TORONTO – Music streaming service Rdio has been crowned the official music partner of this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Rdio will kick off the Festival’s opening weekend with a lineup of local and international musicians performing free public shows in the Rdio Music Zone, located at 335 King St. W, from September 4 – 7. On September 6, it will present triple platinum singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding live in concert at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall.
The service's interactive presence at the Festival includes a listening station near the intersection of Simcoe St. and King St. where fans can check out music…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) ratified a three-year National Commercial Agreement (NCA) by 98.5% on Monday, the union’s first foray into online voting for a national agreement.
The NCA, negotiated between ACTRA and the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) and the Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA), is the industry standard collective agreement that governs performers in English-language commercials in Canada.
According to the press release, key elements of the new NCA include: a 6% pay increase (2% increase per year over the three year term); gains for performers working in New Media commercials; a…
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TORONTO – Wind Mobile has cut its roaming rates for customers in Canada and the U.S. by up to 95% amidst pressure on the wireless industry from the federal government to lower rates on wholesale domestic roaming.
The new wireless entrant said Thursday that its rates are now 15₵/minute for talk (formally 20₵), 5₵/message for text (down from 15₵) and data is now 5₵/MB (previously $1). Wind also said that it has plans to launch faster HSPA+ roaming in Canada.
“Our new domestic roaming rates and roaming network speeds give our customers the freedom to use their phone while travelling anywhere across Canada…
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MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada said Thursday that more than $14 million in private contributions has been raised by its Talent Fund in support of the Canadian feature film industry.
Officially recognized by the CRTC as a certified independent production fund and administered by Telefilm Canada, The Talent Fund helps to finance the production, distribution and marketing of Canadian feature films.
The majority of funds came via acquisitions made by Bell Media for Astral and Corus Entertainment for Historia, Séries+ and Teletoon. The two broadcasters contributed $8 million and $5.7 million, respectively, to the Talent Fund over the next seven years, under the CRTC’s…
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OTTAWA – While many are still digesting Industry Canada’s new spectrum proposals, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has thrown its support behind the consultation, saying that it will help to shine the spotlight on affordable broadband access.
Quoting 2012 CRTC data that found that 75% of Canadian households had Internet access at 1.5 Mbps download speeds, 62% had Internet access at 5 Mbps download speeds, and only 72% could access LTE-speed of service, PIAC said that changes are needed to allow all Canadians access to affordable Internet service at a speed that supports functions such as video streaming and e-health.
“Deployment using in the…
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GATINEAU – A group of Canadian television viewers and consumer-oriented organizations says that it’s time for the CRTC to change the way it regulates the broadcasting system; this time, by putting Canadians, and not a specific industry, front and centre.
“The broadcasting system – and its business and regulation – must move back towards one that serves Canadians,” reads an intervention by the Groups for the Public Interest to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Consumers’ Association of Canada, Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia, National Pensioners Federation, Option consommateurs and Canadian…
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WOODSTOCK, NB – Rural broadband service provider Xplornet Communications is warning Industry Canada that its new consultation on 3500 MHz spectrum may actually hinder, rather than help, the availability of rural Internet access.
Xplornet president Allison Lenehan issued a statement late Wednesday saying that he was “deeply concerned about this consultation” and that his company is “reaching out” to Industry Canada officials to make them aware of the concerns.
According to Lenehan, Industry Canada’s proposal to reclassify some rural areas located near large urban centres, and therefore re-designate the spectrum currently used for fixed wireless high-speed Internet in those areas…
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TORONTO – OMNI Television’s Madeline Ziniak is stepping down from her role as national vice president this fall, wrapping up her 34-year career at Rogers and OMNI Television.
She will officially depart the role in October but will stay on to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities, the company said Wednesday. Ziniak, pictured, will pursue new opportunities in the ethnic media community and remain as the chair of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA), as a founding member of the Strategic Alliance of Broadcasters for Aboriginal Reflection (SABAR), on the Ryerson Radio and Television Arts advisory board, and as a…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada released its Consultation on 3500 MHz Licensing Approach Tuesday which includes a ‘first-come, first-served’ licensing process for rural broadband service providers.
In keeping with the government's "use-it-or-lose-it" policy announced last November, where 3500 MHz licences would only be renewed where all conditions of licence have been met, including deployment, Industry Minister James Moore has proposed that 3500 MHz licence areas be designated as either "urban" or "rural" to support their differing requirements.
In rural areas, the government is now consulting on a new licensing process for fixed wireless services (broadband Internet to the home) and proposes a first-come, first-served…
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OTTAWA – In move that could have implications for a number of cross-border broadcasters, the CRTC has summoned three B.C.-based radio companies to a hearing in October for allegedly broadcasting in Canada without a licence.
According to the Commission, Radio India, which is owned and controlled by Baljit Kaur Bains; Radio Punjab, owned and controlled by Gurpal S. Garcha; and Sher-E-Punjab, owned and controlled by Surinder Kaur Badh are all producing programming for broadcast on the radio and over the Internet without licences to carry on a radio programming undertaking in Canada, contrary to the Broadcasting Act. Their primarily South…
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