TORONTO – Rogers Cable must be juiced about its next new TV channel because ads touting it are already in rotation among its parent company’s Toronto radio stations, despite the fact it doesn’t launch for another 12 days.
The channel is RETV, a brand new digital real estate channel platform for cable operators, from Capital Networks. Officially, Rogers will launch it on July 19th in York Region, with the rest of the company’s Ontario systems adding it later this year.
Customers of Aurora Cable already know RETV since the company has been offering the service to its 14,000 customers…
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TORONTO – Virgin Mobile today launched its Top Ten Ringtones chart featuring the ten most popular downloaded ringtones downloaded.
The Virgin Mobile Top Ten Ringtones list is the first of its kind available in Canada and debuts this week in 18 major urban dailies and weeklies across Canada.
The premier Virgin Mobile Top 10 Ringtones chart will list the top 10 ringtones and musictones sold each week, including song title, artist and position number. The launch chart features:
1. Don’t Phunk With My Heart – Black Eyed Peas 2. Candy Shop – 50 Cent 3. Hollaback Girl – Gwen…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian-content-advocate side of the creative industry issued a press release this morning saying they are appealing the CRTC’s satellite radio decision to federal cabinet.
“The coalition is seeking an early opportunity to brief the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the opposition critics. A similar initiative is being announced today in Montreal by a coalition of francophone cultural organizations,” said the release.
The organizations who make up the appealing coalition are: ACTRA, the Canadian Independent Record Production Association, the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union of Canada, the Directors Guild of Canada, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the National…
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OTTAWA – Amendments to the Copyright Act, tabled in Parliament today, say in part that Internet service providers are not liable for copyright violating acts done over their networks on the Internet.
This is good news for cable ISPs, says the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
"The cable industry is pleased that the Government of Canada recognizes that as intermediaries, ISPs have no control over the copyright material that passes over their networks," said Michael Hennessy, CCTA president. "The Internet is fundamental to business today and the Copyright Act needs to support and encourage technological advancements."
Minister of Canadian Heritage Liza…
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BANFF – Mountains, cocktails, double espressos and screenings with senators and stars, sure. But the Banff World Television Festival, as with almost every major international entertainment confab, is all about l’argent. Dollars for deals and creators hopes running as high as the bar bills at the Banff Springs Hotel.
The biggest rightnow payoff for those high hopes is the CTV Documart pitch session where a total of $100,000 worth of program development cheques is handed out to three teams of documentary pitchers. Walking away with the top prize of $50,000 Wednesday morning was Brett Gaylor, a producer at Montreal’s…
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OTTAWA – The day after her speech to the Banff TV Festival, promising stable funding for the Canadian Television Fund, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters publicly praised Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla.
As reported by www.cartt.ca Sunday, Frulla announced that the next federal budget will include the renewal of the federal government’s contribution of $100 million for 2006-2007 to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF).
“Long term, adequate and sustainable funding is needed for this fund and the CAB is pleased to hear from the minister that this will be considered in the context of the 2006 federal budget,” said…
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BANFF – The federal government is promising better governance and more stable funding for the Canadian Television Fund and has begun addressing those needs with an announcement of $100 million worth of support to the CTF for 2006-07.
Heritage Minister Liza Frulla announced the news as part of a speedy visit to the Banff World Television Festival today.
In a speech moved back one day to Sunday, to allow the politician to be in parliament for Monday morning (never know when those pesky votes might happen…), Frulla hit four main points. First, an oft-heard pledge to secure stable funding…
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PARIS – On Friday, a bunch of international government types signed off on something called the Preliminary Draft Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
The statement from Heritage Minister Liza Frulla’s on Friday called the draft convention – which would make sure the rights of national governments to take measures to protect its culture (such as our Canadian content rules in our broadcast policies) supersede any other international agreements – “a victory for Canada and cultural diversity.”
However, one wonders about the strength of such a claim of victory given the world’s largest…
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TORONTO – Telecom lawyer Lorne Abugov used this week’s Canadian Telecom Summit to launch Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame.
While other industries have their own way to recognize their pioneers and leaders, the 160-year-old Canadian telecom industry has been lacking, says Abugov.
“The Canadian telecommunications industry has a rich heritage of achievement, invention and innovation that predates confederation,” says Abugov, the hall’s founder and senior telecom law partner with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, pointing to Canadian success stories like Alexander Graham Bell and Waterloo’s Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry.
“There are few industries in Canada, or even…
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AT A UNESCO MEETING in Paris from May 25 to June 3, negotiations will resume on the draft Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions. I believe this is a good time to examine what is at stake for Canada – particularly since on May 21 we celebrate World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
The draft convention has considerable importance for the future of our culture, our languages and indeed our identity. The strength of our identity derives from the tools we have to promote the vitality of our own…
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