Media giants sacrificing long-term opportunities for short-term gain, Punnett

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

Rogers iMedia’s plan to shutdown one web site, and cut costs at others, shows that most media giants are focused more on quick returns than on research and development, according to an industry analyst. Sam Punnet, VP of Innovation for Delvinia Inc (formerly Multimediator Strategy Group), says companies like Rogers are...

Content publishing package promises end to IT-related bottlenecks in web posting

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

A company with Edmonton-based R&D facilities is touting a new file serving package that enables managers to publish web content independent of tech support. MA-based iKnowledge Inc has closed several high-profile sales and licensing deals since August for its self-styled content lifecycle automation package. Its...

$5 million awarded for new media from TVO Lifelong Learning Challenge Fund

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

TVOntario’s Lifelong Learning Fund has awarded $5 million to eight distance learning projects in the last week, but officials at the public broadcaster say their role goes beyond that of investor. Blair Dimock, who has been the interim head of TVO’s new media division since it was formed a year ago, says the broadcaster...

Canadians using the Internet more, sleeping, reading, viewing less: StatsCan

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

Canadians are using the Internet more than ever, and there’s evidence it’s changing the way they spend their days, according to a new study by Statistics Canada. Changing our ways: Why and how Canadians use the Internet reveals that people are using the Internet one to seven hours a week , and since heading online, have...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

VRX wins travel dealVRX Studios Inc, Vancouver, has signed a deal with Cendant Membership Services Inc to provide virtual tour software to Cendant’s network of travel sites. The Software creates maps and 360-degree virtual tours. No details of the contract have been released. Cendant’s travel sites include traveleradvantage.com and a niche site focused on military personnel. CANOE adds 3D contentQuebecor Inc subsidiary CANOE has given an exclusive three-year contract to VISITE 3D for virtual tour software used on the CANOE sites. The contract includes promotion of VISITE’s digital photography and a new portal for Visit3D.com. The contract’s value was not announced.Ottawa economic dev’t groups merge under OCRIThough widely-known for several weeks, the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) and Ottawa Economic Development Corporation (OED) made their union official March 26. The merger will go into effect following the annual general meetings of the two organizations March 29 (OCRI) and April 9 (OED). OED is the older of...

CNM People

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

Diane Beaudry was named president and CFO of Metaforia Entertainment Inc, a company that creates virtual worlds for the entertainment sector. The first Metaforia Center in North America opened in Montreal last December. John Fretz was named supervising producer of animation at Montreal-based Cinar Entertainment. Previously, he was production manager of English Production at the National Film Board, and has worked for...

Why JumpTV would destroy broadcasting: NAB objects to re-transmission tariff

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Washington-based National Association of Broadcasters has waded into the debate over JumpTV. This month, it asked the Copyright Board for leave to participate in hearings into Internet re-transmission. An excerpt from the lobby group's April 2 letter appears below: The success and viability of the U.S....

Jump set to launch site, likely with off-shore content before Canadian broadcasting

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

JumpTV is raising the stakes in its battle to become an Internet re-transmitter by promising to launch its site within the next couple of weeks. The move comes as the company continues its battle for legitimacy with the Copyright Board of Canada, and as large U.S. broadcasters sharpen their legal knives to fight what they...

CNM Editorial

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. StatsCan tells us we’re sleeping less, working more and reading fewer books since we’ve gone online en masse. The department’s latest report serves as a report card of sorts, reminding us where the early promise of the web is truly being realized, and how far wrong we were predicting its overall...

Quebec association demands Quebecor money be spent on new media initiatives

Media | 04/05/2001 4:00 am EDT

The Quebec new media association wants regulatory assurances that Inc will spend part of a proposed $35-million benefits package on interactive television and Internet content. Appearing last week before a CRTC hearing to review the publishing giant’s $4.9-billion purchase of Vidéotron ltée and TVA Group Inc, the...

Revenues and expenses on increase for Canada’s private broadcasters

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Canada’s private television industry saw expenses grow more than total revenues in 2000 over the previous year, according to industry statistics and financials released by the CRTC. Expenses climbed by $35 million, or 2.3 per cent, while total revenues rose by about $15.4 million, or 0.8 per cent, the figures...

Report: Content packagers to play key role

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Content packagers will play an increasingly powerful role as communications companies consolidate and broadband proliferates, according to a global study released last week by Ernst & Young, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.  The report, Business Redefined: Connecting Content, Applications and Customers, notes that the content packager model is...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Quebec court prosecutes grey market dish dealerA Quebec provincial judge has found a Hudson QC businessman guilty of selling U.S. grey market satellite TV services to Canadians. The March 15 ruling by Justice Claude Prevost is the latest in a series of cases that have used the Radiocommunications Act as the legislation of choice to crack down on grey market dealers (CCR, Jan. 17/01). In this case, Charles Pearlman, who...

