VANCOUVER – Rogers Communications announced Thursday it is investing in industry-leading wildfire detection and prevention technology and will use its national network and technology partnerships to help fight climate change-related events in communities across Canada.
Rogers is currently testing satellite-connected IoT sensors, using SpaceX’s low-bandwidth Swarm service, to better predict wildfires in remote areas of British Columbia without wireless networks, explains a press release.
Rogers is also introducing Pano AI cameras on the Rogers 5G network that can detect smoke up to a 20-kilometre range, according to the release. The AI cameras will be located…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) released Wednesday its annual report, which shows the not-for-profit funding body’s investments in Canada’s screen-based industries activated $1.7 billion in industry activity during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
In addition, CMF funding this past fiscal year continued to help advance opportunities for creators and stories from Indigenous and equity-seeking communities, according to a press release announcing the annual report’s publication and findings.
The CMF says its programs provided a total of $360.3 million in funding for the prototyping, development, production, promotion and export of 1,334 television…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – The Canada Media Fund said Monday it is starting the process of making changes to its funding programs that will take a platform-agnostic approach to supporting content creators, in lockstep with the federal government’s modernization of the broadcasting industry via the Online Streaming Act.
“After several years of calls for change from the industry we proudly support, the Department of Canadian Heritage has unlocked new authorities for the CMF to administer our funding and programs moving forward,” reads a CMF press release.
“As the CRTC undertakes its process to…
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TORONTO – After a year-long research initiative on Canadian content — which included interviews, a survey, in-person and virtual workshops, and written submissions — the Canada Media Fund last week officially released New Futures for Canadian Content: What You Said, a landmark report by independent research firm La Société des demains that draws on viewpoints from more than 2,800 industry professionals and the public from across the country.
“Our industry stands at a pivotal juncture. After over 1,000 hours of feedback, the insights gathered in this report prove that Canadian content matters more than ever,” said Valerie Creighton,…
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This summer has been a terrible lesson in how quickly our lives can change. Floods in Nova Scotia, wildfire smoke from Northern Quebec blanketing major cities, storms in central Canada, and unprecedented wildfire disasters in British Columbia, northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. In almost every part of Canada, this has been a summer of sudden worry.
This is when information — trusted, local, and up to the minute — is essential. And it’s Canadian media that provide that information.
It is why, last month, I wrote to Meta, calling on them to stop blocking access to all Canadian news…
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TORONTO – Bell Media announced on Tuesday the launch of Addressable TV (ATV), delivering tailored ads to TV viewers, across its premium linear and video-on-demand content on CTV, CTV2 and Noovo, as well as a selection of English and French-language specialty channels.
ATV reaches TV audiences via the Bell Fibe TV app on connected TV, mobile and web platforms, and is set to launch on next-generation set-top boxes later this year, according to a Bell Media press release.
“Addressable TV provides a personalized ad experience to specific households or devices, based on…
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TORONTO – The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) and entertainment workers union IATSE announced Monday what they called a “historic” national agreement to represent script coordinators working in the Canadian film and television industry, through all stages of production including development.
Script coordinating is an entry-level position usually held by aspiring screenwriters, often from underrepresented communities, including writers who are Black, indigenous and people of colour.
“The trend towards smaller writing rooms (also referred to as ‘mini-rooms’) has resulted in these workers handling more tasks than was previously the norm,” a press release explains. “Script…
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By Mark Goldberg, a telecommunications consultant
An opinion piece in Monday’s Globe and Mail included a line that caught my eye. “A 2022 study found that Canada’s wireless rates were the second most expensive in the world – seven times more expensive than Australia, 25 times more expensive than France and Ireland and 1,000 times more expensive than Finland.”
Canadians complain about mobile prices, but does anyone in Canada actually believe that they are paying one thousand times more than what they would pay in Finland?
In fact, we don’t.
So how did the author, a university professor and academic…
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EDMONTON – Super Channel announced Tuesday chief content officer (CCO) Jackie Pardy has decided to retire after four years with the company and more than 35 years working in the media industry.
Her last day will be Dec. 29, 2023, after which she will stay on as a part-time consultant for six months to help with successor Kimberley Ball’s transition to the position of CCO. Ball is currently Super Channel’s chief communications officer.
Pardy joined Super Channel in April 2019 as director of programming and was promoted in November 2019 to the CCO role “where…
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Established in 1997 and headquartered in Toronto, the Bell Fund is an independently governed, not-for-profit, private Canadian fund. Certified by the CRTC as an independent production fund eligible to receive and administer contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings, the Bell Fund supports Canadian Independent Producers in the development and production of great Canadian content. Today, the Bell Fund is an organization capable of adapting and thriving with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion embedded in everything it does.
Managing a small, dedicated team and reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director will have a two-fold mandate: Provide vision…
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