BANFF – An economic impact study produced by the Canada Sports Tourism Commission of the Banff World Media Festival 2012 says the annual gathering is responsible for about $800 million in deals.
The BWMF is North America’s largest production and development market for television, digital media and advertising and the independent survey was of 2012 delegates who responded to a variety of questions about the deals and transactions they initiated or confirmed while at Banff 2012. This information was then used to determine the total value of deals being initiated that could be directly attributed to BWMF. Overall, the results…
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SASKATOON and REGINA – This week Cisco Canada announced two agreements to establish research chairs, one each at the University of Saskatchewan and at the University of Regina.
Cisco is providing a $2 million contribution over 10 years to establish a Research Chair in Mining Solutions at U of S. The Chair will focus on the University's wish to enhance the relevance of both the research and academic programs to the mining industry by solving some of their technical challenges through its research programs. The Research Chair will be focused on specific projects covered by four major research areas; mining and…
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GATINEAU – The Canadian broadcast environment has changed considerably since 1999, the last time CBC/Radio-Canada appeared before the CRTC for a licence renewal hearing, and the changes in the world since requires an utterly new regulatory framework for the national public broadcaster, the corporation told the Commission on the first days of its licence renewal hearing Monday.
Direct-to-home satellite TV was only emerging, cells phones were for calling, and YouTube and Facebook were years away from even being thought up then, Hubert Lacroix, CBC president and CEO said during his opening remarks. Now, with the myriad devices and applications used…
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MONTREAL – There are few details at this time other than the fact Bell will ask for an exception to keep TSN Radio 690 in Montreal, but Monday morning Astral Media and BCE announced they’ve amended their sale agreement and have submitted a new proposal to the CRTC for approval of Bell's acquisition of Astral. The $3.38 billion purchase price remains unchanged.
Bell also announced that it has formally withdrawn its request to the federal Cabinet for a policy direction to the CRTC which was made in the wake last month’s Commission denial of the first…
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“EVERYBODY’S STARTING TO realize that this market isn’t what we thought it was going to be,” said Alek Krstajic, president and CEO of upstart Canadian wireless company Public Mobile.
The wireless business is a very tough game. It’s extremely costly to build out, quite difficult to convince customers to switch service providers, incumbent carriers have been ruthless and access to spectrum, especially the good stuff, looks to be a problem. Those reasons and a few others make it appear like a round of consolidation among the three new independent wireless providers is close at hand, likely before the 700 MHz…
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TORONTO – Adam Ashton has been appointed to the new position of senior vice-president, business operations for Bell Media, effective immediately. Ashton has been with the company for more than 15 years, most recently as president, Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.
Ashton will be responsible for a unified approach to certain areas of the company, specifically revenue management, research, and the Bell Media Agency, says the company’s release. He will also “create synergies to ensure an informed, cohesive, and unified approach to such core business functions as pricing and forecasting advertising revenues, analyzing consumer insights, and leveraging the company's multi-platform…
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MONTREAL – The federal government has renewed Michel Roy's mandate as Chair of Telefilm Canada's Board for five years, Heritage Minister James Moore has announced.
"We are delighted with this announcement," said Carolle Brabant, executive director of Telefilm Canada. "For the last five years, Michel Roy's experience and leadership have significantly helped us to redefine our corporate vision, strengthen ties with our clients and partners, as well as making our business practices more efficient. It's with great pleasure that we continue our work at Telefilm to promote the Canadian industry and talent."
Roy is an administrator and a creator who has…
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MONTREAL – Sun Media Corporation said today it is eliminating approximately 500 positions throughout its organization including the closure of two newspaper production facilities in Ottawa and Kingston.
“These and other optimization initiatives that will be implemented in the coming months are expected to deliver more than $45 million in annualized cost savings,” reads the press release. It’s not clear if the cutbacks affect the company’s small Sun TV News division.
″This restructuring is regrettable but warranted by changes in our industry which force us to align our cost structure with the new reality,″ said Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO…
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TORONTO – The new funding criteria proposed by Telefilm sets the qualifying bar too high and threatens to shut out Canada’s most promising young talent. The Producers Roundtable Ontario (PRO), a group of film, TV and digital media producers, is urging Telefilm Canada to respond to concerns about funding and building capacity in industry.
"The success of Ontario's and Canada's film industry has always been based on the visions, innovations and talents of our up and coming talent. People who are just getting into the business," says Wyeth Clarkson, producer and PRO spokesperson. "It's what has…
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TORONTO – SiriusXM Canada has announced that Suzanne Morris has been appointed to the company's Board of Directors. Morris replaces Michel Tremblay as CBC/Radio-Canada's nominee to the SiriusXM Canada's Board of Directors, following Tremblay's resignation from his position as Director.
"We are very pleased to have Suzanne join our Board," said John Bitove, Chairman of SiriusXM Canada. "Her financial acumen and knowledge of the broadcast industry will be excellent assets as we continue to drive the business forward and work to deliver further growth. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Michel for his…
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