TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is offering its “advice and assistance” to the federal government as it moves forward with unbundling television channels, as it announced it would do in Wednesday’s Speech from the Throne.
The national organization, which represents the interests of 22,000 professional performers working in the English-language recorded media in Canada, expressed concerns on the impact the move may have on the 262,700 full time equivalent jobs in the country’s film and television industry.
“While we were disappointed to not hear a clear commitment…
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OTTAWA – Less than a month after registering as a bidder for the country's 700 MHz wireless spectrum, private equity investor Birch Hill Equity Partners has pulled out of the auction.
Industry Canada updated the list of bidders on Tuesday, noting that Birch Hill, which registered under the name BH Wave Acquisition Corporation, had withdrawn.
Dvai Ghose, Managing Director/Head of Research for Canaccord Genuity, speculated that the company may have declined to participate “because Birch Hill had no way of financing auction payments or perhaps Birch Hill realized that the Government is unlikely to allow new entrant buyers…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance came down firmly on the side of government Wednesday, congratulating the federal Conservatives for “its commitment in today's Speech from the Throne to choice and competition for rural Canadian telecom, internet and broadcasting consumers,” reads a press release.
The CCSA membership has long fought for a freer hand when it comes to marketing video services to its customers, many of whom live and work in small city or rural markets – and where the small cable company may well be the only local company providing service.
“A traditionally underserved market, Canadians…
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INDUSTRY MINISTER JAMES MOORE likely caused a number of folks in the Canadian subscription TV business to choke on their turkey this Thanksgiving weekend.
In a few media interviews, Moore dropped a preview bomb of this Wednesday’s Throne Speech by saying the federal Conservative government will make it its business to micromanage sectors of the economy, beginning with dismantling the TV channel packaging practices of Canadian broadcasters and broadcast distribution undertakings. “We don’t think it’s right for Canadians to have to pay for bundled television channels that they don’t watch,” he told CTV’s Question Period in an interview broadcast Sunday…
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CANNES – Marriage and TV are very different, except when it comes to keeping both new and exciting. So when a trio of industry heavy-hitters gathered Tuesday at MIPCOM to offer their take on how to reap the rewards of today's golden age of TV, their advice sounded as if it was aimed at newlyweds.
Keep it simple, keep it fresh.
Shaftesbury CEO Christina Jennings recalled a dinner Monday night on the Croissette with a French broadcaster of The Listener, which has just received a fifth season order from CTV to get to 65 episodes.
"I said to him, why does it…
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MARKHAM, ON – With the Ontario Association of Broadcasters’ fall conference less than a month away, organizers have added an industry executive town hall to the agenda.
Building upon the traditional President's Panel, the session will be expanded to include key high level industry executives from different areas of the broadcast industry providing their perspective on the state of radio, television and advertising.
The town hall will be moderated by radio executive Ross Davies and confirmed panelists include:
– Caroline Gianias; EVP trade & communications activation, Aegis Media;
– Patrick Grierson; president, Canadian Broadcast Sales;
– Catherine Kelly; VP electronic operations, BBM Canada;
– Geoff Poulton;…
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TORONTO and WINNIPEG – Citing unspecified issues of national security, the federal government has squashed the proposed sale of Manitoba Telecom Services’ Allstream business unit to Accelero Capital Holdings.
"The Government of Canada has concluded its review of Accelero Capital Holdings' proposed acquisition of the Allstream division of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) under the national security provisions of the Investment Canada Act. The result of this review is that the transaction will not proceed”, reads the short statement issued late Monday by Industry Minister James Moore.
Moore added that Allstream, which is the business-services division of MTS, “operates…
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OTTAWA – Registration is now open for the annual International Institute of Communications Canada conference in Ottawa on November 18 and 19, 2013.
This year's event, themed The Communication of Politics, and the Politics of Communication, will be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Designed for industry experts, content providers, regulators and policy makers, themes and questions to be addressed this year include:
– How are technology and social media changing the coverage of politics and public life, and how are they being changed by it?
– Is there any space left over for broadcasting and telecom policy, in the face of broadcasting…
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TORONTO – Television continues to be the dominant advertising medium in Canada after raking in $3.57 billion in revenue in 2012, says the Television Bureau of Canada (TVB). But that figure is down slightly from the $3.65 billion reported the year before.
According to the organization’s Net Advertising Volume By Medium report for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2012, 96% of the $3.57 billion is derived from “traditional brand advertising” including regular commercial airtime purchased in linear, VOD, and digitally streamed television content plus display advertising purchased within broadcasters websites. The remaining 4% of revenue is derived from block…
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CANNES – A large contingent of Canadian representatives took part in the opening festivities of MIPCOM Monday, the first day of the world’s largest entertainment content market across all platforms, which runs through October 10.
To kick off MIPCOM 2013, Canada handed the title of MIPCOM Country of Honour over to Argentina and expressed its interest in continuing to build its relationship with Latin America’s audiovisual production industry. The “passing of the torch” symbolizes a long history of production activity with Argentina as well as Latin America – since 2010, Latin America purchased more than 35 CMF-funded titles, and since 1992, 14…
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