CCR People

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Michelle Marion has been named to the newly created position of director of Canadian independent production for Astral Television Networks’ The Movie Network and Moviepix. She has previously worked in communications and strategic planning at Astral.  Corus Entertainment Inc has made more personnel changes as a result of ongoing management restructuring, upping Susan Ross to VP and general manager of Children’s Television from general manager of Treehouse. She will oversee existing channels YTV and Treehouse, and be responsible for the development and launch of Corus’ new children’s digital channels, including Discovery Kids. Also given expanded responsibilities was Bryan Ellis, who becomes Group VP for Corus Television. He will be responsible for adult-targeted channels, such as Country Music Television, and Corus’ two new Category 1 digital channels, Land and Sea, and the Canadian Documentary Channel, as well as Digital Adventure, and DMX commercial and residential businesses. Also, Brian Bolli was appointed general manager...

To regulate interactive TV or not: now it’s Washington’s turn to decide

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Canadians hankering for a little déjà vu need look no further than Washington these days. The Federal Communications Commission’s current review of interactive TV plays like a re-run of the CRTC’s landmark 1998 hearing into whether or not to regulate new media (CNM, May 20, 1999). Many of the arguments presented by...

CCR Editorial

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Children are more likely to steal from the cookie jar if they know all they face is a stern parental warning if caught. But they might think twice if they know the act will land them in their room for the weekend.  Voluntary codes of conduct have become commonplace in Canada’s communications...

Scant benefits package may delay CRTC approval of Quebecor-Vidéotron merger

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

CRTC commissioners presiding over a hearing into Quebecor’s merger with Vidéotron ltée and TVA Group Inc grilled company executives in Montreal this week on a proposed benefits package that appears to fall well short of the regulator’s expectations. The commission’s vice chair of broadcasting, Andrée Wylie, went so...

Broadcasters and distributors still at odds over how to launch digital channels this fall

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Disagreement over how to launch new digital channels this fall isn’t expected to delay their rollout, but it will affect how the retail revenue is divided between the services and broadcasters. Contract talks hit a roadblock this month when the various parties were unable to reach agreement on a...

Telesat urges broadcast clients to support its exemption from paying phone subsidies

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Telesat Canada’s president and CEO is rallying broadcasters to support its appeal of a telecom ruling on local phone subsidies that could result in higher fees for satellite users. In his annual address to the Canadian Satellite Users Association conference on March 21, Larry Boisvert explained that the CRTC’s new contribution regime for subsidizing the cost of local phone service now applies to Telesat, and that those costs will be passed onto broadcasters and specialty channels, which comprise about half of its customer base (CCR, March 14/00). Boisvert urged Telesat’s broadcast clients to support its exemption from paying phone subsidies. "If you haven’t already been...

Market demand will decide if new satellites are used more for broadcasting or Internet

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Bird Satellite Communications Inc says it will provide broadcasting capacity on its proposed new satellites, despite reports that the company is wedded to an Internet-only strategy. Scott Gibson, Bird’s VP legal and regulatory affairs, says if Industry Canada approves its March 15 licence...

CRTC and Industry Canada meeting could set course for freeing up radio slots in GTA

Media | 03/29/2001 5:00 am EST

Officials from Industry Canada and the CRTC will meet in early April to discuss the feasibility of re-jigging frequency bands to make room for more radio stations in the congested Toronto market. Industry Canada’s Spectrum Information Technologies and Telecommunications branch has spent the last month reviewing a report...

CANARIE funds “virtual business network” company with $1.5 million investment

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

A former Internet incubator has switched from developing new web technologies to selling business networking software, supported by a $1.5-million investment from CANARIE Inc’s E-Business Virtual Cluster Program. VENNGO Inc (formerly Equityengine.com Inc) of Toronto will use the money to finish...

CWC, Corus to launch intensive new media course for women in communications

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

A coalition of partners including Canadian Women in Communications (CWC), Corus Entertainment and the Banff New Media Institute are putting the final touches on a $490,000 education program to be announced at the Banff Tele-vision Festival. The Accelerator, aimed at women in communications eager to learn about new media,...

Internet access grows in tandem with Canadian technology take-up

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

According to a new Decima Research Inc study, home Internet access continues to grow as 53% of the households in Canada now have access to the Internet, a significant increase from 46% in February, 2000. The study was conducted among over 2000 adults 18 or older via the Decima Express National Telephone Omnibus in February....

