GATINEAU – Friends of Alain Gourd say the Canadian media industry has lost a humanist and optimist, a fierce defender of Canadian talent, as well as a persuasive debater who often earned the respect of his opponents – and a dedicated family man who made time to comfort those with cancer even as he fought the same disease.
Gourd passed away at the age of 66 this past Saturday. After battling cancer for nearly a decade, which was in remission, he died last weekend of complications due to pneumonia.
Andrée Noël, national chair of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council calls Gourd…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media and The Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA) have partnered to create a development initiative that benefits local production communities.
The Rogers Development Fund, a revolving loan program, provides funding to support the independent producers of Alberta and Manitoba in the creation of new and innovative projects in the mediums of television, film, and digital.
The program is available to individual Canadian producers or production companies who have been residents of either province for at least one year. The fund will begin accepting loan applications on February 15, 2013; interested…
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QUISPASMIS, NB – Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) has completed a Master Affiliate Agreement with Display Systems International (DSI) for the distribution of the LU130 Full Screen Line-Up TV Listings Analog Scrolling Guide and Interactive Digital TV Listings Data Programming Service.
“We are very happy to have secured a deal with DSI,” says Alyson Townsend, CCSA President and CEO. “Their scrolling TV listing guides are among the most popular scrolling guides in North America and many CCSA members are currently DSI customers.”
“Not only does this agreement provide members competitively priced options for…
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TORONTO – Leaders in content creation from across the film, TV, interactive digital, music, book and magazine publishing industries, angel investors, media buyers and technology experts are coming together on January 18th to discuss the digital feature. The all-day Digital Dialogue conference is presented by the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) and takes place at the Arcadian Court, 401 Bay St., 8th floor in Toronto. The conference features a keynote from Kaan Yigit, a partner with Toronto-based Solutions Research Group and four panels including:
Generation C: The Connected Consumer
Mobile devices and iPod technology…
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OTTAWA – Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame has announced that Omer Girard, a founding father of Canadian cable television, is the 2012 recipient of the coveted Neotelis Canadian Telecom Career Service Award for material contributions to the promotion of telecommunications in Canada. Girard, soon to celebrate his 92nd birthday, was selected to receive the Canadian Telecom Career Service Award for industry leadership and vision, innovation in service and dedication and sacrifice in advancing the interests of the Canadian cable television industry.
Omer Girard's outstanding career in the Canadian telecom industry began 55 years ago…
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MONTREAL – Astral RadioPlus is teaming with Sears Canada for what it bills as the country’s single largest ever radio/retail partnership promotion.
All of Astral’s 84 radio stations across Canada are executing an on-air, online, on-site and mobile program in both official languages, rallying listeners behind Sears National Great Day, which takes place on Saturday, December 15, 2012.
Throughout the day of December 15th, live radio remotes from Sears stores will be aired in the Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Hamilton markets. They will open with a welcome message from Sears President and CEO Calvin McDonald….
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OTTAWA – On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada will release its ruling on whether or not the CRTC has the jurisdiction to let conventional, over-the-air local broadcasters pursue a fee for the carriage of their signals by subscription television providers. The appeal was heard back in April, as Cartt.ca reported.
The ability for local broadcasters to charge a cable, satellite or telco TV provider a wholesale fee (and by extension of course, Canadian subscribers) has been something TV station owners have pursued off and on for decades. The CBC asked for the ability to pursue…
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GATINEAU – While most agree that Canada definitely needs a national, mandatory code of conduct for wireless providers to adhere to when dealing with their customers, agreement on what this code will actually say is another matter entirely.
Submissions were due into the CRTC last week on the Commission’s proceeding to establish a mandatory code for mobile wireless services. A public hearing will start February 11th – after the Regulator itself releases a draft code for discussion next month and conducts three more days of public, online consultations.
Bell Canada says it’s been listening to what the CRTC Continue Reading
TORONTO – Designed to encourage regional activity and a diversity of voices, the Canada Media Fund (CMF) is launching a $1 million English Regional Pre-Development Program. A supplement to the existing development program, eligible producers will be able to apply to this first-come, first-served program as of Thursday, December 13.
“The CMF recognizes that opportunities to build relationships between producers and broadcasters exist at the very early stages of development and we need to capitalize on them,” says Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the CMF. “The objective of this initiative is to stimulate regional…
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GATINEAU – A compilation of statistics released by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association to the CRTC last week show that the number of lost or stolen wireless handsets reported to its member companies has been declining for the past two years.
Given the fact that more and more Canadians are living their lives through their phones, which are becoming laden with banking and other personal data, the CRTC earlier this year demanded more and better action from the Canadian wireless industry on tracking and permanently disabling those lost or stolen devices – and on helping consumers protect themselves.
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