OTTAWA – The newly minted ministers of Prime Minister Trudeau’s first cabinet received their ministerial mandate letters this week, detailing his expectations and their priorities.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Singh Bains’ letter said that his “overarching goal will be to help Canadian businesses grow, innovate and export so that they can create good quality jobs and wealth for Canadians”.
His top priorities, as they pertain to the Canadian communications industry, include:
– Improve the quality of publicly available data in Canada. This will require working with Statistics Canada, the President of the Treasury Board and other departments…
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TORONTO – NextMedia crowned the 2015 Digi Award winners Tuesday night, recognizing remarkable digital content in the fields of video, marketing, advertising, mobile, and gaming from Canadian companies.
The 50 finalists were determined by a group of community leaders, influencers, technology experts, and content programmers from across the country.
And the winners are:
Branded ContentCarmillaBy Smokebomb EntertainmentIn association with U by Kotex
Digital Series FictionConvos With My Two-Year-OldBy CocoMilk Productions
Digital Series NonfictionDo Not TrackBy Upian, Arte France, National Film Board of Canada, and BRIn association with Akufen and with assistance from…
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TORONTO – CBC has created emoji stickers in the likeness of more than 60 current and “vintage” CBC characters, personalities, and symbols.
The CBC Emoji Keyboard app allows users to insert the CBC-themed emoji stickers almost anywhere they can type, with a selection that includes everything from Casey and Finnegan’s treehouse and Mary Walsh’s character Marg Delahunty, to Anne of Green Gables, a curling stone and Peter Mansbridge.
The app is available for free download via iOS and Android devices.
www.cbc.ca/emojis/
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OTTAWA – Former Société Radio-Canada exec Catherine Cano has been named as the new president and general manager of CPAC, effective January 11, 2016.
Cano, pictured, replaces Colette Watson who earlier this year was promoted to VP of TV and broadcast operations at Rogers Media.
With more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in broadcasting across all platforms, Cano began her career on Parliament Hill before turning her sights to media where, over the next two decades, she held an array of positions at the CBC/SRC. These include senior news producer of the Parliamentary Ottawa Bureau, editorial producer of Le Point, editor-in-chief…
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OTTAWA – YouTube has become one of the biggest online video sharing platforms ever, with nearly two thirds of Canadians now using it. But who’s watching YouTube and how are they watching?
A new Media Technology Monitoring (MTM) report called YouTube: An Analysis of the Canadian Market found that YouTube is most popular among students and Canadians under 35, though viewership is also closely related to education and household income.
Highlights from the report include:
– Nearly 7 in 10 of Canadians watch content on YouTube monthly, with 1 in 3 YouTubers viewing content at least once a week;
– The computer is the device…
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LOS ANGELES – Retired NBA all-star Steve Nash and Insight Productions are teaming up on a new drama series for CBC that will be set in the world of youth basketball.
With a working title of Hardwood, the series will follow a flashy, big-city entrepreneur who opens an elite youth basketball academy in a sleepy farming town outside of Toronto. Skander Halim (Pretty Persuasion, 18 To Life) created the series and is writing the pilot. Nash (pictured), through his company Meathawk Productions, has been named as an executive producers on the series.
“I see our young basketball stars having to navigate…
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TORONTO – CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries has kicked off its first brand partnership campaign with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in order to mark the renowned paediatric hospital’s 140th anniversary.
The cross-platform campaign explores the past and present history of SickKids and includes representation in Murdoch Mysteries upcoming two-hour holiday special and a series of public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging viewers to donate during the holidays.
The campaign kicked off this week with a PSA featuring series star Hélène Joy, known to audiences for her role as Dr. Julia Odgen (pictured), inviting viewers to visit the SickKids interactive digital timeline to investigate the hospital’s history through its shareable…
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MONTREAL – People who say TV and radio are dead because new digital media have taken their place are lying to you.
That was the rather blunt message delivered at the CBC Media Forum, a gathering of advertising and marketing professionals that took place Wednesday in Montreal and repeats Thursday in Toronto.
Invited speakers used statistics and plenty of swear words to make the point that despite all the buzzwords and hype surrounding digital media and online advertising, traditional mass marketing is still the most effective way of reaching an audience.
“We marketers are taught not to think simply… thinking…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has announced plans to hold two events leading up to its Discoverability Summit next May.
In collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), the Commission will host the first event in Vancouver on December 1st at The Chan Centre for Performing Arts from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. As Cartt.ca reported, 'En route to the Discoverability Summit: Content in the Age of Abundance’ will be moderated by CBC Radio Spark host and creator Nora Young, and feature Tony Chapman, founder and CEO of Tony Chapman Reactions, as the keynote speaker.
Discussions will focus on English-language…
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WITH THE ELECTION OVER WITH, there will be debate and discussion around the priorities of the new Liberal government with regard to shaping communications and digital policy.
I suspect that, perhaps with the exception of more funding for the CBC, and a few other election promises, communications will not be an immediate priority for the transition team or for Cabinet. It’s not that communications/digital policy isn’t relevant, whether in respect of competition and choice, price, culture, accessibility, economic growth, innovation in IT or jobs. It’s just these things are not seen, politically, to be broken enough, particularly on the carriage…
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