Virtue wins $17 million pan-European webcasting deal with Interoute

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

A European telecom operator is investing $17 million in a Canadian video streaming company that will result in millions of new users for its online services. Interoute Telecommunications, which is building Europe’s largest fibre data network, has signed the U.K. subsidiary of Toronto-based Virtue Broadcasting Inc as its...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

"Video Game U" offers $200k in scholarshipsThe Center for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS), Burnaby BC, has announced an additional $200,000 in scholarships for its three-year Video Game Development Pro-gram. CDIS staff say it is preparing for a day when 4.5-8 GHz computers are a reality, allowing real-time interaction in virtual environments. $100,000 will be awarded starting in June, with an additional...

CNM People

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

Michael Zahra is the new GM of Yahoo! Canada. He will be responsible for all aspects of the firm, including strategic planning and business development, marketing, site production, finance and customer service. He spent 10 years at Schlumberger, eventually becoming VP and GM, before joining the Internet portal last year. Paul Weissman is the new COO/CFO of Venngo Inc of Toronto. A consultant with the company since...

Children’s content online should be subject to CanCon rules says Nikolai.com founder

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

A Canadian kids website has folded af five years in the trenches as spooked venture capitalists pull back from risky online projects. Though Isabel Hoffmann says her Nikolai.com site was in the pre-profit stage of its business plan, the failure to score second-round financing has forced the company into bankruptcy. In place of the usual site content, Hoffmann has posted a passionate letter to over 350,000 registered members of the site explaining her reasons for shutting down. Part of her anger is directed at the Canadian government, which she says isn’t doing its part to encourage CanCon for kids. Her other target is giant media conglomerates, such as Corus Entertainment, which she...

The Record folds as publisher struggles to find business case for multimedia organ

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

The publisher of a Canadian recording industry magazine says reluctance by the industry association to embrace digital delivery is responsible for the publication’s suspension earlier this month. After 20 years in business, one of those as an online concern, The Record closed its doors March 12 with uncertain prospects...

Why quality online content for kids is doomed to fail in Canada

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

Sadly, I must tell you that Nikolia.com has been forced to close its doors today. Why did Nikolai.com close? Well among the various reasons that have forced us into making this decision, perhaps the most fundamental one of all is that we live in a society which has forgotten how to care about the welfare of its...

Filter foiling company gives up expectation of ad revenue for pig Latin software

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

A student-owned college press isn’t worried that its new Napster-foiling software won’t generate any revenues. The software, which turns music titles into pig Latin to slip through Napster’s new filtering technology, was created in four days. James Chillcott of PulseNewMedia says their tool can be used to disguise any...

CNM Editorial

Media | 03/22/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. The new media industry doesn’t need to be regulated to benefit from regulation. Digital cellular providers, long distance companies and ISPs, for example, are free to compete as they see fit, without the burden of regulatory oversight. However, they are huge beneficiaries of intricate rules that...

CCR Editorial

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.It would be unfortunate and shortsighted if as a result of our lead article in this issue, legal action is taken against companies who are performing a valuable customer service, and promoting Canadian content abroad.  The fact that Canadian "snowbirds", expats and foreign residents are willing to pay to receive Canadian programming should be viewed as an opportunity for DTH companies and governments on both sides of the border – and not a reason to litigate. Canada’s legal battles against U.S. services being sold into Canada had more to do with stifling the emergence of a homegrown industry, than about Canadians watching U.S. shows. Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu are now the suppliers of choice in this country, and the time has come to find new ways of allowing consumers to buy what they want. Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage have an opportunity to broker a cross border satellite TV deal...

“Reverse grey market” growing in U.S. and Mexico for Canadian DTH services

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The grey market battle has taken on an ironic new twist with revelations that at least two American companies are openly selling Canadian DTH systems to people in the U.S., Mexico and parts further south. Dish dealers in Wisconsin and Texas are among those importing the dishes and receiving...

Dish dealers fight for return of CBC on C-band

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Satellite dish dealers are trying to line up political support in their battle return CBC television to about one million Canadians who had been watching the public broadcaster via C-band. A Waterloo ON company says it has collected about 1000 names on a petition which is being sent to MPs in Ottawa.  Program Source has been lobbying aggressively...

Union fears diminished role for TV5 in Montreal if operations move to Paris

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The federal and Quebec governments negotiating a future for TV5 Quebec that a labour union worries will result in job cuts at the Montreal office of the international channel and decreased visibility of French-Canadian programming around the world. "From what we know and the information we have it’s pretty well...

Rogers letter to producers prompts call for retraction, and intervention by CRTC

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The CRTC should order Rogers Communications Inc to retract a letter it sent to producers asking them to support cable ownership of analog channels, say the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. The lobby group also wants the commission to force Rogers to reveal to whom it sent the Feb. 28 letter, and to demonstrate that future...

