LAS VEGAS – As the march to a fully IP world continues unabated and video competition from all quarters intensifies, broadcasters around the world are increasingly turning away from upgrading to new proprietary hardware and systems in favour of software-driven, in-the-cloud services, searching for lower costs and improved efficiency (not to mention fewer people).
That was the message delivered by broadcasters and vendors Sunday during panel sessions at a media finance and investors conference which is part of the National Association of Broadcasters 2015 Convention happening here in Las Vegas.
Research company Devoncroft annually publishes a survey of broadcasting suppliers for…
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LET'S START WITH TWO MAIN themes: first, a description of how new technologies may continue to impact the media; and, second, a discussion of whether the CBC is the best mechanism to deliver a public subsidy to support public service broadcasting.
It's not my intention to question the rationale for public service broadcasting, but I believe that any discussion of the CBC should deal with more than short- or medium-term issues. If we ignore the longer-term structural questions, we run the risk of prescribing short-term solutions that might prove to be unsustainable. So let's jump forward 10 years to get…
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OTTAWA – Despite homegrown competitors, Netflix penetration in Canada has jumped 33% in the last year, while four-fifths of Anglophones now report watching online video every month, according to two new reports from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The report The Rise of Netflix examines how Canadians are changing the way they consume Internet TV service, and credits Netflix as the company that is best taking advantage of this consumer shift.
Highlights from that report include:
– After five years in the Canadian market, 39% of Anglophones report subscribing to Netflix, and one third of subscribers have had their subscription for at least two…
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CALGARY – Add Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to the growing list of Canadians opposed to more staff cuts at the CBC.
In an April 1st letter addressed to CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, with copies to CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors chair Rémi Racine, Heritage Minister Shelly Glover, Industry Minister James Moore, and Calgary Members of Parliament, Mayor Nenshi said that he was “confused” by the decision to cut nearly 25% of staff at CBC Calgary.
“It is my understanding that a loss of 20 positions in Calgary would put its staff size on par with that of CBC Newfoundland…
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MONTREAL – Heading into a long weekend, CBC CEO Hubert Lacroix sent out a memo to staff on Thursday bringing everyone up to date on all the changes that are happening (layoffs last week) – and still have to happen (more will be announced) – singing the praises of the public broadcaster (TV and radio ratings wins, and better than expected English TV ad revenue), and explaining the massive challenges that remain for all pubcasters.
Here it is in its entirety.
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Tuesday was the end of the fiscal year. It was a turbulent year full of accomplishment,…
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SEATTLE and TORONTO – Popular online video publishing and video management solutions provider thePlatform is providing the back-end video management for Rogers’ and Shaw’s subscription video-on-demand service shomi.
An independent subsidiary of Comcast, thePlatform’s cloud-based mpx video management system provides several back-end functions for shomi. Specifically, mpx provides easy workflow management of video ingest; metadata management; subscriber management and viewing rights enforcement; and automated publishing across device and video player profiles, says a press release the company put out this morning.
“Shomi has raised the bar for multiscreen video entertainment for Canadian viewers,” said Marty Roberts, co-CEO of thePlatform,…
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TORONTO – The CBC is continuing to chip away at its work force as its leaders said they would last June. Today, 244 more positions were eliminated at local stations spread out across the country, with 100 from the French language service and the balance from English CBC.
These cuts are part of the 1500 workforce reductions which were announced last June.
“Today we are moving ahead with the implementation of our plan to be more local at lower cost, announced last year in the 2020 plan,” reads a memo from Jennifer McGuire, general manager…
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TORONTO – Rogers and Vice Media have begun to flesh out their $100 million joint venture Vice Canada, announcing a number of senior production hires on Monday.
Production veteran Michael Kronish, previously an executive producer at Zone3, has been tapped as EVP television and online, to oversee all Canadian-produced content intended for distribution on television, mobile and online. In addition, Vice Canada has hired Jason Ford as VP production from Red Bull Media House; Andrea Schmidt joins as an executive producer from Al Jazeera’s current affairs documentary show; and Tania Natcheff, previously an executive producer at the CBC, joins the…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC continued to remake the Canadian broadcasting system in its latest Let’s Talk TV decision. Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-96 forces TV distributors to offer a $25 entry-level package along with pick and pay and small bundles for discretionary services.
The highly anticipated decision is the second-in-a-series that have ushered in considerable changes to the domestic broadcasting ecosystem, one that has seen the dramatic rise of on-demand viewing to the detriment of appointment linear TV. This latest decision focuses to a much greater extent on consumers and how they will interact with TV programming and their TV servcie…
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TORONTO – Former CBC Sports head Jeffrey Orridge has been named as the new commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Orridge, pictured, was most recently the executive director of sports and general manager of Olympics for the CBC where he oversaw rights acquisitions, partnership management, revenue initiatives and program execution involving the Corp’s sports properties and digital opportunities, including securing the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games, the 2015 Pan Am/ Parapan Games, and the 2018 and 2020 Olympics.
Previously, Orridge was COO and head of global business development for the charity Right to Play International, served as…
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