CCR Short Takes

Media | 08/30/2001 4:00 am EDT

Bell ExpressVu announces 40 new channels in digital lineupBell ExpressVu LP will add more than 40 channels to its lineup on Sept. 7, bringing the total number of channels it offers to 275. The new channels include the must-carry Category 1 digital channels licensed last year by the CRTC, and Category 2 channels covering such topics as hockey, basketball, travel, lifestyle and leisure, movies and new kids' programs....

CCR Editorial

Media | 08/30/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Only time will tell if the CRTC has made the right decision in allowing cablecos to own larger stakes in analog specialty channels, without first establishing concrete guidelines. In explaining its rationale for its June decision, the commission said it prefers to consider applications on a...

Dissenters wanted safeguards in return for higher cable equity in analog channels

Media | 08/30/2001 4:00 am EDT

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,...

2 firms have 75% of digital TV subscribers; DTH owns 64% of market: Decima report

Media | 08/30/2001 4:00 am EDT

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...

CNM Update

Media | 08/29/2001 4:00 am EDT

 Filament denies receivershipOttawa-based Filament Communications Inc is denying reports that it has been forced into receivership. A story that appeared this week in an Ottawa trade publication stating that a creditor had called in a line of credit is unfounded, says founder Alfredo Coppola. He told CNM that the company is facing "financial challenges" as a result of the crunch at Nortel Networks Corp and JDS Uniphase Inc – both important clients. A major U.S. customer has also declared bankruptcy, resulting in the need to lay off staff and put several others on contract to fulfill existing obligations (CNM, July 12/01). Coppola does not deny that receivership and bankruptcy are options at the 12-year-old web design and marketing firm, but he is pursuing other alternatives to keep the company afloat. "I’ll have a very interesting story to tell you in a week to 10 days," he told CNM today, though he wouldn’t divulge details of ongoing negotiations. To date, however, Coppola stresses that no action has been...

CNM People

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

Technology journalist David Akin has left the National Post to join CTV news. Billing himself as the first convergence journalist in the country, Akin will be preparing items for both CTV and the Globe and Mail. He has been reporting on technology issues for the Post since the paper’s launch in 1998, most recently as one of the Post’s senior technology reporters and the paper’s lead writer for Internet...

The Development Safety Net: Protecting your Budget, Product and Integrity

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

Everyone wants the same result from the new media development process: a product that does what it is meant to do, delivered on time and on budget. Simple needs, yet the process goes wrong more often than anyone would like to admit. The result is the current crisis of confidence that may set back the pace of innovation (and...

CNM Editorial

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. There was a lot of talk at last week’s Convergence: ITV and Beyond conference about the one- and two-screen models for interactivity as television and the Internet become more closely tied together. Participants were treated to a sneak peak at a new Global TV "Explorer" prototype bringing...

SoftTV spinoff IceRadio flirts with litigation over streaming copyright songs offshore

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

An Ottawa-based online radio station could face legal challenges similar to ICraveTV.com unless it can prove that copyrighted songs on its site are staying within Canada’s borders, according to an Internet law expert. IceRadio.com Inc, a recent spinoff from parent company SoftTV.net, has a catalog...

Equity deal with Universal Music Canada strengthens Iceberg marketing ability

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

Iceberg Media has signed an equity agreement with Universal Music Canada that will see the Toronto-based company more closely integrate its research and marketing activities with the music industry heavyweight. The deal is the second major coup this month for Iceberg. On Aug. 15, BCE Inc-owned Sympatico-Lycos launched a new...

BCE, CTV merger creates right conditions for two-screen production of Degrassi

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

The web partners in a new production of Degrassi Street are crediting the merger of BCE Inc and CTV Inc for an innovative, two-screen approach to youth programming. This fall, CTV will begin airing a new Degrassi series from Epitome Pictures that will incorporate a real-time online corollary web site with push email and...

Global TV interactive signal prototype raises eyebrows on standards choice

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

Officials at the Interactive Broadcast Development Group Inc (IBDG), Canadian Digital Television (CDTV) and Global TV are applauding the first Canadian terrestrial broadcast of a DTV signal, though its unveiling in Toronto last week drew mixed reactions. The signal, a prototype ITV application dubbed Global Explorer, offers...

Auditor’s report on Telefilm multimedia fund to be released by late October at the latest

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

Telefilm Canada has until late October to publicly release a long-awaited report on its Multimedia Fund, according to the access to information commissioner at Canadian Heritage. In response to a request under the Access to Information Act made by Canadian NEW MEDIA, an official at Heritage said...