Programmers and distributors at odds on how to roll out digital TV across Canada

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

There is little industry consensus between distributors and programmers on how to convert to digital television, according to a new report prepared for the CRTC by an industry task force studying the issue. "We really didn’t agree on much. Whatever was agreed on, were small items," says David Saxe, who...

Opinions split on whether to approve Quebecor’s purchase of Vidéotron

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Quebecor Média Inc should get regulatory approval for its acquisition of Vidéotron ltée and Groupe TVA inc because as a vertically integrated company, it will be able to compete globally and improve domestic policy outcomes, according to the Canadian Cable Television Association. "Approval of the transaction...

Broadcasters could foot bill for local phone service if Telesat forced to pay into subsidy fund

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Specialty services and broadcasters could end up paying more for their satellite capacity if the CRTC forces Telesat Canada to pay into a subsidy fund for local telephone service.  The BCE Inc-owned satellite carrier, and its subsidiary TMI Communications Inc, have asked the commission to...

SaskTel scores cable licence approval

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

SaskTel says it won’t be delayed in rolling out cable service in Regina and Saskatoon this year, despite a CRTC order that the telco first prove it’s free of political influence from the provincial government. An executive with the Crown-owned telco says they will begin work immediately to comply with commission concerns that provincial cabinet has...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Vidéotron appeals winback rules for high-speed InternetVidéotron ltée wants the CRTC to reverse an earlier ruling forcing it to wait 90 days before attempting to lure back high-speed Internet customers who switch to a competitor. Filed March 5, the application takes issue with Order CRTC 2000-789 which categorizes Vidéotron as a dominant player in the high-speed Internet market, and as such, subjected it to a 90-day winback restriction. The cableco points out, however, that its relative share of the high-speed ISP market in Quebec dropped from 71% to 56% between March 31 and Dec. 31 last year. In comparison, it claims Bell Canada’s market share during that same period increased from 29% to 44%. Vidéotron also challenges the scope of the new rules, saying they apply to all of its retail Internet services. If the CRTC decides to retain the winback rules, Vidéotron says they should be applied equally to all facilities-based high-speed ISPs, and not exclusively to Vidéotron and to cable modem technology. Quebec to support community...

CCR People

Media | 03/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Sue Prestedge has been appointed senior VP of the Category 1 digital channel Women’s Sports Network (WSN) by CTV Inc-owned NetStar Communications. She will oversee the day-to-day operations of the new network, including program production, acquisition, scheduling, marketing and strategic planning. For the past five years, she has directed the broadcast journalism program at Mohawk College in Hamilton, ON.  Telefilm...

Canadians expect converged content to look a lot like television: CNM poll

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

Canadians seem to want the Internet to deliver what they’re already watching on television, according to preliminary results from a national poll commissioned by Canadian NEW MEDIA from Decima Research Inc. The poll of 2,007 Canadians conducted in January found that news and current affairs topped the list of programming...

Digital rights managment key to offering CineRoute to public, says NFB head

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is taking steps to make its tens thousands of films available to the general public over high speed networks, but first it must clear the tricky issue of digital rights. Sandra Macdonald, the NFB’s president says work on both digital rights standards at the international level, and...

Time to switch focus to “dot con”, says CANARIE

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

CANARIE seeks input on new content initiatives as prelude to funding Canada’s broadband research consortium is meeting with industry representatives later this month in hopes of creating a new research coalition for online content. CANARIE Inc is taking the lead in the initiative, which could result in government and...

New Media Innovation Centre aims for four research clusters operating over next year

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

A British Columbia new media incubator has launched its first research program as part of a five-year, $12.5-million initiative to create several digital media research clusters for broadband networks and web-based applications.  The New Media Innovation Centre, located in Victoria’s Harbour Centre atop the city’s biggest bandwidth pipe, has appointed its first university researchers and graduate students. As part of the Nortel Networks Corp cluster, Eric Manning and Ali Shorja will work on reconstructing the Internet to deliver high-speed new media applications like digital video and film. With $8 million in seed money from the provincial and federal governments, and the...

CinemaNow promises 99 per cent firewall protection for streaming video catalogue

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

A Vancouver-based company has developed a new firewall technology to control access to its film catalogue. Lion’s Gate Entertainment subsidiary CinemaNow Inc hit the streets this month with the new service, which streams movies from its vast library to a user’s PC in Windows Media format – for a small subscriber...

Digitally-archived newspapers have clear ROI, says Cold North Wind president

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

A deal with the venerable New York Post to put 200 years of the newspaper online is just the first of several major announcements Ottawa-based Cold North Wind Inc hopes to make in the next few months. Similar deals are being negotiated with news organizations throughout North America and Europe. While the process...

