KITCHENER, Ont. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In a posting Wednesday on Google Canada’s blog, Google’s vice-president of news, Richard Gingras, announced the company is launching a global journalism emergency relief fund to support local news organizations.
“Local news is a vital resource for keeping people and communities connected in the best of times. Today, it plays an even greater function in reporting on local lockdowns or shelter at home orders, school and park closures, and data about how Covid-19 is affecting daily life,” Gingras writes.
With the news industry dealing with job cuts, furloughs and cutbacks due to the…
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PORTLAND, Oregon — Marketing attribution software company LeadsRx of Portland Ore., announced today it is offering small independently owned radio broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada complimentary analysis of their clients’ terrestrial advertising during the months of April and May.
LeadsRx’s customers are typically larger broadcasters such as iHeartMedia and Westwood One in the U.S., but its new program is designed to help smaller, resource-constrained broadcasters in a time of need as the industry and advertising clients face business uncertainty during the Covid-19 and economic crises, says the news release.
Now, independent broadcasters with 10 or fewer radio stations in Canada…
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OTTAWA — The Mobile Giving Foundation Canada (MGFC), which facilitates charitable donations made by text message, says Canadian donations in March were up 980% over the same time period last year, representing a tenfold increase.
More than 21,000 one-time donations were made by people using their mobile devices during the month to respond to appeals from qualified registered charities, according to the news release.
MGFC was founded 10 years ago by key members of Canada’s wireless industry, working in partnership with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). MGFC provides Canadian mobile users with a single “mobile giving channel” where they…
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MONTREAL — Cogeco Inc. released its second quarter 2020 financial results late Tuesday while also announcing it is withdrawing its financial guidance for the fiscal year 2020 due to the economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company says the negative impact of Covid-19 will be felt especially by its radio operations which generate revenue primarily from the retail industry, a sector hit hard by mandated closures. The company has already downsized its radio division.
For the second quarter of 2020, Cogeco reported its revenue remained essentially stable compared to the same period of 2019 and reached $610.8 million….
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OTTAWA — The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), ACORN Canada and the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) jointly called Tuesday for more Covid-19 relief for low-income consumers in the form of unlimited Internet access for at least the next six months and low-income Internet and wireless plans to help all Canadians stay connected while isolating at home during the coronavirus pandemic and possibly beyond.
The consumer groups addressed their demands to not only the federal government and the CRTC but also Canada’s Internet and wireless service providers.
“The Canadian government has told Canadians to stay at home which we are doing,” said…
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Quarterly results reporting begins this week
By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – Both Cogeco Inc. and Shaw Communications will release their fiscal 2020 second quarter results this week, but since their quarters ended February 29th, those numbers will resemble more of a time capsule than an account of what is going on in the market right now and the real news will be what the companies have to say about what’s happened since with the Covid-19 crisis.
“We believe Canadian telcos and cablecos remain structurally sound and even after our target price revisions, we believe the sector will provide investors attractive potential total…
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OTTAWA – Production volume in Canada hit a record high of $9.3 billion in 2019, the Canadian Media Producers Association said today.
The sector created 180,900 full-time equivalent jobs, while contributing $12.8 billion to the national GDP, adds the CMPA’s annual report, Profile 2019, which is compiled by Nordicity and developed in collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage, Telefilm Canada and the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM).
The full report can be downloaded here.
“As Canada’s production industry faces unprecedented upheaval caused by Covid-19, these numbers are a great reminder of the robust sector that we have built…
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TORONTO – SOCAN announced today that it is allocating up to a total of $2 million for emergency royalty advances for its members suffering financially as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
The aid is primarily aimed at SOCAN’s songwriters and screen composers whose ability to sustain their income has been compromised by the impact of the crisis on the music industry, “especially on those whose concerts have been cancelled, or whose television and movie productions have been suspended,” reads the press release. The interest-free advances will be considered based on each member’s most recent earnings history, urgency and need.
“Getting…
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TORONTO — While also publishing its program guidelines for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced Wednesday it will invest $353 million in Canadian television and digital media production this year.
The breakdown of CMF’s 2020-21 program budget can be accessed here.
“Among all the challenges our industry has overcome, none has been as destabilizing as the one we currently face,” said Valerie Creighton, president and CEO of CMF, in the news release. “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to a standstill most sectors of the economy, including ours.
“Given the numerous program changes we introduced last year…
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By Konrad von Finckenstein
WITH RESPECT TO CANADIAN content, the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review panel report views the internet through a broadcasting lens.
It works from the basic tenet that everyone involved in electronic media content (from “curators” like broadcasters, streaming services and newspapers, to “aggregators” like BDUs, Stack TV and MSN News, to “sharing” services like Facebook and YouTube) should be subject to CRTC regulation, and contribute to the creation and dissemination of Canadian content.
To that end, it recommended companies providing commercial audio and video content into Canada by way of streaming over the internet (let’s call them “over…
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