Star Ray TV abandons plans to stream pirate station over the Internet

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

Renegade TV broadcaster Jan Pachul has renounced the Internet as a viable alternative to his pirate station, insisting there is no business model associated with streaming technology. The president of Star Ray TV told Canadian NEW MEDIA nearly a year ago that he would stream his programming online to build an "irresistible" viewer base, after the CRTC turned down his request for a broadcast licence (CNM, Sept. 6/00). Since then, Pachul has been operating a low-power television station in the Beaches area of Toronto, in violation of commission rules. At the time, Pachul was experimenting with different online broadcasting technologies, and considering upgrading his station’s...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

SK chapter of CIPS reports on status of skillsThe Saskatchewan chapter of the Canadian Information Processing Society has released a new study outlining current human resource and training needs in the province. The report stems from a survey of 346 companies and IT professionals conducted from August 2000 through last April. As a result of the report, a permanent steering committee has been formed to follow up on its...

CCR Update

Media | 08/22/2001 4:00 am EDT

Craig inks deal with MTV NetworksCraig Broadcast Systems Inc has inked a deal with Viacom International Inc’s MTV Networks to launch digital specialty services TV Land Canada, MTV: Music Television, and three music channels in Canada this September. Craig’s Category 1 teen channel, previously known as Connect, will be renamed MTV Canada. The three music channels, with the MTV brand, will be aimed at Canadian viewers....

CCR Short Takes

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

Bell ExpressVu unveils plans for personal video recorderBell ExpressVu LP will begin selling personal video recorders (PVRs) that allow customers to freeze, re-start and replay live television programming beginning in September across Canada. Its model 5100 PVR contains an on-screen programming guide capable of pausing real-time television shows and recording up to 30 hours of content on a 40-gigabyte hard drive that can...

CCR People

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

Julie Osborne has been appointed director of marketing of Rogers Media Inc’s three new digital channels: the Biography Channel, TechTV and MSNBC. Rogers is the managing partner of the three channels. Osborne will handle both consumer and affiliate marketing. Previously, she was director of marketing and programming at the Canadian Cable Television Association, and did consulting work for the Toronto Olympic...

Vancouver over-the-air ethnic TV station should be locally owned, CRTC told

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

A group of five Vancouver businessmen including four who are ethnic are hoping to convince the CRTC that a new ethnic over-the-air television station for Vancouver should be locally owned. Multivan Broadcast Corp, which counts Doug Holtby, a former president/CEO of now defunct broadcaster WIC Western International Communications, as a shareholder, is vying for the Vancouver ethnic TV licence against frontrunner CFMT-TV, a division of Rogers Broadcasting. The group, which is proposing to offer programming to 22 ethnic groups in 22 different languages, is using local ownership as a key strategy in its bid for the licence. An edited excerpt of Multivan’s licence application to the CRTC,...

CCR Editorial

Media | 08/15/2001 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 would not be surprising if Craig Wireless’ request for a year’s delay in rolling out a wireless cable system in British Columbia turns into an indefinite put on hold (See story in this issue). Multipoint distribution system (MDS) technology isn’t cheap enough to make it enticing for a sufficient...

CNM Update

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

 J!VE Media signs content deal with Comedy NetworkToronto-based J!VE Media Technologies Inc has won a second important contract for its new distribution technology, this time with The Comedy Network. J!VE executives are touting the product, which imbeds advertising into shared video files, as a solution to unfettered peer-to-peer networking. Its first contract was signed with ChumCity Interactive last May. No value...

Craig Wireless delays MDS rollout in B.C., but says it still plans to move ahead

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

Craig Wireless International Inc has delayed the rollout of its wireless cable system in British Columbia as it awaits an improvement in capital markets and explores potential partnerships. The company hopes to forge relationships with wireless and tower operators to reduce the need for capital investment so it can deploy...

Star Ray TV owner vows to continue on air despite potentially serious penalties

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

The owner of pirate television station Star Ray TV intends to put the CRTC off guard by showing up at a Sept. 19 public hearing in Hull QC with a gang of protesters who will picket outside the building. Jan Pachul is promising a circus-like atmosphere for what is normally considered a serious regulatory...

Small cable systems look to HITS-QT as cost effective way of going digital

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

A more economical version of Canadian Satellite Communications Inc’s (Cancom) Headend in the Sky (HITS) service now being tested could accelerate the deployment of digital cable service by small cable systems. Norcom Telecommunications Ltd, based in Kenora ON, and Westman Communications Group of Brandon MB, last week...

