IN OUR EVER-MORE connected world, there are fewer secrets. People talk, they e-mail, they SMS, Facebook, tweet and YouTube.
They often use those outlets to speculate, pontificate, fustigate, postulate and guesstimate. Which means those “secrets” are sometimes true. Sometimes not. Sometimes educated guesses. Sometimes hopeful. Sometimes fuelled by less than good intentions.
So, it’s a good idea once in a while to take a few of those secrets and rumours floating around and ask someone in charge about them – and also to put the issues of the day facing our industry in front of someone at the top.
For this Cartt.ca…
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LOOKED AT THROUGH A Darwinian lens, the current Canadian television industry is at an evolutionary crossroads.
Changes in the ecosystem have resulted in a new species of TV-content provider: the non-Canadian, unregulated video sector, known as over-the-top (OTT). Among those migrating into the country are Netflix, Boxee, Apple and Google TV (oh, there are more – and more to come).
Like any addition to an environment, it’s changing the landscape, but the question is whether it’s a threat or will it be assimilated.
“We don’t see a big problem at this point. Look at OTT, whether Netflix or Apple TV or Google….
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OTTAWA – Huawei, Telus and Carleton this week signed a more than $1.4 million deal today to establish a research lab dedicated to enterprise cloud services.
Located in Carleton University’s new Canal engineering building, the Huawei-Telus Innovation Centre for Enterprise Cloud Services will give students, faculty and industry an opportunity to research real-world problems associated with cloud computing such as security and performance issues, according to the companies.
“In addition to the joint innovation centre we announced with Telus earlier in the year, this new lab, another strategic partnership with Telus, is dedicated to enterprise cloud services, and underscores our…
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BANFF – The chief content officer for Netflix, Ted Sarandos, worked hard to dispel the notion that his company is “the devil in Canada” or “one of the four horseman of the apocalypse”, preferring to paint the content-streaming service as a new but savvy deep-pocketed buyer of Canadian content.
At his keynote presentation Wednesday morning at the Banff World Media Festival, Sarandos ackonwledged that a bad rep seems to come with the territory.
“I don’t know when, in any time in history, a new buyer has ever been a bad thing”, he told the packed room. “And that’s all we are, is a new…
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TORONTO – With consumers getting used to spending some money on content they source online – from an ever-growing slate of digital platforms in which media and entertainment companies are investing – the five-year spending growth curve looks pretty good from here, says consulting and research firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Entertainment and media (E&M) spending rose by 4.8% in Canada in 2010 and 3.2% for Canada and the U.S. combined, the first increase in North American spending since 2007, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2011-2015, which provides forecasts and analysis on 13 major E&M…
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BANFF – Vertically integrated media companies in Canada are essential to the long term health and viability of the Canadian production industry, delegates at the 2011 Banff World Media Festival heard Sunday afternoon.
Speaking at a panel discussion called ‘Canadian Media Leaders: The State of the Nation’ here on opening day, it wasn’t a shock that representatives from Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media took that tack. But it was somewhat surprising that CBC and Astral, neither of whom is affiliated with a BDU, would agree so readily.
“There’s a lot to be said for how’s this industry has been working…
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BANFF – CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein is one busy guy these days – just ask him. “We have a hearing virtually every month which is unheard of”, he told Cartt.ca on Monday morning at the Banff World Festival.
A few of the biggest broadcast-related issues on his plate at the moment – the pending digital transition and the impact that the over-the-top services are having in Canada – figured prominently in his annual breakfast speech to delegates here on the confab’s first full day.
Congratulating the country’s TV broadcasters on their efforts to date to comply with August 31st deadline,…
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BANFF – It seems as though you can’t go far at the Banff World Media Festival without hearing talk about over-the-top (OTT) providers, and, depending on your point of view, whether they are a bane or boon to the Canadian broadcasting industry.
At a panel discussion on Monday called "OTT Services The Future of Television" — moderated by Telus’ Michael Hennessey — a Canadian cable company, broadcaster and the independent producers coalition faced down a trio of representatives from foreign OTT services Google TV, Boxee and Netflix. But with every expectation of fireworks, the predominant tone of the discussion seemed to be one…
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CALGARY – Alberta became the eighth province to join the Recycle My Cell program, allowing residents to safely and easily recycle their used wireless devices.
The free program, spearheaded by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), helps consumers find out where and how to properly dispose of their cell phones and other wireless devices – regardless of carrier, brand or condition.
Currently, 15% of cell phones in Alberta are collected for recycling, according to the CWTA. A memorandum of understanding signed Friday between government and industry is expected to increase that figure to 37% by 2015.
With 574 drop-off locations in 78…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Toronto’s Caribbean and African communities will be getting their own radio station at last, the CRTC confirmed Thursday.
In 2006, the Commission awarded a licence to Intercity Broadcasting Network Inc. on the condition that it secure a radio frequency. At that time, no application was submitted within the prescribed period, causing the authorization to lapse. However, Intercity, which is controlled by A. Fitzroy Gordon through his ownership and control of Maja Media Group Inc., recently obtained Industry Canada approval for the 98.7 FM spot on the dial and the Commission gave the greenlight for the company to…
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