PHOENIX – Legendary Canadian cable pioneer Israel “Sruki” Switzer died at his home in Phoenix late Wednesday afternoon of a heart attack. He was 87.
Switzer, while perhaps not as well known as some other pioneers, had his fingerprints all over the development of cable and telecom networks built across this country and around the world. Respected as a visionary among those whom he helped build these networks, as well as something of a maverick (and a speech he made in 2010 certainly confirms that), Switzer also earned some fame as the…
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OTTAWA – Seven Canadian-based broadcasters and content creators have founded a new industry association designed to represent the Canadian television and digital content distribution and export space and its members on matters of national interest.
The founding members of the Canadian Association of Content Exporters – Association canadienne des exportateurs de contenu (CACE-ACEC) include 9 Story, Blue Ant Media, Cineflix Media, Corus Entertainment, DHX Media, Entertainment One (eOne) and its Quebec subsidiary Les Films Séville.
CACE-ACEC pledged to focus on building a more sustainable Canadian industry by supporting a policy framework that encourages risk-taking by internationally competitive Canadian-based content exporters. The…
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MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada is aiming for a balanced production portfolio (at all budget levels) by 2020 that reflects gender parity in the roles of director, writer and producer.
The new gender parity measures for feature film production financing were developed in collaboration with the industry, and executive director Carolle Brabant said that the organization is also moving to ensure that its feature film portfolio also better reflects cultural diversity and Indigenous communities.
"Our goal is to level the playing field for Canadian female talent, and we encourage creators to submit projects directed and/or written by women”, Brabant said in the…
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OTTAWA – Entertainment One Canada president Jocelyn Hamilton, A+E Networks’ acquisitions VP Meghan Hooper-White and SuperGravity Pictures founder and CEO Marc Hustvedt are among the new speakers confirmed for CMPA’s Prime Time In Ottawa conference.
Scheduled for February 1-3, 2017 in the nation’s capital, Prime Time in Ottawa (PTiO) is a national conference for some 600 of Canada’s most prominent business leaders from the feature film, television, interactive media, broadcasting and telecommunications industries.
This year’s event will cover a wide range of topics and issues facing the Canadian screen-based media industry, including panels such as ‘Media Leaders in the Age of Experimentation’, ‘Financing Digital-First…
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Hint: Check your pocket
TORONTO – When Doug Bingley, CEO of Central Ontario Broadcasting, went to a Best Buy recently in search of a clock radio he was shocked to find out there are almost no more radios for sale in the country’s largest electronics retailer.
He told delegates at Thursday’s Ontario Association of Broadcasters annual one day conference at the Toronto Airport Marriott that he found extensive displays of Bluetooth speakers and other devices which wirelessly link to the smartphones or tablets or PCs of Canadians – but only two stand-alone conventional radios – off on their own in a…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) is staging its inaugural Showcase Event on Parliament Hill designed to highlight Canadian talent.
Scheduled for November 22, the event will allow parliamentarians and audiovisual industry leaders to interact with the talented Canadians who tell our stories to the world and create unique digital and virtual reality experiences.
The talent behind productions such as Heartland, The Next Step, Private Eyes, Mensonges, Kim’s Convenience, and Mohawk Girls, among others, will be in attendance alongside key government representatives and industry leaders.
Through financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors, the…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal said Wednesday it will hear Bell Media’s re-filed appeal of the CRTC’s January 2015 decision to ban the practice of simultaneous signal substitution for the Super Bowl broadcast.
In September, the court rejected the company’s appeal of the decision, saying it had come for an appearance too soon – before the CRTC officially issued the order for the new policy. The Commission took 19 months between the decision and officially issuing the order in August of this year, a delay Bell called “extraordinary.”
The ban on…
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GATINEAU – Smaller broadcasters warned the CRTC on Wednesday that it must guard against differential pricing practices because they could have a significant negative impact on their content.
The Independent Broadcast Group told the Commission Wednesday morning it has to consider potential abuses from media companies which own both content and ISPs.
Brad Danks, CEO at OUTtv, noted in his opening remarks to the IBG’s appearance in the DPP hearing that it’s pretty clear that vertically integrated (VI) media companies are able to prefer their own content in ISP distribution. In addition, once the VI’s affiliated broadcast distribution arm gets ISP…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC kicked off its hearing on Internet differential pricing practices (DPP) on Monday and heard that while they have a place in the provision of data services, vertically integrated (VI) companies should be banned from using them to promote their own content.
The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) were the first of the service providers to appear Monday afternoon and it noted DPPs can help ISPs differentiate service offerings. However, if VI companies use them to promote their own affiliated services at the expense of others, this raises concerns about anti-competitive behaviour.
Matt Stein, vice-chair of CNOC and…
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VANCOUVER – Thunderbird Entertainment (which produces the CBC’s Kim’s Convenience, among other titles) announced the appointment of Matthew Berkowitz to head of development at its subsidiary Atomic Cartoons. He has been brought on to develop and grow the studio's expanding IP and co-production slate, says the release.
Berkowitz spent seven years at Arc Productions, where he oversaw the studio's IP slate and established animation production relationships with Sony Animation, DreamWorks Animation, Amazon Studios, Lego, Zodiak and Sprout. Prior to Arc, he held positions at Film Roman, and Strike Entertainment.
As we redefine our approach to development at Atomic,…
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