CNM People

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

Larry Baldachin is the first executive to hold the newly-created position of e-Executive in Residence at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Baldachin is the president and founder of Liberty Technology Services Ltd, which was recently acquired by Norigen Communications. He was previously the COO at Compugen Systems Ltd. He also serves as director on the Rotman School Alumni board. Ron Bremner...

Making E-Business Canada’s Business

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

The Canadian E-Business Opportunities Roundtable is a private-sector led initiative formed in 1999 to develop a strategy for accelerating Canada’s participation in the Internet economy. The following is excerpted from its second annual report, Fast Forward 2.0, released Jan. 17. The full report can be found here. A year ago, the Roundtable...

CNM Editorial

Media | 03/08/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Stealing! cried the Globe and Mail this week. The malicious theft of bread from the mouths of artists’ babies! A wanton disregard for property typical of a lawless generation raised immorally digital! The knives are out for Napster in the press and editors around the world are proclaiming their...

Heritage and Industry could announce joint review of CRTC within a month

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

Senior political forces could scuttle attempts to launch a mandate review of the CRTC, if such a review threatens to re-open the Broadcasting and Telecommunications acts, industry experts warn. The review, which could be announced as early as March, appears to have support from the deputy ministers at Industry Canada and...

Chum filing sparks battle over whether more Category 2s should be licensed

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

The first round of Category 2 digital channels haven’t even launched and already the CRTC is embroiled in a bitter battle over whether it’s time to license more. The commission has received 16 applications for new digital specialty services, with Chum Ltd leading the pack with 13 bids, including channels devoted to...

Senate Committee reviews draft report on communications industry

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

The Senate Committee on Transport and Communications will decide soon whether to release a report from hearings held last year on the state of Canada’s communications industry. The Sub-committee on Communications had just finished the first of a three-phase review of communications and competition policy before the...

Rogers Cable introduces 1st generation interactive TV to Ontario market

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

Despite a lukewarm reception by U.S. customers, Rogers Cable Inc is hoping to carve out a niche audience for its "interactive television." David Ellis, an analyst with Omnia Communications in Toronto, has dubbed Rogers’ product "WebTV in a beavercoat." A major difference with the Rogers’ offering is that it requires only a cable line. When Microsoft’s WebTV was unveiled in the U.S. to little fanfare, the return path was via the phone line. Navigation is via a wireless keyboard or a television remote. Due to limitations in the digital set top box, the speed at which the Internet can be viewed on the TV screen with Rogers Cable is equivalent to a dial-up 56...

Viewing of Canadian programming declining in English Canada

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

Canada’s English-language networks CanWest Global and CTV Inc aren’t opening up their wallets as much to fund Canadian programming, while raking up increasingly large profits, according to figures released by the CRTC. Only five per cent of Global’s audience was watching a Canadian show in 1999 during prime time,...

CRTC praised for making French-language channels available across Canada

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

The CRTC is winning praise for its French-language specialty television policy, which takes into account not only the size of cable systems, but also their capacity to carry more channels. Under PN 2001-25, distributors serving more than 2,000 subscribers with digital capacity of 750 MHz or more will be required to carry...

French Category 1s could delay launch

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

The owners of five French-language Category 1 channels may delay the launch of their recently-licensed services from anywhere from a month to a year due to low digital penetration levels in Quebec. "There are big discussions right now in the Quebec market as to whether the Category 1s will be launched next fall or if they will ask for a delay...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

Canadian Television Fund gets 1-year transitional renewalCanadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps has given the Canadian Television Fund another $100 million and renewed its mandate for the 2001-2002 fiscal year. The fund, which was set to expire in March, was renewed for a year to "provide continuity in policy implementation," pending the government setting its next budget. The fund has enabled the creation of...

CCR People

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

Alliance Atlantis Communications has upped Phyllis Yaffe to CEO of the company’s broadcasting group from president. Mark Rubinstein, formerly managing director for Yahoo! Canada, and before that senior VP and general manager at ChumCity TV group, becomes president and COO. He will report to Yaffe. These two appointments are effective April 9. As well Norm Bolen, currently senior VP of programming at Showcase and History Television, was advanced to executive VP of programming at Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting. Barb Williams has been appointed senior VP of lifestyle programming. Williams will be responsible for programming for the launch of all new lifestyle channels, including the Health Network, while continuing to manage program development for existing channels HGTV, Life Network, and Food Network Canada.  Sydney Suissa moves to senior VP of factual programming from VP of programming at History Television. She will work on the launch of non-fiction channels, such as National Geographic Canada and National Geographic Adventure One....

CAB takes tough stand on cableco ownership of specialty channels

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters is rallying against the cable industry in its bid to own more analog specialty channels, prompting one of its largest members to threaten to withdraw from the association. Rogers Communications Inc revealed earlier this week that it plans to resign from the association at the end of...

