TORONTO – More than 500 people will gather in Toronto on Thursday, June 14th to honour 18 of Canada’s brightest urban visionaries, activists and local heroes.
The occasion is the Canadian Urban Institute’s 4th annual Urban Leadership Awards Luncheon, and on the honour list is media innovator Moses Znaimer, who will receive the Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award.
Each year, the Institute presents awards to organizations and individuals who through their leadership, activism, tenacity and vision, change lives and transform communities.
“These are the champions of Canada’s civic public realm,” said David Crombie, the Institute’s president and CEO. “Their…
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BANFF and TORONTO – While Canada’s telecommunications leaders debate the future of telecom in Toronto at the Canadian Telecom Summit next week, the world’s leaders in digital media and television will be making headlines at NextMedia and the Banff World Television Festival.
Cartt.ca will be on the ground at all three, of course, providing regular reports.
First out of the gate is NextMedia, beginning tomorrow in Banff. Organized by Achilles Media, the same company that puts on the BWTF (not to mention NATPE Mobile++ and the World Congress of History Producers), NextMedia features cutting-edge speakers and session topics.
For example,…
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OTTAWA – Recording movies inside movie theatres will soon be illegal in Canada.
“Canada’s new government is taking action to curb film piracy by bringing forward amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada. Piracy and mass copying of films has had a significant and direct impact on the entire film industry, including producers, directors, actors and creators,” said the Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, in a press release.
Right now, it’s only sort of illegal to record a movie from your seat in the theatre. However, while the theatre owners normally have policies against…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. as a public broadcaster should foster democracy, and needs stable long-term funding to operate effectively, says new CBC board chairman Timothy Casgrain.
Appearing Tuesday before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Casgrain told the committee though that CBC Television, unlike public radio, shouldn’t be totally free of advertising.
“CBC Radio doesn’t compete with Hollywood and CSI and Lost, and you the viewers make that choice,” he said. “CTV and Global are a rebroadcast of U.S. shows with different commercials – that’s what the CBC is up against. Should we come to the House…
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OTTAWA – Auditor-General Sheila Fraser isn’t as worried about the appointment process at the CBC as Friends of Canadian Broadcasting Corp. or the unions, which complain it’s too political.
Asked repeatedly by Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Committee members on Tuesday about the appointment process for the CBC’s chair, other board members and president, Fraser would not criticize the government.
“You have to recognize that the CBC is a Crown corporation and the government is the shareholder of the CBC and it is usually the shareholder who appoints the president,” she said. “The real issue is to make sure you…
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OTTAWA – Seven months after former CBC chairman Guy Fournier "flushed himself" out of the job, the Corp. has a new chairman of the board.
Heritage Minister Bev Oda announced the appointment of Timothy W. Casgrain on Friday afternoon. It’s fair to say he is a complete outsider.
"The credentials Mr. Casgrain brings to the CBC will provide strong leadership," said Minister Oda in her release. "I am confident that his experience and sound judgement will greatly benefit the CBC."
Casgrain (pictured) is currently chair of charter airline Skyservice Investments. Prior to that position, he served as executive vice-president…
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OTTAWA – Calling the CBC the most important outlet for Canadian programming, representatives from the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) urged the government to provide the public broadcaster with long-term stable funding.
Appearing Thursday before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson complained though that the CBC was asking for unduly long periods for the rights to programs under the its broadcast licences. He also noted multiple-platform rights were being sought, sometimes indefinitely, without fair compensation.
He added though that the CBC is not the only one seeking these kinds of deals;…
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OTTAWA – It’s time for the CRTC to set a deadline for Canadian television broadcasters to shut off their analog signals, Industry Canada’s assistant deputy minister Michael Binder told a wireless gathering this morning.
The 700 MHz band, which broadcasters use to send their traditional over-the-air analog signals, is being given back to the U.S. government as of February 17, 2009 and Binder says now is the time to set a deadline in Canada. “We would like to see broadcasters vacate this band and we could use (it) for other applications,” he said during the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association…
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OTTAWA – With less than a month before the CRTC hearing into the purchase of CHUM Ltd. by CTV and rumours swirling as to who might emerge as the winning bidder for CHUM’s A-Channels (see below), the NDP says the CRTC has to set up some tough content conditions governing the combined company.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus said Friday "that if the CRTC is going to give the green light to this unprecedented merging of television media, clear and binding conditions must be laid down."
Angus is calling for enforceable targets for new prime time drama, for example. “Where…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada said today that despite a story in the Globe and Mail this morning speculating a U.S. private equity firm may take the telco private, that the company is not currently in any such negotiations, nor does it intend to go that route.
“At the request of the TSX Market Regulation Services, BCE today issued a statement to confirm the fact that there are no ongoing discussions being held with any private equity investor with respect to any privatization of the Company or any similar transaction. BCE further stated the company has no current intention to…
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