TORONTO – W5 and Vice Canada have unveiled broadcast details for the first documentary of their new partnership which will air on linear TV with a livestream on Twitter on Saturday.
Steel Town Down: Overdose Crisis In The Soo takes a close-up look at the Ontario city of Sault Ste. Marie. In the wake of the decline of the local steel industry, the documentary reveals the shortage of job opportunities and dearth of social services have left “The Soo” vulnerable to a growing addiction epidemic. Featuring revealing interviews with addiction counsellors, paramedics, harm reduction workers, and local residents struggling with their own addictions, Steel…
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The big four have not become the content exporters they were supposed to
LAST WEEK, I RESPONDED to a Scotiabank report which said the success of Netflix in gaining subscribers, along with Google and Facebook’s dominance of the Canadian advertising market, meant a merger of Bell and Corus was a logical market response to ensure we remain competitive.
I question the strategy of further vertical integration in light of its obvious failure. My core argument is VI has failed because it did not properly take into account the competitive advantages of the vertically integrated companies. As their…
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OTTAWA – Groups representing rural and remote broadband providers lauded the federal government for efforts to improve broadband connectivity in rural Canada in a Parliamentary committee on Tuesday. But they added that the government needs to adopt new rules that are more appropriate for smaller providers.
One of the big issues, particularly related to the Connect to Innovate (CTI) program, is the complex nature of the application and the extensive reporting requirements. Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology that a simplified application and reporting…
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WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT to begin getting into the weeds of modernizing the Telecommunications Act and Broadcasting Act at some point in 2018 (one hopes), a major consideration will be whether it’s time to do away with two governing pieces of legislation and prune them into a single Communications Act.
Greg Taylor, an assistant professor in the Department of Communications, Media and Film at the University of Calgary, said the government made a mistake back in the 1990s to fold the Department of Communications just as the Internet was coming on the scene.
“I think what we need is one department…
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OTTAWA – Today’s TV content market may one day be referred to as the golden age of the storyteller where creators, no longer limited by the linear requirements of the traditional broadcast industry, turned in great numbers to online distributors unencumbered by the constraints of eight minutes of advertising for every 30 minutes of programming.
Now, that may be looking a little too far into the future but the rise of online platforms has undoubtedly given content creators the ability to tell their stories in their way, and some say more effectively target their audiences – and all this without…
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TORONTO – Bell Media is going after consumers of bite-sized content with Snackable TV, a new mobile app that serves up short-form video content to viewers on mobile devices.
In addition to offering exclusive short-form content from brands like HBO, Comedy Central, Just For Laughs, ETalk and Gusto, SnackableTV will release its first original series, a short-form extension of CraveTV hit Letterkenny, plus serve as the Canadian home for Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud comedy streaming service.
The company said Monday that SnackableTV is an ad-supported, free-to-consumer service that will be ad-free during its initial launch period to drive sampling. The…
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada is once again inviting its members to apply for a scholarship to attend the prestigious Cable Executive Management course at Harvard Business School (HBS) in June.
One successful applicant will be selected to attend the program that this year runs from June 10-15, 2018. The week-long study program focuses on strategic marketing and business principles using detailed case studies taught by HBS professors and key industry leaders.
Details on the program and the application form are available here. Applicants must submit a current CV and a recommendation letter from their company, plus compose an essay on the specific…
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OTTAWA – Digital disruption has opened up tremendous opportunity for broadcasters, distributors and producers alike, but has also created significant challenges, according to speakers in the first panel session at the Canadian Media Producers’ Association’s annual Prime Time conference Thursday morning.
For CBC/Radio-Canada, going digital and implementing its own over the top (OTT) service has allowed the national public broadcaster to reach new audiences. Heather Conway, executive VP of English services at CBC, acknowledged that the corporation skews to an older, linear TV oriented demographic but said the move into the digital realm has given CBC a wider audience.
“As we…
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TORONTO – While the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) saw Internet-based revenues jump 46% in 2017, the majority of members who received payment for their streamed music only received less than $40 annually.
The performing rights organization said that it realized $49.3 million in Internet audio streaming revenues, however, the average annual streaming revenues (including both digital Internet and digital audio-visual performances) distributed to a SOCAN member who earned royalties in 2017 was just $38.72 annually.
"As a new area of growth, streamed music continues its rapid uptake, resulting in a 46 percent increase in revenues,…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Communications Foundation is seeking new members for its board of directors.
The foundation, which tracks the history of broadcasting in Canada, is seeking a variety of people from the broadcast industry, research, and education to assist the foundation in exploring an extended mission and possible new direction for its work. “To this end, we would welcome applications from individuals who can offer not only the benefit of their experience, but ideas about how best to situate the Foundation’s work in the future,” says its release.
For the past quarter century, the foundation’s website has established and maintained…
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