CCR Editorial

Media | 02/28/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Chum should be commended, and not scorned, for some recent maneuvers that would win it an entrepreneur of the year award south of the border.  First it tried to take advantage of an apparent loophole in Star Choice’s contract with Telesat Canada to try to secure another transponder for itself. Had...

UVic New Media Conference

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

New media advocates calling for a new approach to research spending Finance minister Paul Martin’s commitment to increase federal R&D spending by $1 billion by 2004 will mean little to Canada’s new media and other ICT sectors unless governments and universities are prepared to put social science research and the arts on a equal footing with more traditional disciplines. In interviews with Canadian NEW MEDIA at a...

UVic New Media Conference

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

UVic conference attempts to lure more content creators to Left Coast event Organizers of this month’s New Media Conference at the University of Victoria hope to attract even more writers, artists and filmmakers to their annual event as it strives to promote Vancouver Island as a west coast hub of digital media activity. The two-day conference, which wrapped up Feb. 13, drew more than 300 delegates, mostly from British...

Life Network takes chance on reality-based travel site with possible U8TV ties

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

A Saskatchewan-based Internet producer is launching a new reality program in which the television show is secondary to the web site. The new travel show – MyGlobalAdventure.com – will feature an interactive web site and a 26-part half-hour television series set to air in Canada on the Life Network starting next January....

Heritage officials make final comments as ink dries on Telefilm multimedia report

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

The federal government is expected to a report in March that changes to Telefilm Canada’s multimedia fund, including "real support" for the country’s digital media producers. Ernst & Young was commissioned to report on the $30-million fund’s successes and failures as mandated by the Treasury Board...

CNM People

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) has formed an advisory board for its Women in IT initiative. Serving on the committee are Craig Slaney, past president of CIPS; Peter Wolchak of Laurentian Technomedia Inc; Lachlan Peck from the Peel (ON) District School Board; Frank Piddisi from the Toronto Catholic District School Board; Vicki Brady of Havergal College; Mary Jane Kucerak, executive director of CIPS;...

Investing more in the arts and social sciences is Canada’s ticket to success

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

Canadian NEW MEDIA sat down with Bill Buxton, the chief scientist at Alias/Wavefront, during the New Media Conference in Victoria earlier this month to discuss how Canada's new economy and digital media industries are evolving. His message in short: investing time and money to create inevitable technologies is wasteful;...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

Alliance Atlantis acquires Salter Street FilmsSalter Street Films, producers of some of Canada's most popular TV programming, has been bought by media giant Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. The acquisition will be accomplished through a combination of share-swaps and cash sales expected to be worth approximately $80 million. The deal will give Alliance ownership of Salter New Media's business-to-business properties and TheItch.com, as well as the Independent Film Channel - Salter's CRTC-licenced Category 1 DTV channel. The change in control of that property is subject to commission approval. Technicolor comes to QuebecCalifornia-based Technicolor has announced plans to build the world's largest high-tech film laboratory for $45-million near Mirabel Airport in Quebec. The new plant will reproduce films for distribution across North America and Europe. The move cements a recent foray by the company into Quebec following the acquisition of Covitec, owned by Astral, and AstralTech, Canada's second-largest video...

CNM Editorial

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. The irony was delicious this weekend listening to Rick Dees’ Weekly Top-40 radio show, though it’s doubtful Mr. Dees understood the joke on the eve of Napster’s death.Dees is no college DJ, spinning alternative platters and thumbing his nose at the labels. Dees is a warrior for the music...

Tobin favours tightening retransmission loophole to satisfy broadcast concerns

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

Industry Minister Brian Tobin has waded into the debate over JumpTV.com by signaling the government’s willingness to exclude the Internet from a regulatory regime that protects cable’s right to re-transmit television signals. Speaking at a lunch for the Canadian Film and Television Production Association Feb. 9 in...

UVic New Media Conference

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

Using visual effects to create big budget films on an "I Love Lucy" budget The viability of Canada’s film industry depend on its willingness to exploit new digital technologies, according to the chief scientist at visual effects giant Alias/Wavefront, Toronto. Speaking to delegates at an annual new media conference in Victoria BC Feb. 12, Bill Buxton said special effects are making it possible to significantly...

Baddeck and Banff festivals bring new media types and broadcasters together

Media | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

The organizers of the Baddeck International New Media Festival are hoping to boost their profile, attract more sponsors and expand their program by developing closer ties with the internationally renowned Banff Television Festival. The two conferences have signed a collaborative agreement that will see several features of...

