TORONTO – The Independent Production Fund (IPF) is investing over $2 million in 17 new English and French-language scripted short-form series designed and produced for exploitation on digital platforms and channels.
Eleven are in English and six are in French. Three of the approved projects are renewals for new episodes of successful web series previously funded by the IPF, and 14 are new series to be produced and released in 2018/19. The full list of projects is available here.
The selected projects represent a range of genres for different target demographics and distribution platforms and have been created by new and…
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OTTAWA – One in seven Canadians (13%) have pirated TV content or movies in the past month, and those without a paid TV service are twice as likely to engage in this behaviour, according to new research from the Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
Key topics this year, according to its free Sneak Peek report, include e-sports, pirating TV, early technology adopters, Francophones watching English content, and smart speakers. The MTM Sneak Peek Report is being offered as well as the English- and French-language Media and Technology Adoption Reports and the most recent spring 2018 data set, available…
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TORONTO – Canadian 9-1-1 experts met at the end of May as the community continues to move forward towards the June 2020 deadline to transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1).
Hosted by Rogers in downtown Toronto, the three-day meeting of the Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) featured highly technical discussions around standards and operational best practices. Approximately 80 experts from across the country attended the meeting in person, with more joining by phone. Coincidentally, the ESWG meeting followed on the heels of an important CRTC Decision.
In Telecom Decision CRTC 2018-188, the Commission varied an earlier…
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VANCOUVER – In time for its recent open house in Vancouver, the LoRa (Long Range) Alliance announced a new partnership with Google Cloud as one of the major multi-national companies backing the LoRaWAN standard which is aimed at connecting the internet of things (IoT).
That cloud service provider with clout is the latest of 500 members around the world – including IBM, Cisco, Foxconn, Schneider and Bosch – to join the Alliance, whose work is to ensure a protocol that meets the varying worldwide standards and to certify devices to ensure interoperability. This is important stuff.
Travis…
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HAMILTON – Clearcable Connects and McMaster University announced Wednesday a new partnership with the aim of deploying artificial intelligence in the management of broadband and distributed energy networks.
Clearcable Connects, a Hamilton-based technology company, and McMaster’s Computing Infrastructure Research Centre (CIRC) “will collaborate on pilot projects to explore the feasibility of innovations in network management through proof of concept and heavy engagement with end-user groups in each segment,” reads the press release.
The projects are co-funded by Clearcable, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).
Clearcable provides broadband…
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OTTAWA – With new 5G wireless networks poised to contribute as much as $40 billion annually to Canada's economy by 2026 plus create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, collaboration between the public and private sectors is critical to its success, says a new report commissioned by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA).
Developed by Accenture Strategy, ‘Fuel for Innovation – Canada's Path In The Race To 5G’ predicts that more than 150,000 short-term jobs are likely to be created between 2020 and 2026 while the networks are being deployed, and estimates that the $26 billion investment by facilities-based carriers required to…
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MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada says that it is seeing “encouraging” results on its way to meeting a balanced production portfolio by 2020 that reflects gender parity in in feature film production funding.
After the first year of measures introduced in collaboration with the industry, Telefilm said that the overall percentage of films featuring a woman in one of the key roles is 44% for director, 46% for screenwriter, and 48% for producer.
In addition, the overall percentage of dollars invested with a woman in a key production role for 2017-2018 is 25% for director, 29% for screenwriter, and 36% for producer.
Acting executive…
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Competition Bureau invokes Sugar Wireless as a model to follow
GATINEAU – “Generally, the Bureau does not favour price controls. However, the presence of market power in this industry; the natural experiment offered by Sugar Mobile’s attempted entry into the wireless services industry; and the fact that similar LCDO Plans have arisen without government intervention in some foreign jurisdictions informs the Bureau’s view that LCDO Plans can increase economic welfare and consumer choice in Canada’s wireless industry.”
So says the Competition Bureau of Canada’s submission to the CRTC about the low-cost data only wireless plans submitted to…
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WE’VE HEARD LOADS OF discussion and debate since the official launch of the review of the Broadcasting Act – along with the Telecom and Radiocommunication Act – and with another year of discussion and debate on the horizon, the best first course of action to solve the tricky and complex policy challenges ahead is to ask (and answer) the right questions in the right order – and right now.
I’ve thought of five important questions which should be answered first, ahead of anything else. I’d argue much of the discussion around proposals such as combining the two Acts should come far…
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LONGUEUIL, QC – Canadian private equity firm Novacap has finalized it acquisition of Ohio-based telco Horizon Telcom for US$220 million.
Horizon provides fibre-optic bandwidth infrastructure services operating primarily in Ohio, with a fibre network from 700 route miles to over 4,300 route miles and nearly 550,000 fibre miles with over 1,600 on-net locations and 16,600 near-net buildings. Novacap announced the proposed purchase in January.
Novacap senior partner Ted Mocarski said Monday that the two entities share a “common vision of creating a multi-state fiber-optic provider in the Midwest.”
"The acquisition of Horizon represents an ideal investment for Novacap to take…
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