Bell ExpressVu begins offering new digital channel signals to cable companies

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

Bell ExpressVu LP plans to begin delivering digital broadcast signals to cable headends for the first time this week in what could become an important revenue stream for the company’s satellite relay distribution business. The upcoming launch of new digital specialty television channels this September has propelled...

Pole access problems stall rollout of IP-based digital cable system in Calgary

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

Suite Systems Inc’s rollout of its new IP-based digital cable system in Calgary has been stymied by the inability to gain access to utility poles that would bring fibre to its buildings. The new competitor in the broadcast distribution market has put its rollout plans on hold as the CRTC reviews an application by the...

Broadcasters cut back on Category 2s

Media | 08/15/2001 4:00 am EDT

Weak business cases and limited channel capacity continue to reduce the number of digital specialty TV channels set to launch this fall. And it isn’t just new players that are backing away from an early launch, as even established broadcasters are scaling back the number of services they intend to offer. "We’ll be back when there’s the...

CCR Update

Media | 08/08/2001 4:00 am EDT

Changes sought to several specialty channel licencesSeveral specialty channel broadcasters are asking for changes to their conditions of licence. Astral Media Inc and Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc want to amend their licence for Séries + so that the $900,000 it must now spend on original French-language feature-length fiction movies for television can also go toward specials, miniseries and movies for theatrical release. As well, CTV Inc has asked the CRTC to add long-form documentaries, informal education/recreation and leisure, and professional and amateur sports as programming genres that can be broadcast on its new Category 2 digital news channels. PrideVision, the Category 1 gay and lesbian channel, wants to be able to add programming about religion, music and dance, and music video programs on its schedule. More details. Craig gets extension for MDS launch in B.C.The CRTC has approved a request by Craig Broadcast Systems Inc for a year’s delay to launch its wireless cable system in British Columbia. Craig now has until...

CRTC clearance of 19 foreign channels expected to fuel digital take-up

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

Canada’s reluctance to let in more foreign channels was swept aside July 13 when the CRTC cleared the way for 19 new services to be distributed here – a move that could help drive consumer demand for digital TV and encourage more partnerships with Canadian programmers.  But not everyone is happy with the decision...

No ‘trafficking’ involved in purchase of digital licences, Alliance Atlantis tells CRTC

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc has rejected suggestions from Canada’s broadcast regulator that its purchase of Salter Street Films Ltd earlier this year constituted "trafficking" of a broadcast licence. The film producer and specialty channel broadcaster is in the CRTC hot seat as...

CCTA to ask Supreme Court to rule on CRTC’s right to regulate utility pole access

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

The courts will end up replacing the CRTC in resolving disputes between cable operators and utilities unless the Supreme Court of Canada overturns a lower court ruling that effectively puts hydro poles outside the commission’s jurisdiction, the cable industry warns. The Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) says it...

Small cablecos and broadcasters disagree on how best to move to digital

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

Small cable distributors and broadcasters continue to be at loggerheads over whether analog specialty channels can be distributed in digital without permission from the licensee. In a CRTC process examining the digital migration of small cable (PN 2001-58), the cable industry is demanding more flexibility in the rollout....

Industry Canada lowers expectations on FM radio stations possible in Toronto

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC will determine shortly whether to reinstate a call for applications to operate radio stations in the Toronto market after Industry Canada last month confirmed the availability of new radio frequencies. With only two FM frequencies available, however, it’s unlikely that many new ethnic radio stations will be licensed in Toronto anytime soon.  The CRTC suspended a March 22 call for radio applications for Toronto in May as Industry Canada assessed a consultant’s report aimed at freeing up more radio spectrum in Canada’s most congested radio market (PN 2001-39-1). Industry Canada says it has found several inconsistencies in the report prepared by Imagineering Ltd,which was...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

Star Choice, Bell ExpressVu notch up more subscribersThe number of subscribers to satellite television distributor Bell ExpressVu LP grew 51,000 in the second quarter ended June 30 to 847,000, according to financials released July 25. The numbers also reveal that 65% of net subscriber additions in the second quarter came from urban centres, compared with 58% in the same period a year earlier. Canada’s other satellite...

CCR People

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

Vidéotron ltée president and COO Guy Beauchamp has left the company. Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO of parent company Quebecor Media, will serve as interim president of Vidéotron. As well, Serge Gouin has been named Vidéotron chair and heads a selection committee looking for a permanent replacement. Gouin was president and COO of Vidéotron from 1991 to 1996, and the trustee of Vidéotron from October 2000...