JumpTV president likens webcasting

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The president of Internet upstart told a hostile audience of broadcasters and content producers that his company’s right to retransmit TV signals is no different than that already afforded to cablecos in Canada. "You hear a lot from the media establishment about how the Internet is different. But we see things differently," Farrel Miller said at a Feb. 2 conference organized by the University of Toronto’s Centre for Innovative Law and Policy. "It’s pretty clear that with the advent of cable 30 years ago, it enabled many people to get a TV signal. Fifty years later, it’s no different. We’re introducing a new medium." JumpTV plans to offer a 4"x 5" web window for its signals at 30 frames per second, which would likely create a 12-second delay...

Salter Street sale doesn’t signal demise of indies

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc chair and CEO Michael MacMillan appears to have gotten his hands on the independent film channel he coveted during digital licensing hearings last year. The CRTC awarded the channel to Halifax-based Salter Street Films Ltd, which was purchased Monday by Alliance Atlantis in a transaction valued at between $75 million...

Broadcast unions want nets to disclose how much they spend on Canadian content

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Canada’s two largest broadcast unions say large networks should be forced to publicly reveal how much they spent on Canadian programming to ensure past commitments are being met. The unions and other groups are responding to a CRTC review that may force CTV, Global Television and TVA to disclose total revenues and how...

CRTC urges government to revamp spectrum rules to free up new FM slots

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Radio competition in the Toronto market could reach new heights if Industry Canada acts on a CRTC recommendation to make room for up to 16 new FM channels in the country’s largest and most spectrum-congested market. Responding to an Order in Council on the possibility of introducing more ethnic radio stations in Toronto,...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Shaw-Star Choice structural separation questioned by CAB The Canadian Association of Broadcasters says Shaw Communications Inc isn’t adhering to rules that mandate a structural separation between itself and affiliate, Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. Cancom recently merged with another Shaw affiliate, Star Choice Communications Inc. In a Jan. 26 submission to the CRTC, the CAB says some of its member broadcasters...

CCR People

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Global Communications Ltd has given Jack Tomik the extra title of general manager of BCTV. The network's new national newscast will originate from BCTV. He retains his role as senior VP of CanWest Media Sales. As well, Art Reitmayer , former president of the station, has been appointed VP of special projects at CanWest.CRTC vice chair David Colville will head the commission for the next six months. Former CRTC chair...

CCR Newsmakers

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Why the CRTC reversed its own policy and allowed BCE to buy a Quebec cableco In a controversial decision released Feb. 6, the CRTC approved the sale of Câblevision du Nord du Québec to Télébec, a Quebec telco owned by BCE Inc. In Decision 2001-45, five commissioners opposed the decision in dissenting opinions, saying it gives BCE a monopoly in delivering telephony, cable TV, and satellite TV services to the more than...

CCR Editorial

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.The proposed takeover of Halifax-based Salter Street Films Ltd has sparked talk that independents may not survive in this country, and speculation is rife that Chum Ltd could be the next target. Meanwhile, the spectrum shortage in the Toronto radio market is making it difficult for ethnic voices to be...

Tobin pledges government support for Canadian film and television production

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Film and Television Production Association is lauding a speech by Industry Minister Brian Tobin in which he made it clear that the government considers the broadcast sector an important engine for economic growth. Speaking at the CFTPA conference in Ottawa on Friday, Tobin told delegates that he intends to be a...

Converging Global focuses on content, not concerned about getting into carriage

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

CanWest Global Communications Corp president and CEO Leonard says his firm’s convergence model doesn’t involve carriage. Unlike BCE Inc, which has connectivity via DSL and Bell ExpressVu, Asper said Global was concentrating on being an integrated company focusing exclusively on content and advertising. According to Asper, Global will launch "more than one but less than ten" of the 27 Category 2 digital specialty channels awarded last year by the CRTC. While the company doesn’t have its own distribution channels, Asper says Global plans to offer distributors millions of dollars in advertising on its television network and in its newspapers and Internet properties in...

Category 2 licensees lose bid to take away satellite transponders from Star Choice

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

The CRTC has sided with Star Choice Communications Inc in a heated dispute over satellite transponders, and in doing so, prevented three new digital TV licensees from becoming their own carriers. In Order 2001-133 released Monday, the commission said it wouldn’t allow Telesat Canada to take back four Anik F1 transponders...

Cable ownership of analog specialty services continues to meet resistance

Media | 02/14/2001 5:00 am EST

Promises by cablecos that they won’t give preferential treatment to channels they own continues to be met with skepticism by producers, broadcasters, and specialty channel owners. As long as cable remains the dominant means of television distribution, content providers say the CRTC should uphold rules that prohibit or...

Advertisers commited to buying web space, but models not yet understood

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

While the dot bomb explosion has garnered the majority of headlines in recent months, a recent study of Canadian Internet marketers indicates that their commitment to the medium has become stronger. Still, many marketers aren’t fully taking advantage of digital advertising. Approximately 78 per cent of respondents to 24/7...

