OTTAWA – Absent during Monday night’s only English-language leaders’ debate, telecom and broadcasting were eventually raised during the scrums with journalists afterward at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.
Andrew Scheer, whose Conservative Party has yet to release its full campaign platform, was asked whether he planned to tackle telecom affordability as the Liberals, NDP and Greens have already announced they would do.
“What Justin Trudeau has proposed is a goal without a plan,” Scheer replied. “He says this is something he’s going to do just by asking companies to do it. If that would have worked, why…
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TORONTO – CBC today announced the launch of CBC Listen, its new curated audio streaming service.
“A one-stop destination, CBC Listen transports audiences into a world of sound, providing access to more than 200 free, curated CBC Music playlists featuring brand new releases from Canadian artists; CBC’s full podcast catalogue, including critically acclaimed series Someone Knows Something, Uncover, Front Burner and Love Me; and the ability to listen to CBC Radio One and CBC Music radio shows live, with select shows on-demand,” reads the press release.
“The new CBC Listen is a curated audio ecosystem with ‘Canadian’ at its very…
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Long time TV producer to be chief creative officer and co-president, content production
NEW YORK and TORONTO – Blue Ant Media announced today the appointment of Emmy-award winning producer and long time television and film executive Laura Michalchyshyn as chief creative officer and co-president, content production, Blue Ant Studios, effective immediately.
In this newly created role, Michalchyshyn will oversee creative across multiple Blue Ant Media businesses while co-managing and growing Blue Ant Studios alongside co-president, Blue Ant Studios, Sam Sniderman, says the company press release.
Her key focus will be growing the company’s unscripted and scripted production slate in North America while…
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Company partners with Screen Nova Scotia, too
TORONTO – Two years ago, streaming giant Netflix made a public commitment to invest at least $500 million in movies and television shows produced in Canada, both in English and French, over five years.
The company, which sure is being mentioned a lot during the election campaign and may well face additional mandates to make and display Cancon in the future, announced last week it has already exceeded that and has no plans to slow its spending here, which has helped contribute to a boom in…
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OTTAWA — Canada’s broadcasters are committing themselves to achieving gender parity in TV and film production, where 50% of key creative roles will be held by women by 2025.
On Tuesday, the CRTC posted the results so far from its Women in Production initiative to promote gender parity, which included the formation of a steering committee and the convening of a summit in December 2018 that brought together executives from Canada’s largest public and private broadcasters. Those broadcasters have now published their respective action plans for achieving gender parity in key creative positions, such as producer, director, writer, showrunner,…
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Campaign urges Canadians to employ critical thinking
TORONTO – The Canadian Journalism Foundation launched its new Doubt It? campaign today, which the group hopes will help Canadians learn the skills and tools to combat fake news and misinformation.
“Its goal is simple: teach Canadians to understand the difference between fact-based journalism and fake news in our digital and social media-driven world,” reads the press release.
The campaign uses humour, actionable advice and collaborations with respected Canadian media personalities to remind people of three simple steps anyone can take to put their inner skeptic to work: Doubt it? Check it. Challenge it,…
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OTTAWA – The federal Liberals want multinational tech giants, such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple, to “pay their fair share” and presumably help offset the $9.3 billion in new investments the Liberal Party announced for 2020-21 in its detailed platform released on Sunday.
If Justin Trudeau’s Liberals hang onto power, they plan to introduce a 3% tax on revenue generated through the sale of online advertising and user data by digital companies with global revenues of at least $1 billion a year, and Canadian revenues of at least $40 million a year. This new tax…
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OTTAWA – Since we’ve reported on the broadcasting and telecommunications proposals of the Liberals, NDP and the Greens, we’re taking a look at the Bloc Quebecois platform. The Conservatives have yet to release their platform.
While the last three we mention will not form the government, they could, however, be asked to support a minority government. The price of that support could be found here. The separatist Bloc, according to news reports, is gaining ground in pre-election polls in Quebec.
QRTC
The…
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Ivan Fecan steps away from executive chair role
VANCOUVER — Thunderbird Entertainment Group announced Thursday that industry veteran Ivan Fecan is transitioning from his role as executive chair of the board to focus on developing and producing premium content for the company, such as the award-winning sitcom Kim’s Convenience.
At the same time, Thunderbird announced the appointment of Brian Paes-Braga (pictured) as the new chair of the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. Paes-Braga has been an active member of the board of directors since October 2018 and is a large shareholder of the company.
“I wish to personally thank Ivan Fecan…
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TORONTO — CBC’s Dragons’ Den will kick off its 14th season this week with Desjardins and Canadian Tire joining standing sponsor BDC as new partners of the show.
This season of Dragons’ Den premieres Thursday, September 26 at 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. NT) on CBC and the CBC Gem streaming service. The two new sponsors, Desjardins and Canadian Tire, will focus on innovative activations, giving back and supporting entrepreneurs in some special moments that these partnerships will bring to the show.
Through its GoodSpark program, which will be showcased in the upcoming season, Desjardins is supporting social entrepreneurs with additional financial…
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