TORONTO – Broadcaster Asian Television Network says it is continuing to feel the sting of piracy as its revenue continues to decline, but that it is hopeful the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review Panel might have a lifeline for it come January.
For the second quarter, ended June 30, operating revenue came in at $2.9 million, down from $3.9 million in the second quarter of 2018. Net loss for the period came in at $941,000, more than double Q2 2018’s $426,000.
“Declining revenues are predominantly as a result of increased internet piracy and consumers shifting towards illegal digital IPTV set-top…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment announced today that Scott Dyer is retiring as president of kids content production unit Nelvana, effective Friday August 30, and current head of Nelvana Enterprises Pam Westman has been named as his successor.
Dyer has been with Nelvana for 22 years and helped build it into one of Canada’s premier animation companies and a globally recognized producer and distributor of children’s content.
During Dyer’s tenure at Corus, he held a number of roles including head of Nelvana Studios, president of Nelvana, EVP of Corus Kids and CTO, where he oversaw the design and construction of Corus Quay…
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OTTAWA – Presently Deputy Minister of Health since January 2015, Simon Kennedy (right) will become Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED on September 3, 2019.
Kennedy has had a long career in policy and communications roles in the public service, starting in 1990. He had recently been Deputy Minister for International Trade and G20 sherpa for Canada and between 2010 and 2012, Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Industry.
He is seen by many as a potential future Clerk of the Privy Council.
The Prime Minister took the opportunity to congratulate John Knubley, Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic…
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OTTAWA – On August 21st, Statistics Canada, issued its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for July 2019. In its highlights, the number crunchers led with a strong impact from the telecom sector in the changes that month.
It mentions consumers paid less for telecom services, but way more more for devices in July, as compared to June 2019, thanks to the recent shifts in the industry.
“Consumers paid 2.5% less for telephone services in July compared with June. The decline follows an industry-wide shift in the pricing structure of cellular data plans amid intensifying competition among wireless providers,”…
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PAWTUCKET, R.I., LONDON and TORONTO – Toy (G.I. Joe, Transformers) and game maker (Monopoly, Twister) Hasbro announced Thursday it will purchase Toronto based film and TV maker eOne in a $5.3 billion (US$4B, £3.3 billion) deal.
“The acquisition of eOne adds beloved story-led global family brands that deliver strong operating returns to Hasbro’s portfolio and provides a pipeline of new brand creation driven by family-oriented storytelling, which will now include Hasbro’s IP,” said Brian Goldner, company chairman and CEO, in the press release. “In addition, Hasbro will leverage eOne’s immersive entertainment capabilities to bring our portfolio of brands that…
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QUEBEC CITY – "Bell benefits from the hard work and innovation of Unifor members," said Jerry Dias, Unifor national president, at a rally Tuesday in Quebec in support of Bell workers. "Instead of treating them with respect, the company has continually eroded our jobs and inflicts a stressful work environment on current employees."
Unifor members have experienced a decrease in the number of jobs in virtually all Bell bargaining units across the country in recent years, says the union. Earlier this year, the union discovered Bell had taken action to outsource 1 million installations of its new "Wireless to…
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GATINEAU – In a long-awaited decision, the CRTC today set final rates for wholesale access to the high speed wired networks of Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Telus, and Vidéotron.
The process had started in May 2015 and interim decision was rendered in October 2016. That said, this is a fight that has been going on for more than a decade.
The rates released today (which are paid by independent third party ISPs like TekSavvy and Distributel) are lower than the interim rates and retroactive to 2016. The monthly capacity rates are 15% to 43% lower…
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MONTREAL – Dany Meloul has been hired as general manager of television at Radio-Canada.
Since 2015, Meloul (pictured) has been vice-president, programming for French-language television at Bell Media. Prior to that, she worked as a lawyer within Bell Media.
She will take over for Dominique Chaloult, who is leaving Radio-Canada to become a consultant and spend more time with family, on October 10th.
"I’m delighted that Dany has agreed to take on this new challenge with us,” said Michel Bissonnette, EVP of Radio-Canada, in the press release. “A highly respected leader in her field, Dany comes to us with deep knowledge of…
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THE NEXT BIG LEAP in wireless telecommunications is coming.
The current standard for mobile networks is what the tech industry calls fourth generation, or 4G. But this will soon be overtaken by fifth generation, or 5G, wireless technology. 5G offers increased data transfer speeds and will connect many more devices with almost no delayed response when receiving and sending information.
One might think the issues surrounding the development of 5G would focus on questions like whether the government should build a nationalized 5G network, or the possible health impacts of additional radio-frequency radiation. However, one issue has come to dominate the 5G…
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I READ MAUREEN PARKER’s excellent Commentary “Revamped cultural policy needs facts, recent data” and her critique of Michael Geist’s Globe and Mail article.
In response to Maureen's request in the title, here is more recent data from the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office’s spring, 2019, data run. These numbers are more recent than the last profile which took its data from CAVCO’s fall, 2018 run.
We learn that over the last six years, from 2012-13 to 2017-18, service production in Canada has grown by 234% from $1.458 billion to $4.873 billion (PSTC tax credit in current dollars). Meanwhile,…
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