By Konrad von Finckenstein
THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED mandate letter for the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (ISI) is extensive and deals with many large and difficult issues including climate change, copyright legislation, and new broadcast and telecom legislation.
The letter also focuses in an unprecedented way on consumer rights and privacy. Indeed, other than cell phone bills, it seems to look at most consumer issues through a privacy lens. It introduces several new terms which need to be conceptualized, explained, and put in context.
The mandate letter, in terms of consumers, provides that the Minister shall:
Use all available instruments, including…
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All is not so dire, says Deloitte’s annual predictions
TORONTO – Deloitte is predicting the prevailing sentiment of doom for traditional TV will actually be muted in the immediate future, as high over-the-air television viewership (it’s free!) is expected to hold steady in the wake of cord-cutting.
This year at least 1.6 billion people globally, representing 450 million households, will “get at least some of their TV from an antenna,” said Deloitte’s annual Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Predictions report, officially released Tuesday at an event in Toronto. That data is taken from 83 countries with a combined population of 6.6 billion…
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EDMONTON — Super Channel announced Tuesday its media relations director, Kimberley Ball, has been promoted to executive director of communications and regional outreach.
The appointment was effective as of December 12, and Ball (pictured) continues to be based at the company’s Toronto office. Reporting to Super Channel president and CEO Don McDonald, she will be a member of the company’s executive team.
“As Super Channel continues to evolve and change in the new digital media world, we also needed to enhance and focus on a sound internal and external communication strategy as it pertains to our vision, mission, and corporate values,”…
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MONTREAL — Connected vehicle device manufacturer Siyata Mobile has hired Jamie Kitson as its new vice-president of sales for Canada, the company announced Tuesday.
Kitson most recently was vice-president of sales for Bell business dealer Preston Mobility, according to Siyata Mobile’s news release.
Kitson’s 15 years of previous sales experience includes positions at Telus Client Solutions, Bell Mobility as Push-to-Talk and IoT Solutions team lead, Rogers Communications as a sales manager and an IoT Solutions sales executive, and Shaw Communications as an enterprise account executive.
Siyata Mobile is a global developer and provider of cellular communications systems for enterprise customers, specializing…
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Our information ecosystem is in trouble. Here’s how we can fix it. Part II
By Tessa Sproule
FROM THE MID-90s until September 2001, the web was largely a ‘nice to have’ for most legacy media organizations. When it came to infrastructure spending, faced with a decision to invest in a new suite of cameras for the field or a robust server farm, investing in the tools of creation would win every time.
I had been working within the CBC’s first web efforts since 1996. At CBC.ca, we had managed traffic in the thousands, occasionally hundreds of thousands. In the days after September…
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WINNIPEG — All Access 2020, On Screen Manitoba’s media production industry forum, is running from January 13 to 15 and includes top-level executives, directors and creators among its list of featured speakers.
“The focus is on Canadian content at All Access 2020,” says On Screen Manitoba executive director and event producer, Nicole Matiation. “Some 100 national and local industry professionals will speak along with several presenters from Europe, who will discuss coproduction opportunities.”
All Access 2020 offers two programming streams: one for the English-language market and one for the French-language market. Each stream provides panels, interviews and case studies on key…
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TORONTO — Canadian comedy icon Catherine O’Hara will be honoured by fellow Canadian performers when she is presented with the 2020 ACTRA National Award of Excellence on Saturday, April 18 during a special ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
The ACTRA National Award of Excellence recognizes an ACTRA member’s career achievements and contribution to their fellow performers and Canada’s entertainment industry.
“Canadian actors are thrilled to honour our colleague, the multi-talented Catherine O’Hara, for her outstanding contribution to Canada’s entertainment industry,” said ACTRA’s national president, David Sparrow, in the news release. “From our beloved Canadian comedy series SCTV,…
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Bell and NFL win at the Supreme Court
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In what some will consider a surprising decision, the Supreme Court of Canada (in a 7-2 majority decision) on Thursday quashed the 2015 CRTC Let’s Talk TV decision to disallow the practice of simultaneously substituting the Super Bowl broadcast.
That decision, announced with much fanfare by then-CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais, prevented Bell Media from requiring distributors to substitute the American broadcaster signal with the CTV for the Super Bowl and just the Super Bowl. The simsub policy for all other programming carried on as it has for decades.
Both…
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By Etan Vlessing
SAN FRANCISCO – The march to 5G promises the newest and fastest networks where wireless carriers can offer next generation applications like VR, better and faster online gaming, driverless cars and improved VOD and TV to consumer and business subscribers.
But how to get the Canadian carriers and service providers from here – current 4G LTE networks – to future 5G and more G deployments as Moore’s Law slows and the operating cost and complexity of Internet plumbing grows?
Cisco, insisting it has tackled the network challenges slowing the race to 5G (which needs significant, deep, fibre backhaul), in…
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AMAZON, APPLE, GOOGLE, and the Zigbee Alliance this week announced a new working group which will work towards developing and promoting the adoption of a new, royalty-free connectivity standard.
Zigbee Alliance board member companies such as IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider Electric, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Wulian are also onboard to join the working group and contribute to the project, said the press release announcing the alliance.
The goal of the Connected Home over IP project is to simplify development for manufacturers and increase compatibility for consumers – since each smart device made by…
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