TORONTO – The topic of simultaneous substitution always comes up a lot at this time of year, in the same breath as the Super Bowl and its nifty new ads.
While the average Canadian sports fan may be celebrating the CRTC’s decision Thursday to prohibit the controversial requirement in Super Bowl games starting in 2017, Bell Media, the Canadian rightsholder of the big game that airs nationally on its CTV network, told Cartt.ca that it was “extremely disappointed” with the ruling.
“The government is damaging the future of local television in Canada while rewarding U.S. corporations over home-grown companies”, said…
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TORONTO – Mobilicity has secured debt financing to allow it to participate in the upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction.
According to a Globe and Mail report, Justice Frank Newbould of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave his approval on Wednesday morning to new debtor-in-possession financing of up to $65 million from some of the company’s existing debt holders. That means that Mobilicity can compete with fellow startup Wind Mobile for spectrum reserved for new entrants already operating in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.
The AWS-3 auction is set for March 3 and a list of bidders that qualify under the…
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OTTAWA – The newly launched Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) is taking its show on the road in an effort to build Canada’s leadership in Next Generation Networks.
Starting in Edmonton Tuesday, CENGN kicks off a five-city Canadian roadshow with stops planned in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa to find and support small to medium enterprises (SME) working on Next Generation Networks. These technologies include software defined networks and network functions virtualization that address the growing demand for exploding Internet content on multiple platforms, and also underpin cloud-based applications and the Internet of Things (IoT), connecting and…
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TORONTO – While there’s no question over-the-top video services such as Netflix have become a “phenomenon” in Canada, the same can’t be said about subscription music streaming services, which have not been taken up to the same degree by consumers.
However, that may be about to change, according to digital media experts who spoke at the Digital Media at the Crossroads conference held on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus on Saturday.
Mark Allen, director of research and analysis for the CBC, outlined some recent trends in digital media in Canada, citing research from Numeris and the CBC’s own Media Technology…
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TORONTO – The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has reached an agreement in principle with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and the Association Québécoise de la Production Médiatique (AQPM) on a new independent production agreement, the organizations announced Friday.
The new collective agreement will set the minimum terms of engagement until the end of 2017. Further details will be made available after the deal has been ratified by WGC members, the CMPA board and the general assembly of the AQPM.
“This was a tough negotiation but we are happy we were able to reach a deal that recognizes the needs…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is throwing its support behind the NDP government’s pre-election promise to scrap the $115 million cut to CBC/Radio-Canada made in the 2012 federal budget.
Describing the CBC as “an essential public service” in a statement this week, NDP leader Tom Mulcair also pledged to guarantee stable, predictable, multi-year financing for the public broadcaster and to set up an independent process for appointing members of the CBC’s board of directors.
ACTRA said in its own statement that it has “long argued for more accountability in the governance of the CBC”,…
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MONTREAL – CTAM Canada’s newly elected board of directors for 2015 includes a number of familiar names and faces.
The executive committee is:
– Gary Pelletier from Accedo as president for the second of his two year term;
– Drew Robinson from Shaw Media as vice-president;
– Jennifer Salmon from CCSA as secretary; and
– Jeff Taylor from DHX Media as treasurer.
In the recent elections, the CTAM Canada membership re-elected Pelletier, Robinson and Leslie Fields from AMC Networks to continue on the board for another two year term. First-time board members John Fulton from Shaw Communications and Shawn Praskey from Corus Entertainment were also…
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TORONTO – After a quarter-century in TV and radio, John Cassaday would like to try something else.
While Corus Entertainment’s founding CEO announced last week he will retire from the company at the end of March, the 60-year-old Cassaday told Cartt.ca he isn’t thinking about riding off into the sunset. It’s just that that now is the right time for him to give up the reins at the Shaw-family controlled TV, radio and production company to his COO Doug Murphy.
“It just seemed like the perfect time for me,” he said in an interview. “February 14 is my 25th anniversary in…
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TORONTO – Canadian marketers are bullish on video’s growth, but have yet to fully adopt the strategies to best reach consumers, according to a new study by Videology.
The report, Consumers Lead Marketers on Path to Cross-Screen Convergence, was conducted on behalf of Videology by Marketing Magazine and Rogers Connect Market Research and Client Services in September and October of 2014 through the surveying of over 1,000 Canadian consumers and 104 Canadian marketers.
Despite marketers' perceived challenges in video advertising – half of all marketers say they don't have a video advertising strategy in place – they're…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada is extending by a month the comment period for its proposal on repurposing spectrum in the 600 MHz band.
According to a notice this week in the Canada Gazette, the deadline for the receipt of comments has been extended from January 26 to February 26, 2015. The deadline for reply comments will be two weeks (14 calendar days) following the publication date of the comments received, and all comments will be posted on Industry Canada’s Spectrum Management and Telecommunications website. The notice says that the extension is “based on the merits of several requests for…
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