FCC commissioner urges educational broadcasters to counter ‘bigness’ trend

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

At the Alliance for Community Media convention on July 13, FCC commissioner Gloria Tristani discussed the benefits of public broadcasters and community channels working together. The Alliance works toward ensuring access for public education broadcasters. It’s vision is similar to the one being advocated in Canada by...

CCR Editorial

Media | 08/02/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.The CRTC’s decision to greenlight 19 foreign television services for carriage in Canada and reject 10 others is perplexing.  Under existing CRTC policy, foreign programming services are ineligible for carriage here if they are partially or directly competitive with established or licensed...

CNM Update

Media | 08/01/2001 4:00 am EDT

 Itemus files for bankruptcy protectionInternet incubator itemus Inc announced yesterday that it has filed for bankruptcy after failing to raise capital necessary to meet its obligations and continue its operations. Based on the lack of prospects to raise financing, the Toronto-based company's board of directors determined that there was no viable alternative to bankruptcy. Itemus says it was engaged in active...

CNM People

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

IAB Canada, an organization of Internet publishers, advertisers and agencies dedicated to the development of online advertising, has appointed two co-chairs for its new Vancouver Council, which will work to bring more education and research on Internet advertising to advertisers, agencies and publishers in western Canada. Andeen Pitt, director of media services at Vancouver ad agency Wasserman & Partners, and Pat...

Producers will survive in the convergence environment, says CFTPA chair

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

Stephen Ellis, chair of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, lauds his industry’s efforts to address the challenges of convergence and the new media environment.The following is an edited excerpt of his address last month to the Banff Television Festival: ...I was particularly struck this year,...

CNM Editorial

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. How far have governments evolved in their thinking of digital media over the past few years? Judging by the initiatives that have been launched since Canadian NEW MEDIA began publishing in 1998, not a lot. Granted, the lip service paid to the importance of filling our new broadband pipes has...

Ontario digital media fund on hold as government reviews its future direction

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Ontario government has cut off funding applications to its much ballyhooed Interactive Digital Media Fund as it reviews what to do with the program’s remaining cash. Launched in 1999, the five-year, $10-million initiative has awarded about $6.4 million to six projects so far, and now officials at the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology are meeting with the department’s minister, Jim Wilson, to discuss the possibility of another funding competition in the fall, and how it should be structured. The digital media fund is designed to provide seed money to help small- and mid-sized multimedia companies become self-sustaining by investing in strategic initiatives that create...

Film Centre scores additional $1 million for new media post-grad program

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Ontario government is contributing nearly $1 million towards a new post-graduate program that will train students in both the technology and business of new media. The new funding will bolster the $6 million previously announced from the private sector to establish the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) program, the first new...

New survey shows parents know little about what their children do online

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

Canadian parents may think they know what their children are doing online, but it’s not a view shared by their kids, according to a groundbreaking new survey released by the Media Awareness Network. The study of 5,682 Canadian students, aged nine to 17 years, found that children believe their web surfing goes unmonitored....

Copyright Board takes two issues off the table in phase one of JumpTV proceedings

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

JumpTV.com Canada Inc has cleared two hurdles before the Copyright Board of Canada in its bid to become a legitimate retransmitter protected by law. Last week, board officials told participants in the landmark proceedings that the availability of Internet programming by broadcasters and others won’t enter the debate, and...

Literary review re-launches with truce between owner and freelance writers

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

The venerable literary review Books in Canada has re-launched publication amid a quiet truce between its owners, Amazon.com, and a group of freelance writers who had accused the magazine of using their work without permission. The Periodical Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) called for a boycott of the magazine earlier...

Former radio broadcaster tapped to lead ITV lab at Montreal’s Media Experts

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

A Montreal media company has hired a former programming director from the CHUM Radio Group to help advertisers prepare for the pending arrival of interactive television. Ian MacLean, the new head of the ITV lab at Media Experts, says a large audience for ITV is closer than many realize, and if advertisers want to exploit this new medium, they have to act now. "There are 20 million Americans who have access to ITV now. And, in Canada, we’re closing in," says MacLean, who also worked as a new media executive at CHUM. About 2.5 million Canadians are expected to subscribe to digital television either through cable or satellite this fall. "There’s still some obstacles...

French company chooses Canada to roll out next-gen “black box” for TV viewers

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

Canadian consumers will be the first in North America to sample a new technology that transforms the television into a computer, a web browser and a device for playing CDs, video games and DVDs. Multimedia Network Computer (MM-NC) of France is rolling out its new Max box in Canada this fall over the...

