FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION in Canada is booming. Profile 2017, the CMPA’s latest annual economic report, finds production volume in this country at an all-time high, reaching a total of $8.38 billion last year, and creating over 170,000 jobs. Canadian television content alone reached $2.99 billion in production volume and generated 61,200 jobs.
With few exceptions, production budgets are growing, distribution advances increasing, and foreign pre-sales are up. This tells us that Canadian content is seen as a smart investment and that our shows are more exportable than ever. On top of this, foreign location and…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is continuing in its efforts to stamp out spam after teaming up with agencies from six other countries to investigate over 900 suspect international websites.
The global initiative, conducted through the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet), targeted entities engaging in online marketing activities that could be considered illegitimate, non-compliant, unfair or fraudulent.
As part of that sweep, UCENet partners reviewed over 900 websites and examined more than 6,500 consumer complaints related to affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a common business practice in electronic commerce where a company sells its products to consumers through third-party marketers (‘affiliates’) who…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved the sale of GameTV from Anthem Sports and Entertainment to Remuda Media Inc. for $6.5 million.
Remuda Media is jointly owned and controlled by Dean Langille, John Philips, 2078677 Alberta Ltd. (William Sawchyn) and 2225926 Ontario Ltd. (Bryan Woodruff), with each holding 25% of the shares.
According a CRTC letter to Anthem subsidiary Game TV Corp earlier this month, the transaction is valued at $6,500,000 for the purchase price and $25,291 for the net working capital that will be transferred at closing. The tangible benefits package of 10% of the transaction will be payable to…
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OTTAWA – Bell Media has officially petitioned the CRTC to grant it ownership and effective control of French-language specialty channels Historia and Séries+ after announcing plans to acquire them from Corus Entertainment.
Corus announced last October that it was selling the two channels to Bell Media for just over $200 million after first buying them for $277 million from Bell in 2014. (Ed note: an earlier version of this story misstated Corus' 2014 purchase price.)
According to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2018-95, Bell has valued the transaction at $202,695,232 and has proposed a $20,269,523 tangible benefits package, representing 10% of the…
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ONE OF CANADA’S LARGEST independent telecom companies was born as the result of a vulnerability assessment. “I was working at Bell Canada in the late 1980s, when the CRTC changed the rules with regard to retail sharing,” recalls Distributel founder and chairperson Mel Cohen.
He was assigned to a task force then to explore ramifications of the rule change that could threaten Bell’s position in the market. Instead of coming away from that project worried for his employer, he came away inspired to go out on his own. “I remember knocking on doors of small businesses in Mississauga, asking, why…
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UNE DES PLUS GRANDES entreprises de télécommunication indépendantes au Canada est née du résultat d’une évaluation de vulnérabilité.
“Vers la fin des années 1980, je travaillais chez Bell Canada alors que la CRTC venait de changer les règles par rapport au partage du marché,” se souvient Mel Cohen, président-fondateur de Distributel.
Mel Cohen a été affecté à un équipe interne, chargé d’explorer les conséquences potentielles des changements réglementaires. Au lieu de s’inquiéter pour la part du marché de son employeur, il s’est inspiré de ses recherches pour développer son propre plan d’entreprise. “Je me souviens d’avoir passé mes journées à cogner…
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Part VIII in our series on rewriting the Telecom and Broadcasting Acts
IT’S BEEN PRETTY CLEAR throughout Cartt.ca’s investigation of the opportunities and challenges associated with modernizing Canada’s telecommunications and broadcasting legislative frameworks that the Broadcasting Act appears most in need of updating.
We won’t rehash it here (check the prior seven articles on our “Investigates” page), but think Netflix and their online TV provider brethren and the myriad challenges facing media. That said, the Telecommunications Act requires some tweaking, too, according to interviews and comments in industry fora.
It’s been nearly two years since broadband services were…
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8e partie dans notre série sur la révision des Lois sur la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications
IL APPARAÎT CLAIREMENT au fil de notre enquête sur les défis et opportunités associés à la modernisation du cadre législatif de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications que la Loi sur la radiodiffusion semble celle qui a le plus besoin d’une mise à jour.
Nous ne passerons pas en revue tous les arguments (consultez les sept articles précédents sous l’onglet «Investigate»), mais pensez à Netflix et leurs confrères fournisseurs de télévision en ligne et à la myriade de défis rencontrés par…
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IT IS A LONGSTANDING aim of Canadian government policy to protect cultural industries from being overwhelmed by foreign, particularly American, content.
Cultural industries were first defined in the first Free Trade Agreement as an enterprise engaged in any of the following activities:
a) the publication, distribution, or sale of books… in print or machine readable form but not including the sole activity of printing or typesetting any of the foregoing,
b) the production, distribution, sale or exhibition of film or video recordings…
This definition was carried forward into NAFTA and our new agreement with the European Union. Both agreements contain special provisions…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) chair Sylvie Courtemanche has been named Woman of the Year by Women in Communications and Technology (WCT).
Prior to joining CBSC in January, Courtemanche (pictured) was a senior executive at Corus for both regulatory matters and government relations. She has also held roles as EVP policy and regulatory affairs for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, legal counsel at the CRTC, and had her own consulting practice related to broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.
Cogeco Connexion was named company of the year, and WCT also named 9 other recipients of its annual awards, which recognize…
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