Global support survey in need of further work say Multimediator report authors

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

A global survey of digital media reveals that Canada and Australia provide more federal funding and support for content development than other countries, particularly the United States and Europe. Released last month by the Multimediator Strategy Group Inc, the first-of-its-kind survey was compiled for the Ontario Ministry...

CNM Short Takes

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

Itemus fails to win Toronto PCS licenceW2N Inc, 20 per cent owned by new media incubator itemus inc, was an aggressive bidder in Canada’s first auction for PCS spectrum blocks, but failed in its bid to win a single licence in southern Ontario. W2N was one of seven original bidders vying for the coveted licences, but lost the GTA properties to Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility, and Telus.The company was successful in winning three licences: in eastern Quebec, Alberta and the former Telus licences in British Columbia. In total, the company is on the hook for $11.39 million for those bands.Itemus president Jim Tobin scoffed late last year at analyst estimates that the auction could ultimately reach $1.5 billion in total bids. At the end of the auction last Thursday, the government netted $1.48 billion after 50 rounds of bidding in 14 days. While sketchy with details, Tobin indicated that it was the company’s intent to win spectrum to guarantee a platform for a range of new wireless applications being developed by itemus member companies....

CNM People

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

Jamie Hill will become CEO of iWave.com pending his acquisition of the company for $234,000. Cindy Burton will remain in her position as president. Hill founded Charlottetown-based On-Line Support Inc and has experience with an array of companies including Arthur Andersen. Calgary-based Cybersurf Corp has appointed Liliane Vidicek as VP, sales and marketing. She joins the company from 24/7 Media Canada. Her former...

Copyright law will be central to Internet regulation, says former iCraveTV lawyer

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

McCarthy Tetrault’s Peter Grant, a lead lawyer against ICraveTV in 1999/2000, addressed a conference at the University of Toronto organized by the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy last Friday dealing with copyright issues in the digital age. The following is an edited transcript of some of his comments. There are...

BELLE project to connect Canadian universities to video, graphical content

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

An Alberta group is launching a $3.4-million research project this month promises to give Canada a technological lead in sharing educational video, text and graphics over broadband networks. Led by Netera Alliance Inc, the BELLE project works with five locations to test new ways of organizing, distributing and using digital...

CNM Editorial

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports. Congratulations are in order for the students of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy at the University of Toronto for last Friday’s conference on Internet re-transmission. Every stakeholder in the current debate over JumpTV was in the room, and the day was a valuable preview of the upcoming...

Publisher and union clash over e-rights

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

The attempted relaunch of Canada’s oldest book review publication is leading to a literary feud over electronic rights. The Periodical Writers Association of Canada maintains its members are having their work stolen. The owner of Books In Canada insists there isn’t a problem. Books In Canada was founded in 1971 as a forum for Canadian writers...

Hull-based company offering free video streaming to schools on CA*net 3

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

Veteran streaming company Callisto Media Systems is offering its technology to Canadian and American universities to experiment with video in the classroom. With the federal research agency CANARIE Inc as a partner in the initiative, the Ottawa-based company put out the call two weeks ago to institutions that are linked...

Quebecor proposal could fill gap in regulatory research and development

Media | 02/07/2001 5:00 am EST

A new research project being proposed for the University of Montreal has the potential to extend Canada’s leadership in communications regulation into cyberspace. As part of its tangible benefits package tabled with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications (CRTC) to take over Vidéotron Communications,...

CCR Short Takes

Media | 02/01/2001 5:00 am EST

Statscan hopes to renew annual culture surveysStatistics Canada expects to hear by late February or early March on a funding proposal that would see as many as seven biennial cultural surveys returned to annual events, and data collection initiated on 10 new cultural areas, including new media. Dubbed the Cultural Statistics Program Improvement Initiative, the proposal is currently being reviewed by senior managers at...

CCR People

Media | 02/01/2001 5:00 am EST

Colette Watson, currently VP of programming and external relations at Rogers Cable Inc, becomes general manager of the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), a national channel with a budget of $6 million. She replaces Al MacKay on Feb. 1. MacKay will restart his policy and communications consulting business.  Producer Robert Lantos has been appointed a member of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp’s board of directors. Lantos co-founded Canada’s first major production and distribution company, Alliance Communications Corp, which later merged with Michael MacMillan’s firm to form Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.  Paul J. Williams, former executive VP of both Headline Sports and Telemedia Network Radio, has been named VP and general manager of Chum Group Radio’s newly announced 24-hour national sports radio network. Gerald McGroarty, most recently general manager of Headline Sports Radio, becomes program director. The launch date of the network, which will include Chum’s existing sports radio stations, Fan 590 in Toronto...