CCR Update

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

CRTC calls for comments on framework for licensing new specialty audio servicesInterested parties have until Oct. 12 to submit comments on how the CRTC should license new specialty audio services. The CRTC notes in Public Notice CRTC 2001-85, released today, that the proposed regulations would permit digital distribution by large cablecos of ethnic audio programming without prior regulatory authorization. As well, the...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 07/25/2001 4:00 am EDT

Rogers Communications invests $2 million in U.S. interactive TV software developerRogers Communications Inc has invested $2 million in California-based MetaTV, a company that provides software technology that enables interactive TV portals, services and enhanced TV applications. The investment will not necessarily result in Rogers adopting the company’s software for use in its digital set-top boxes, however. Jan Innes,...

CNM Update

Media | 07/18/2001 4:00 am EDT

 Former CHUM executive to head up new ITV labEx-CHUM executive Ian MacLean has been tapped to head a new interactive television lab run by Toronto-based Media Experts. The advertising consulting and buying firm has set up the lab to monitor developments in ITV as they affect advertising. MacLean was most recently in charge of the launch of Team 990, the new CHUM sports radio station. He will be responsible for...

CCR Update

Media | 07/18/2001 4:00 am EDT

CRTC could have added even more foreign services to digital eligibility list: CCTACCTA president and CEO Janet Yale acknowledges that the CRTC decision to allow 19 of 30 foreign services to be added to the foreign services eligibility list for digital carriage in Canada was more open than in the past. However, she adds that the commission could have gone further and put even more services on the list. Among the services...

Look past the dot com meltdown to see the realization of true convergence, says Monty

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

On June 28, BCE Inc chair and CEO John Monty addressed the Canadian e-business Leadership Forum, warning them that reports of ecom’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The following is an edited excerpt from his speech:  In speaking about e-business to this audience, I risk preaching to...

CNM Editorial

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. After a year of challenges for it founders, it’s encouraging to see the New Media Business Alliance (NMBA) finally on solid ground and beginning to deliver some much-needed programs and lobbying efforts. It should come as no surprise that much of the future of Canada’s new media industry will...

FTAA could jeopardize digital funding: Canadian Conference of the Arts

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

Public funding of Canada’s new media industry could be jeopardized by the lack of a solid exemption for cultural industries in the proposed new free trade agreement for the Americas. The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) has reviewed the draft text of the agreement, released early this month, and found what it...

New Media Business Alliance to fill lobbying niche with Ontario cluster focus

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

The lack of an effective national lobby organization for new media has prompted content players in Canada’s largest city to take matters in to their own hands. Luda Tovey is the newly elected president of the New Media Business Alliance (NMBA), a two-month-old group that plans to lobby both the Ontario and federal governments on a range of issues affecting new media producers, particularly those associated with access to capital. New Media Business Alliance mandate(www.nmba.ca)1. "Collect and Connect" digital media business leaders and all levels of government to stimulate growth of the digital media content industry in Ontario; 2."Collect and Connect" the...

IMPAC board agrees on new approach at Banff

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Interactive Multimedia Producers Association of Canada (IMPAC) is changing its structure and may broaden its membership as it struggles to stay afloat in a difficult economy. Citing funding concerns as its primary challenge, the group’s board of directors will likely move to a committee/executive structure later this year depending on the outcome...

Networks Centres of Excellence tele-learning initiative loses funding

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

A high-profile national e-learning initiative has failed in its bid to win second-round funding from the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program. The TeleLearning Centre of Excellence learned in April that its funding would end, but has made no public announcement as of yet on whether the network will attempt to...

Weather channel owner urges CRTC to establish early regulation of ITV

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

The owner of The Weather Network wants Canada’s broadcast regulator to introduce rules for interactive television, despite the cable industry’s preference for a hands-off approach to this new medium. Appearing before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) June 20, executives with Pelmorex...

Image Power places bets on nascent ISO multimedia format standard

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

A small Vancouver-based R&D company is ready to hit the market this September with new compression technologies that promise to deliver faster Internet content, based on a new global standard for still pictures and movies. Image Power Inc has been working with the University of British Columbia since 1996 to develop its...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

Filament Communications puts nearly all staff on contractOne of Ottawa’s highest-profile web design and marketing shops, Filament Communications Inc, has taken the drastic step of putting nearly all of its salaried workforce on contract. Company officials cite the need to control costs as motivation for the move, which comes on the heels of months of top-level executive churn and a sagging market for digital services across the board in the nation’s capital.About a dozen staff have been put on contract, leaving only six people as full-time employees: CEO Ryan Baressi and president Kim Dixon, founder Alfredo Coppola, producer Sarah Jarett, and an office manager and a receptionist. In published reports, president Dixon has said that the move was necessary to remove unnecessary overhead when work isn’t available. The step is symptomatic of a sharp downturn in Ottawa’s digital media/marketing community. Insiders say most of the big name firms in the sector have laid off staff to the point where many are now operating on a skeleton...

