ online usage taken from the broad General Social Survey...
A Montreal-based 3D software firm is buying up bricks-and-mortar entertainment companies to generate the operating capital it needs to survive the sales slump for new Internet tools. Yves Marmet, president of Fun Key Studios Inc, capped a series of 3D design acquisitions last week with the purchase of a controversial...
Rogers acquires 13 Ontario radio stationsRogers Media Inc has purchased 13 radio stations in Ontario from Standard Broadcasting for $100 million, subject to CRTC approval. Under the transaction, the stations, to be acquired by Standard Broadcasting from Telemedia Radio Inc, will be transferred to Rogers. Among the 13 stations is the all-sports radio station, CJCL - The Fan in Toronto. Rogers says the acquisition of the...
Two CRTC commissioners who voted against higher cable ownership of analog specialty channels say the regulator should have demanded tougher safeguards and ownership limits in return for its approval. While the vote to allow cable operators and their affiliates to increase equity levels beyond 10 per cent wasn't close,...
The early success of the new digital specialty TV channels that will launch next week lies in the hands of two companies that together control 75 per cent of existing digital TV subscribers in Canada, according to figures in a new Decima Publishing market research report to be released next week. With three- quarters of the...
The CRTC appears ready to let Canada's two satellite TV companies compete on level footing with cablecos in what many believe to be the holy grail of the broadcast distribution business - selling bulk service to apartment buildings. Wholesale marketing to landlords is big business throughout North America, and one that...
Shaw Communications Inc is using a familiar argument in attempting to have regulatory firewalls between its cable and satellite businesses removed. In an application to the CRTC gazetted Aug. 17, the cable giant says it should be allowed to take advantage of corporate "synergies" - like its competitor BCE Inc,...
Access Communications Co-operative Ltd says replacing U.S. superstations with a local Canadian signal is a financial hardship and it wants the CRTC to exempt its cable systems from the current rules. The Saskatchewan-based cable co-operative has applied for an exemption from the simultaneous substitution requirements for its Class 2 systems in Estevan, Weyburn and Yorkton and its Class 1 system in Regina - PN 2001-94. Access told the CRTC that it would cost about $150,000 to comply with the regulation. With annual revenues this year projected at $37 million, the company says it does "not have the size, in terms of subscribers, to absorb the significant incremental costs associated...
