TORONTO – Rogers Communications is not allowed to demand a fee from copyright owners who ask the giant ISP to help track down individual suspected movie and TV pirates, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled earlier this month – a decision which will directly impact all Canadian Internet service providers.
While the Copyright Act and the Copyright Modernization Act protects copyright owners from having their wares digitally taken and shared without compensation, everyone knows this is a common occurrence and so movie studios and others try to work with ISPs to limit…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications made some waves in the gamer community Wednesday with the announcement of a new content deal bringing exclusive esports to TV on Sportsnet Now and Sportsnet 360, while announcing on the network side new peering arrangements which will make game play faster and more seamless.
On the content side, Rogers Media has secured a new deal with ESL, the world’s largest esports league, by acquiring the exclusive rights to its esportsTV, the first global 24/7 esports television channel.
“Sportsnet prides itself on being on the cutting edge of industry trends so we can continue to deliver premier…
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TORONTO – Blue Ant Media announced Wednesday it has purchased RACAT Group in a major expansion of its international ambitions.
Included in the purchase are production houses NHNZ (formerly Natural History New Zealand), Beach House Pictures and Northern Pictures, each of whom license their content to digital and traditional channels worldwide. The purchase also includes international children’s nature broadcaster ZooMoo Networks, and Runaway Play, a mobile game developer and publisher. These businesses operate out of Singapore, Dunedin, Sydney, Beijing and Taipei.
A purchase price was not disclosed.
“Blue Ant Media is an ambitious company, well positioned to significantly grow its content…
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TORONTO – Just as the City of Toronto gets set to ask wireless companies and their device manufacturers to work together so that smartphones can be FM radios, too, the Toronto-based North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) led a successful effort to gain international support for the activation of FM radio receivers in smartphones.
NABA submitted an “Opinion” on activating radio receivers in smartphones that was adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in March of 2017, the group announced Wednesday. Enabling the FM chip present in most smartphones…
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BERLIN – Canada’s film industry will be highlighted as the next ‘Country in Focus’ at the European Film Market (EFM) during the Berlin International Film Festival next February.
The newly launched ‘Country in Focus’ program was created to give the film industry and filmmakers of a specific country the opportunity to introduce themselves in greater depth and highlight certain aspects of their industry, reads the news release.
Supported by Telefilm Canada, Canada’s vibrant film scene will present itself from a variety of perspectives at the Berlinale’s EFM 2018. The highlights of the Canadian program at the market will be published by…
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HALIFAX – DHX Media has licensed its new sci-fi competition series Massive Monster Mayhem to Nickelodeon in the U.S.
Co-created by Artur Spigel and Michael Chaves and produced by DHX Media, Massive Monster Mayhem combines live action and CGI animation with real competition and comedy, pitting kids against gigantic Monster Superstars in futuristic challenges for the chance to win prizes and save the planet from destruction.
The series, scheduled to premiere later this year, will air on DHX Television’s Family Channel in Canada. Global distribution will be handled by DHX Media.
“Massive Monster Mayhem combines an original, highly entertaining universe and cast…
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REGINA – Count SaskTel among those opposed to the CRTC’s proposed plan to phase-out the local service subsidy regime.
The local voice service subsidy was designed to keep wireline voice service affordable in high cost serving areas. The CRTC’s preliminary view is that customers with access to wired Internet at speeds as low as 1.5 Mbps have access to “reliable broadband Internet access service” which can replace traditional voice service and that these customers no longer need the voice subsidy.
SaskTel said that it agrees with the CRTC’s decision to establish a universal fixed broadband service standard for all…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada said late Monday that an anonymous hacker had gained access to about 1.9 million customer email addresses, along with far fewer names and/or telephone numbers.
“There is no indication that any financial, password or other sensitive personal information was accessed,” the company said in a statement. This incident is not connected to the recent global WannaCry malware attacks either, the company added.
The illegally accessed information contains approximately 1.9 million active email addresses and approximately 1,700 names and active phone numbers. The statement did not say when the attack happened.
“We apologize to Bell customers for this situation and…
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MONTREAL — BCE CEO George Cope described it as a “game-changing” offer in the television industry: a digital pay TV service without a set-top box, but Bell’s Alt TV offer seems to be the regular Fibe TV offer that’s less expensive and with fewer features designed to go after the cord-never market.
Available for now only to Bell Internet subscribers in Quebec and Ontario, Alt TV costs about 10% to 20% less than traditional TV, Cope said, with the basic service starting at $15 a month for 30 channels instead of $25. Additional channel packages are…
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TORONTO – David Sparrow has been elected by ACTRA's National Council to a two-year term as national president.
The election for president took place at ACTRA's National Council this past weekend in Toronto. Sparrow replaces outgoing president Ferne Downey who will remain on ACTRA’s National Council as past president and will continue to serve as president of the International Federation of Actors.
An ACTRA member for 27 years, Sparrow (pictured) served as ACTRA Toronto president from 2013 until this year and has served as an ACTRA National Councillor since 2007. A member of ACTRA's negotiating committees through several rounds of bargaining,…
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