CNM People

Media | 07/12/2001 4:00 am EDT

Telefilm Canada has made three key appointments to its executive ranks. Johanne St-Arnauld has been named acting executive director, taking over from François Macerola, whose term ended early this month. Maçerola is replacing Laurier LaPierre as chair of the organization. St-Arnauld has worked at Telfilm since 1988, and was named director of international relations in March 2000. She has also held the positions of...

Pelmorex licence amendment request could prod CRTC toward policy on iTV

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

Pelmorex Communications Inc has filed a licence amendment in hopes of pushing the CRTC into taking regulatory oversight with regard to interactive television content. As part of the licence renewal of its specialty channels, The Weather Network (TWN) and Météomédia (MM), Pelmorex is proposing an amendment to its...

DirecTV signals exempt from grey marketing and pirating: Quebec judge

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

A Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled that pirating U.S. satellite TV signals isn’t against Canadian law, and as such, can be hacked with impunity on this side of the border. In a surprising and unprecedented decision released May 29, Justice Pierre Tessier ruled that the Radiocommunications Act makes it a crime to...

Canada, Quebec eye new channel to showcase French-Canadian productions

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Quebec and Canadian governments are looking to establish a new television channel that will showcase French-Canadian productions at home and abroad. The channel proposal emerged during negotiations that will see control of the U.S. and Latin American markets of TV5 Monde transferred from Montreal to Paris beginning...

CFTPA negotiating tiered payments to facilitate low-budget programming

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) is in the midst of working out an agreement that bases wages for directors, location managers, art department personnel and others to production budgets to ease the way for producers to create low-budget programming for the new digital channels and the...

Broadcasters welcome government consultation on copyright reform

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) was quick to applaud the government’s latest retransmission consultation as a step in the right direction to dealing with companies such as JumpTV.com Canada Inc and iCraveTV.com Inc, though it won’t make specific comment on Ottawa’s proposed options at this time. In a...

Poll: Canadians favour foreign control of broadcasters more than cablecos, telcos

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

More Canadians support foreign ownership of broadcasters than telcos and cablecos, despite the government’s preference for and international pressure to ease restrictions for facilities-based carriers. The results were revealed in a Decima Research Inc telephone survey of nearly 1,200 Canadians held between June 15 and...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

Colville decides against entering race to head CRTCCRTC interim chair David Colville has told the government he doesn’t want to be considered as a possibility to permanently head up the commission. In an email to staff last Wednesday, he said he had told Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps and other politicians that he should not be considered a permanent replacement for Françoise Bertrand, who stepped down early...

CCR People

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

Elizabeth Duffy-MacLean has been appointed group VP of regulatory affairs and policy strategy at Bell Globemedia. She will be responsible for all regulatory affairs within the company and will provide strategic advice on policy issues. She was VP of strategic and regulatory affairs at BCE Inc-owned CTV Inc from March to June 2001, and was director of business affairs at NetStar Communications Inc from October 1990 to March 2001. As well, Lib Gibson has been named president and CEO of Bell Globemedia Interactive. Previously, she played a role in the launch and development of the Sympatico Internet service while with WorldLink, and served as VP of strategy for Bell Canada. Look Communications Inc chair of the board, Michael Cytrynbaum, has been named interim president and CEO. He succeeds David Parkes, who will continue with the company in an advisory capacity and as a member of the board of directors. As well, Louis Villeneuve has been named COO, while retaining his existing responsibilities as CFO. He was involved in the restructuring...

Finance committee urged to keep funding flowing, and foreign ownership at bay

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

Industry executives have begun lobbying the House Finance Committee to ensure their priorities are not forgotten when Finance minister Paul Martin delivers his next budget, either this November or in February.Michael MacMillan, chair and CEO of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc, used the opportunity to remind the...

CCR Editorial

Media | 07/04/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Much has been made of ensuring that every Canadian community is connected to high-speed broadband by 2004. Now that the The National Broadband Task Force has presented its report, the government now faces an uphill battle in ensuring that the costly infrastructure is put in place. An equally daunting...

