By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said it will not need additional financial resources to maintain a database of online services because the $10 million threshold to register for possible mandatory contributions to Canadian content will limit the number of services that need to sign up.
The regulator said in response to questions from Regina Conservative MP Andrew Scheer that it is expecting approximately 50 to 100 services to register basic information with it, including name, phone number, mailing and email addresses, what services they offer and out of where they are incorporated.
Scheer requested information related to the expected…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A representative from music and podcast streaming service Spotify told the CRTC Wednesday that the platform hopes the idea that online streamers should make a base financial contribution to Canadian content doesn’t spread to other jurisdictions.
“You are the only country in the world that is looking at those contributions, at least at this stage, and we actually hope that this is not going to spread to other countries because we will be in real difficulty,” Olivia Regnier, senior director of public policy for Spotify, told the commission.
“Now, we understand the situation, we understand the rationale…
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By Connie Thiessen
Google has reached an agreement with the federal government that will see the digital giant contribute $100 million in annual financial support to meet its obligations under the Online News Act.
By far the biggest digital advertising dominator in Canada with an estimated 50 per cent market share, Google had been preparing to exclude Canadian news sites from search engine results, starting Dec. 19 when Bill C-18 comes into force. Under the legislation, by government calculations, Google would have been required to pay an estimated $172 million per year to prop up the media sector, equivalent to about…
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Over $141M spent on production in Alberta, according to new data
TORONTO – New data commissioned by the Motion Picture Association – Canada (MPA-Canada), released Monday, reveals the economic impact of HBO’s The Last of Us in Alberta, with more than $141 million spent across the province — making it the largest series ever filmed in Canada, according to a press release.
An affiliate of the Motion Picture Association Inc., MPA-Canada advocates for the major international producers and distributors of movies, TV and streaming programming in Canada. HBO and its parent company Warner Bros….
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MONTREAL – L’Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM), which represents more than 160 independent production companies in Quebec, said Tuesday evening it’s very disappointed the Canadian government’s fall economic statement earlier in the day did not include an announcement regarding the sustainability of Telefilm Canada’s budget at its current level.
During the 2019 election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada’s platform included a commitment to gradually increase Telefilm’s budget “to reach a sustainable increase of $50 million per year,” notes an English-translated press release from AQPM Tuesday.
After the election, the government…
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Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously said the CMPA does not believe there should be a mandatory base contribution. In reality, it is asking for a mandatory base of no less than five per cent.
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Monday that the stonewalling of the federal government by foreign platforms on legislation that would require them to pay to host news links will likely mean that they will also scoff at any requirement for them to pay a base contribution to Canadian content.
The CRTC is proposing a mandatory base…
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OTTAWA – Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced Tuesday the appointment of former Videotron executive Stephanie Paquette to the seat of regional commissioner of Quebec for the CRTC.
The lawyer with nearly 30 years of experience in the media industry will begin a five-year term starting November 23 — in the middle of the first week of the commission’s three-week hearing on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
Paquette has been Videotron’s senior director of content and strategic partnerships for the past six years and director of that area for seven years before that. That means she was responsible for acquisition…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage has on Tuesday finalized its policy direction to the CRTC on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
The final version doesn’t deviate on major goals from the proposal the department put out in June, specifically outlining that social media creators and certain single transactional media, such as video games, will not be regulated.
The CRTC, which already set a $10-million threshold for broadcasters to register basic information with the regulator, said it still would like social media and other media forms, including podcasts, to register so it can monitor their…
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OTTAWA and PALO ALTO, Calif. – Canadian satellite operator Telesat announced Tuesday it has entered into a 10-plus-year agreement to use Palo Alto, Calif.-based Aalyria’s Spacetime network orchestration technology to organize the efficient flow of customer traffic over the Telesat Lightspeed low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.
Telesat’s Lightspeed satellites will contain leading-edge technologies including digital beamforming, integrated onboard data processing and optical inter-satellite links, “resulting in better link performance, increased network efficiency, and enhanced flexibility to focus and dynamically deliver reliable capacity to customers,” a Telesat press release says.
Telesat will leverage…
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OTTAWA – On the recommendation of Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge, the Governor General in Council has reappointed Etoile Stewart as a member of Telefilm Canada’s board of directors.
Stewart’s new five-year term began Nov. 1.
She has been a Telefilm board member since November 2018 and is currently chair of the board’s nominating, evaluation and governance committee.
“Having worked in all levels of government, she is now a management consultant based in Winnipeg specializing in strategic planning and government relations for a diverse range of clients,” reads Stewart’s profile on…
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