WATERLOO — Video transport company Dejero announced today Francois Vaillant (above) has been hired as the company’s new senior technical product manager.
Vaillant is joining Dejero from CBC/Radio-Canada, where he spent the last 15 years leading innovation and standards, most recently serving as executive director of engineering solutions for the national public broadcaster.
“Having led CBC’s IP transformation, which started in 2017, Vaillant ensured consistency of capital investment and the unification and standardization of the company’s technical architecture. He is recognised as a pioneer of IP implementation and has been heavily involved in the development of IP standards,” reads Dejero’s press…
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TORONTO — Ahead of Rogers Sports and Media’s upfront presentation Tuesday, Sportsnet today revealed it is building a new immersive broadcast studio for its NHL production team which will be located at Rogers Campus at 333 Bloor St. E. in Toronto and will be ready for the 2021-22 NHL season.
Designed to be customizable, the brand-new space will “facilitate unique content creation, real-time data integration, and exclusive sponsorship opportunities,” reads Sportsnet’s press release.
The Sportsnet team has been operating out of a studio at Toronto’s CBC headquarters, which was built in 2014, coinciding with the first season of its Continue Reading
TORONTO — CBC, Cameron Pictures and NBCUniversal International Studios announced today production is underway on the second season of CBC’s buddy-cop drama Pretty Hard Cases, which is set to premiere in winter 2022.
Being filmed in and around Toronto, this season (12 episodes x 60 minutes) will see new faces joining the cast, including Sonja Smits (American Gods, Eleventh Hour), K.C. Collins (Clarice, The Strain) and Ben Bass (Rockie Blue, Burden of Truth).
The series stars Meredith MacNeill (above left, Baroness von Sketch Show) as Detective Sam Wazowski and Adrienne C. Moore (above right, Orange is the New Black) as Detective…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC this week opened a new proceeding asking anyone interested to comment on whether there is a need for a three-digit number, such as the 9-8-8 three-digit code in the United States, for a national mental health crisis and suicide prevention service.
For what it’s worth, this is almost sure to happen, however, “the CRTC is examining the advantages, challenges and costs associated with the deployment of this three-digit number,” says its announcement. This is something mental health advocates and the federal government is already backing.
The Commission is seeking answers to the following questions:
Should…
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Report says putting Corus and Bell together would strengthen Canadian industry
By Greg O’Brien
WITH DIGITAL PLAYERS already claiming the bulk of the revenue and a huge swath of viewing time in Canada, Bell Media and Corus Entertainment must come together if they are to survive amid the growing presence of global streaming players, according to a new report from Scotiabank analyst Jeff Fan.
The report gets to the point in its title: “More Canadian Media Consolidation is Necessary and Inevitable.”
Noting American telcos have recently abandoned their content dreams of late because they need the cash and resources to feed 5G…
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By Etan Vlessing
TORONTO – CBC and Radio-Canada original homegrown series took center stage on Wednesday as the national public broadcaster looks to keep Canadian ad dollars coming its way.
And beyond touting the predominately Canadian content of its main TV network and CBC Gem streaming platform, CBC and Radio-Canada executives played up their bona fides as a national public broadcaster increasingly aiming to reflect the country’s fast-evolving diversity on-screen.
“Canada is changing and CBC must change with it,” Barb Williams, CBC executive vice-president, told a virtual upfront presentation entitled “All Together Now.”
Ginella Massa, host of the new Canada Tonight news…
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USING GOOGLE’S OFFICIAL CANADA blog, Jeanette Patell, head of public policy for YouTube Canada, posted a statement today about Bill C-10, the bill which would modernize the Broadcasting Act, in which she says the company supports the federal government’s goal of modernizing broadcasting and promoting Canadian artists, but adds concern about the potential negative impact of such legislation on YouTube’s Canadian creators.
In the blog post, titled “A Note on Bill C-10: Standing with Canadian creators and their fans”, Patell writes: “Making sure that people can find and enjoy all of this quality Canadian content is a big priority…
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TORONTO — Canadian actors and brothers Shamier Anderson and Stephan James (above, left to right), co-founders of The Black Academy, and Insight Productions today announced an exclusive three-year partnership with CBC to broadcast Canada’s first-ever award show honouring Black talent.
Planned for fall 2022, The Black Academy’s award show will celebrate established and emerging Black Canadian talent across film, television, music, sports and culture, with a live telecast on CBC TV and CBC Gem which will feature award presentations, performances and tributes. Award categories, the submission process, and additional information will be announced at a later date, says The Black…
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By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – The Canadian broadcasting industry lost one of its leading thinkers and a “friend to all” on Monday when Gary Maavara died of cancer. He was 68.
His career in broadcasting spanned more than 40 years with CTV, Canwest and Corus Entertainment where he spent time on with just about every division, including legal, operations, engineering, sports, and government relations.
“Broadcasting was in his blood,” said John Cassaday, who was Maavara’s boss both at CTV and later at Corus, in an interview on Wednesday. “He loved it. He was pulling cable at CFTO as a teenager and pulling…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On April 21, 2021, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) filed an application with the CRTC proposing to stabilize the funding of the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) but as of today, May 26th, the CRTC has not yet posted the Part I application to its website, therefore a process has not yet been initiated.
“Time is of the essence in this matter, as the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) faces potential revenue shortfalls and exhaustion, in part due to the paucity of tangible benefits orders resulting from media…
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