Review of copyright law could pit content producers against content providers

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

The federal government has launched a landmark review of Canadian copyright law that one Internet law expert worries could protect corporate interests at the expense of online users. In a consultation paper released late last week, the departments of Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada asked for comments on several...

Broadcasters, multimedia players must embrace R&D model to succeed: report

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

Players in the multimedia and interactive development field need to embrace a research and development model or risk becoming nothing more than valets to media titans elsewhere, says the author of a new report on Canada's broadband content."Canadian producers with advanced thoughts for developing interactive...

JumpTV applauds federal consultation paper on retransmission regime

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

JumpTV.com Canada Inc's lawyer is giving his tempered thumbs-up to a consultation paper released last week by the departments of Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada on the country's retransmission regime. The document raises several questions about how the controversial practice - which gives cablecos and satellite TV players the right to retransmit over-the-air TV signals - could be changed to reflect the increasing use of the Internet as a new distribution platform.Sunny Handa, acting on behalf of JumpTV, says he's still upset that the feds have decided to proceed with a consultation period before the Copyright Board of Canada has decided on the issue. He says he's...

Future of commerce, content relies on open standards for Internet distribution

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

One of the signs of an industry maturing is a move toward open, interoperable technical standards. As the bloom fades on the IPO rose, the non-dominant players start to realize that proprietary intellectual property may not be the road to profitability. The future begins to look like a choice between open standards and a...

CNM Editorial

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Digital copyright law could be implemented in this country to protect the rights of copyright holders. It's not an unreasonable proposal. To date, the most strident voices have been those of Corporate Canada in any debate about rights-protection, and the government can be forgiven for believing...

CNM People

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

Don Tapscott has resigned as chair and his seat on the board of directors at itemus Inc. He will, however, continue to work with the company.Musicmusicmusic inc has added KOCH Entertainment president Bob Frank to the company's board of directors. He brings a wealth of experience in the music industry to the table and the firm will count on his leadership, operational and marketing experience as the company goes...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 06/28/2001 4:00 am EDT

Knowledge House launches online high school Knowledge House Inc, Halifax, announced the launch of its latest online education program at its AGM this week. The company unveiled the details of its web-based high school, dubbed the Wellspring School. It will deliver traditional courses using a collaborative, problem-based approach. The Wellspring School is an independent high school that will offer courses in the areas of...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

Bird shut out of satellite gameIndustry Canada awarded a licence to Telesat Canada today to launch a new satellite into the 118.7 degree orbital slot. The decision shuts out newcomer Bird Satellite Communications Inc, the only other player vying for the space (CCR March 29/01). Bird, a $1-billion venture headed by Richard Stursberg, former president and CEO of Cancom, had applied March 15 for a licence to launch two...

CCR People

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

Telefilm chair Laurier LaPierre, Acadian actress Viola Léger and singer-comedian Jean Lapointe were appointed by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to the Senate. Susan Abramovitch and Lousie Dompierre, both of Toronto, have been appointed to the National Film Board for three-year terms. Abramovitch, a founding partner at Stohn Abramovitch, practices entertainment law. Dompierre is director of the Art Gallery of...

Are consumers being forgotten in talks on launch of the new digital channels?

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

Has the CRTC lost touch with what consumers really want? The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance fears it has. The group, which represents smaller cablecos, argues that the complexity of rules associated with the carriage of Category 1 channels is seriously impeding the industry’s ability to respond to consumer demand....

CCR Editorial

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Can the government’s support of Canadian culture be questioned? After all, both the Canadian Heritage and International Trade ministers pledged last week in Banff to help foster new international trade agreements that not only protect culture, but hopefully create new markets for it. Back at...

Johnston ties public funding of broadband infrastructure to third-party access

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

Any government funding given to cablecos, satellite distributors or telecommunications companies to deploy broadband would be contingent upon those companies providing third party access to their networks, according to the chair of the National Broadband Task Force. David Johnston says all levels of government are expected to contribute up to $1.5 billion of a price tag that could top $4.57 billion to extend high-speed Internet to rural and remote communities by 2004. The task force’s recommendations were released Monday in its final report to Industry minister Brian Tobin. Johnston’s comments were made to counter concerns that taxpayers’ money would help large suppliers,...

Public interest groups anxiously await passing of new broadcast subsidy rules

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

If a bill currently awaiting the reconvening of the House of Commons is passed, consumer groups would have a stronger voice at CRTC broadcast hearings, according to Andy Reddick of the Public Interest Advocacy Group. Bill S-7, a proposed amendment to the Broadcasting Act, would allow the CRTC to award costs to...

