HALIFAX — Attendees of FIN Partners, Canada’s leading international co-production/co-financing market, were treated to some inspiring keynotes and discussions at the industry partnership event held last week in Halifax.
Coinciding with the beginning of the FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, happening this week in Halifax, FIN Partners occurred September 13-14 and featured keynote speakers Finola Dwyer of Wildgaze Films, the Oscar-nominated producer of Brooklyn and An Education, and Mark Slone, president of Pacific Northwest Pictures.
FIN Partners was attended by 154 delegates who came to Halifax in the hopes of securing financing for projects in development and to forge new co-production…
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LOS ANGELES and TORONTO — Television content produced or co-produced in Canada travels best globally, according to new research conducted by Los Angeles-based Parrot Analytics on behalf of the Canada Media Fund.
The study by Parrot Analytics found Canadian content has the highest rate of global “travelability”, which is the ability for local content to attract audience demand outside of the country where it was originally produced and aired, compared to any other market. The study’s findings were revealed in a news release emailed Tuesday to Cartt.ca.
Canadian content achieved global travelability of 22.4% over the period of May 1 to…
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TORONTO — Blue Ant Studios is bolstering its push into the unscripted programming market with the appointment of Los Angeles-based Jennifer Harkness (pictured) to the newly created role of senior vice-president of unscripted content.
Harkness’s key focus will be to develop, sell and produce unscripted series for the US and global markets, Blue Ant said in a news release Monday announcing Harkness’s appointment, which takes effect immediately.
“Bringing on board an executive of Jennifer’s calibre reflects our commitment to creating and selling premium unscripted programming for the US market and abroad,” said Sam Sniderman, executive vice-president of global production for…
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TORONTO — Media consumers of all ages are getting help to critically assess online news and information thanks to a new media literacy tool — SPOT Fake News Online — launched today by News Media Canada.
News Media Canada is the national association of the Canadian news media industry, serving print and digital news media members in every province and territory. Having been awarded earlier this year $484,300 in funding from the federal government as part of the Ministry of Canadian Heritage’s Digital Citizen Initiative, News Media Canada has designed and developed a new public awareness program to provide…
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MISSISSAUGA and CALGARY — Organizers of the Canadian CommTech East and Canadian CommTech West shows announced Monday their call for papers for next year’s events, to be held April 7-8 in Mississauga, Ont., and May 26-27 in Calgary. Companies interested in exhibiting at CommTech East 2020 and CommTech West 2020 can also book their booth space starting today.
The 15th annual Canadian CommTech Shows will offer more than 20 seminars, panels, workshops and demonstrations, plus an anticipated 80-plus exhibitor trade show over the two days of each event. New in 2020 will be an optional evening of networking and entertainment…
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EDMONTON — Super Channel’s parent company, Allarco Entertainment, has officially launched a lawsuit against four major Canadian retailers, claiming the stores were complicit in promoting the downloading and streaming of illegal content on pirate devices sold in their retail outlets.
The four retailers named in the lawsuit are Best Buy, Staples, Canada Computers and London Drugs. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court on September 11, and Allarco issued a news release today to publicize the details of its claim against the four retail companies.
Allarco says the lawsuit comes after a 19-month, country-wide undercover investigation of in-store practices by…
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OTTAWA – In pledging to cap cellphone and internet prices as part of its quest to form the next federal government, the NDP faced a fierce backlash on Friday – not from its political opponents but from the industry it targeted.
Campaigning in Toronto, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the party doesn’t just want a price cap, which it says would result in an annual savings of $250 for families, but also wants the CRTC to impose on telecom companies a “mandatory affordable, unlimited data plan.”
He explained price caps have worked in the U.S. and Australia,…
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OTTAWA – Saying the CRTC has erred in law and jurisdiction five different ways, Canada’s incumbent cable operators have filed for leave to appeal the recent CRTC decision on aggregated wholesale internet rates. The companies have also filed for a stay of that Commission decision (Telecom Order 2019-288), as well, until a decision on the appeal is set.
Having spent billions of dollars over the years on their networks, Rogers, Shaw, Vidéotron, Cogeco and Eastlink say the rates the Commission has set are below their costs – and the retroactive amount to be paid back…
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CMPA says without the rules, Cancon won’t get made
TORONTO – Corus CEO Doug Murphy this week restated his call for an affiliated studio system in Canada, akin to what U.S. and U.K. broadcasters have, so that companies like his can make, own and market shows of their own creation, worldwide.
The current system of regulations, as they stand now, force Canadian broadcasters to spend a certain percentage of the previous year’s TV revenues with independent producers to make programs of national interest (PNI). That means, however, it’s those producers, and not the broadcasters, who profit from the potential long tail…
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Rogers Infinte customers surpass 750,000
TORONTO – A handful of Canadian telecom executives didn’t hold back on their thoughts about the CRTC’s ruling on wholesale internet, MVNOs and more during BMO’s 20th Annual Media and Telecom Conference, held Tuesday.
“The footprint as a…
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