There have been two bills introduced in the Senate recently that seek to bring the CRTC's powers under the Broadcasting Act more into line with the powers it enjoys under the Telecommunications Act. This makes good sense in an era of convergence. The first bill, S-7, was sponsored by Senator Sheila Finestone and would grant the CRTC the same power to award costs in broadcasting matters as it has on the telecom side (CCR, June 21/01). This is reasonable given the increasing complexity and competitiveness of the broadcasting environment. It is worth noting that public interest interveners have been the primary, if not sole, beneficiaries of the CRTC's costing awards on the telecom side. It could be expected this would hold true in broadcasting as well. S-7 was passed by the Senate on June 7, 2001. The second bill, S-29, aims to give the CRTC the same power to review and vary its broadcasting decisions as it has on the telecom side. S-29 was sponsored by Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier and was given first reading on June 11,...
Lisa de Wilde will step down Sept. 14 from her position as president and CEO of Astral Television Networks Inc, after eight years at the helm of the pay and pay-per-view broadcaster. She says that with Astral's networks on a solid growth path and pay television and subscriber levels at record highs, it was time to pursue other ambitions. Patricia Phillips has been appointed senior VP of international co-productions at Alliance Atlantis' AAC Fact, effective Sept. 1. Relocated from the Great North Productions office in Edmonton to Alliance Atlantis' offices in Toronto, she will be the contact for all international producers and broadcasters co-producing factual programming with AAC Fact. Laurie McInnes, who will continue to work in Edmonton, becomes VP and general manager of Great North Productions with Phillips' new appointment. McInnes continues in her position as head of business affairs at AAC Fact. Michael Smith has been named director of TVOntario's nightly Studio 2 show. He replaces Susan Beavan, who retired in...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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 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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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),...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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,"...