CRTC denies leak sparked early release of decision on analog channel ownership

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

The CRTC’s interim chair says the commission’s unexpected and speedy release of a decision related to cableco ownership of analog specialty channels was meant to stave off market speculation, and had nothing to do with another leak. "I haven’t been able to find any credibility to the rumor that there was...

High-profile lawyer says lack of leadership, vision responsible for a CRTC in “disarray”

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

One of country’s top communications lawyers has described the CRTC as an agency lacking in vision and leadership. Peter Grant, a partner with McCarthy Tétrault, insists the regulator is essential, but says that changes are needed to ensure its effectiveness in a more competitive and...

Digital launch delays movement on small cable’s right to access U.S. signals

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

Small cable operators have finally won the right to purchase their TV signals from U.S. satellite providers. But a preoccupation with this fall’s digital launch means they will have to wait awhile before taking advantage of it. Alyson Townsend, COO and general counsel with the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc...

Cultural Instrument needs more acceptance in international trade spheres

Media | 06/21/2001 4:00 am EDT

The new international instrument on cultural diversity (NIICD) touted by the government at the Banff Television Festival will have to gain more credibility in global trade circles if it’s to be effective (CCR, Oct. 13/00), says a senior government official. Maureen Tsai, deputy director of the information and technology trade policy division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, says the idea still hasn’t made it onto the radars of trade ministers around the world. Speaking in Toronto earlier this week at an Insight Information-sponsored conference session on Trade policy implications of convergence, mergers and vertical integration, she noted that...

CAIP argues for Tariff 22-type decision in online advertising rules debate

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

ISPs could be sued for misleading advertising on a client’s web site unless the Competition Bureau makes changes to proposed new guidelines on Internet advertising, warns the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). Released in May, the bureau’s draft guidelines threaten to ignite a Tarrif 22-type battle by...

Telefilm, broadcasters give $2.5 million for three new media training institutions

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

Broadcasters demonstrated a new commitment to new media this week with several big-name, big-dollar funding initiatives. Telefilm Canada joined Corus Entertainment Inc and Bell Globemedia with over $2.5 million in new funding for Canadian new media incubators, including the Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS),...

Wireless association to embrace content players for first time in its history

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

Content players have been invited to join Canada’s largest telecommunications lobby group as it begins to grapple with the need to fill new wireless pipes. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) has created a new Wireless Internet Council with the aim of fostering the growth of WAP, third-generation...

Visualization techniques could improve web experience if companies adopt them

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

Canada’s medical and scientific sectors are using advanced navigation tools that promise to bring a new level of simplicity to the commercial Internet and computer applications, a conference on visualization recently heard. Visualization, which is still in its infancy, provides better graphic clues to manipulating data...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

Jump Copyright hearings a goNot surprisingly, the Copyright Board of Canada has flexed its regulatory muscles and asserted its intention to continue with JumpTV hearings. The process, set for this fall, will determine if JumpTV.com Canada Inc qualifies as a re-transmitter, and how much of a tariff it should pay if it does. A newly-announced hearing to examine the Copyright Act, by Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage,...

CNM People

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

Debbie Lawes is stepping down as publisher and managing editor of Decima Publishing on June 27 to launch a new writing venture related to science and technology research. Lawes has been associated with Decima publications since 1992. During her tenure as a journalist and later as senior editior, she helped launch Canadian Communications Reports (1993), Report on Wireless (1997) and Canadian NEW MEDIA (1998). She will...

Market for next generation television begins to emerge in Canada

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

Decima Publishing, in partnership with Decima Research, have just released a market research report on the state of Next Generation Television in Canada. Two national surveys of 2000 Canadians conducted earlier this year provide insight into what type of online video programming interests Canadians, and how much they would...

CNM Editorial

Media | 06/14/2001 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 Competition Bureau’s description of ISPs as publishers in the traditional sense is no longer typical of most government thinking about the digital world, but it emphasizes the need for constant education about the new media sector. The thinking is that ISPs have some kind of control over the...

Toronto start-up promises workable interactive television technology

Media | 06/14/2001 4:00 am EDT

A Toronto-based start-up has invented a new interactive technology that imbeds advertising directly into a broadcast signal, giving networks a new weapon in their war to keep commercials in front of web surfers and television viewers. The technology is aimed at content producers, broadcasters and advertisers who are anxious to reach the growing number of people who watch television and surf the web at the same time. The head of i Love TV Inc says his company is able to insert markers, called "tokens" into live or taped television broadcasts that are streamed on a broadcaster’s web site. "We’re talking to everybody. We want the advertisers to embrace it,"...