OTTAWA – A letter signed by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, ISED Minister Navdeep Bains and Finance Minister Bill Morneau confirms there will be no tax applied to Canadian ISPs in order to support Canadian content and journalism.
The October 16th letter – sent in response to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage report entitled “Disruption: Change and Churning in Canada's Media Landscape” – actually seems to kibosh a lot of the committee’s wish list.
(Ed note: The letter reads more like a detailed defense of the current Liberal policies , prior announcements [Creative Canada – within which echoes of…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will review applications for channels wishing to renew their places in the basic programming package of the country’s television service providers at a hearing starting April 30.
Currently, programming services that must be carried within the basic package include 9(1)(h) services, all local television stations, provincial educational services, community channels and provincial legislature channels, if available.
The Commission said Tuesday that it will examine applications by Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. (CPAC), Accessible Media Inc., Pelmorex Weather Networks (Television) Inc., TV5 Quebec Canada, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc., Vues & Voix and The Legislative Assemblies of Nunavut and…
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CANNES – Go worldwide, young man and woman.
That's the message out of MIPCOM where the trend towards international funding of TV dramas featuring partners and talent beyond Canadian shores is playing out this week in networking and deal-making.
An example is Blue Moon, the French-language drama starring Karine Vanasse and Caroline Dhavernas for Club Illico. That's a local story with universal themes now being adapted by Cineflix Media into an English language drama to be monetized on a global scale. "We would rather go to the international market – Canada is the last territory," Cineflix Media president Peter Emerson told…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s longest-running one-hour drama, Heartland, has spurred $469 million in economic activity over its first ten seasons, says a new study released by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA).
The study, available here, determined that the Alberta-based production contributed $351 million to Canada’s GDP and generated $469 million in economic output. Over that same period, it created the equivalent of more than 4,500 jobs in Alberta.
Heartland is a multi-generational saga, focusing on two sisters and their grandfather, who are struggling to overcome the challenges of running a family ranch. Produced and developed by independent production companies Seven24 Films…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund (CMF) will showcase four short TV series this weekend at MIPJunior, the annual international event in Cannes that attracts producers, buyers, sellers, broadcasters, and content creators of content for children.
The series, Anaana's Tent (pictured), The Art Show, Beat Bugs, and Cracké, will be presented under the ‘Canada Big on Shorts’ banner at an event on October 15, 2017.
"Canadian talent is recognized everywhere," said Telefilm Canada executive director Carolle Brabant”, in the news…
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ALTHOUGH WE NOW LIVE in a vast internet landscape with immense amounts of content, the diversity and quality of the news media we consume continues to be a concern. Large sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google should not be trusted to solve these problems.
Internet news platforms have contributed to the closure of traditional news outlets that are the source of much of the quality news consumed online. The internet has facilitated the rise to dominance of…
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TORONTO and PERTH, AU – Toronto-based content creation company Bristow Global Media (BGM) is co-producing a new docudrama about the last days of the First World War entitled 100 Days to Victory.
BGM’s co-production partner is Australia’s Electric Pictures. Set to premiere in Fall 2018 to coincide with the centennial anniversary of the First World War, the 2 x 60 minute docudrama has been commissioned by Corus Entertainment’s History in Canada and Foxtel’s The History Channel in Australia and New Zealand, as well as BBC Scotland, with principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screenwest and the Canada Media Fund (CMF).
Through cinematic…
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THE NINE MOST FRIGHTENING words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” according to an old joke popularized by former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. It’s funny ’cause it’s true.
Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and her communications team must have forgotten this as they prepared for the announcement last week of her new Creative Canada policy framework (which offers some vision but punts many details down the field) – and augmented it with a shiny headline – the announcement Netflix will invest $500 million in Canada over the next five years.
Beyond her speech and…
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Quebec’s TV lords are upset
I RECALL THE DELEGATION of the Quebec media production types appearing before us – a panel of CRTC commissioners – when we were considering the extension of the Broadcasting Act to the Internet.
The issue was whether every Canadian website should be licenced by the state, and taxed, to supply funds for Canadian video programming. When asked whether they understood of the scale of government intrusion into communications, one of the panelists slammed her fist on the table and said "regulate it first, then we'll figure out what it means!".
Ah, the true descendants of Louis XIV…
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MONTREAL – Construction on CBC/Radio-Canada’s new home in Montreal is officially underway after a ground breaking ceremony held Sunday.
Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, Broccolini Real Estate Group president Roger Plamondon, and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre (all pictured) took part in the ceremony which also featured the release of dozens of butterflies in a symbolic guesture of transformation and innovation.
The new Maison de Radio-Canada (MRC) will have a total footprint of over 418,000 square feet and consist of a seven-storey tower and a four-storey tower connected by an atrium that is open to the…
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