TORONTO – ACTRA and the Joint Producers (the Association of Canadian Advertisers and Institute of Communication Agencies) have reached a tentative settlement on a new national commercial agreement (NCA).
The tentative agreement was reached on Saturday after nine months of negotiations and announced Tuesday. The agreement is the industry standard collective agreement governing the production of English-language commercials in Canada.
ACTRA stated in a media release that the deal “resolved issues that will result in commercial shoots being repatriated to Canada, as well as the ability to nurture the development and use of new media as key consumer communication…
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TORONTO – The digital and mobile segments stand to make the most revenue in the next five years for Canadian media and entertainment companies savvy enough to capitalize on them, says Tracey Jennings, leader of the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Canadian Entertainment & Media practice.
Referring to the recently released Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, Jennings presented some key findings and trends to the Greater Toronto Area chapter of Canadian Women in Communications on Thursday.
“While there are still significant revenues coming from traditional segments, the biggest movements and highest growth in consumer and advertising spends will come from those who leverage…
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WINNIPEG – John A. MacDonald, president of MTS Allstream’s Enterprise Solutions division, will retire after six years with the company, it was announced Wednesday.
This will conclude a 30-year career as a senior executive in the Canadian telecommunications industry.
The Enterprise Solutions division, which operates under the Allstream brand nationally, competes in the national business and wholesale telecommunications markets.
After beginning his career as an engineer at the New Brunswick telephone company NB Tel, MacDonald progressed up the management ranks to become president. Among his other senior executive positions were chief technology officer and chief operating officer of Bell…
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OTTAWA – With many Canadians concerned about the economy, environment, and our troops overseas, you’d think culture would not be on the radar in the federal election, but the parties have made promises that could affect broadcasting.
The Conservatives have vowed to change the make-up of the CRTC commissioners to better reflect the regions and francophones. Leader Stephen Harper said the chair position would alternate between English speakers and French speakers, the vice-chair positions (in broadcasting and telecom) would be split with one anglophone and one francophone, at least one-quarter of the commissioners would be French-speaking and would be…
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TORONTO – Actors union ACTRA has asked for a conciliation officers’ report, which would allow the union to be in a legal strike position by the middle of October, it said in a release today.
After 17 months of negotiations between ACTRA and the associations that represent Canada’s advertising industry (ICA/ACA) for a new commercial agreement, there still is none and ACTRA members are in the midst of a strike vote right now.
"We are not looking for a strike," said ACTRA national president, Richard Hardacre. "We have additional negotiating dates planned. However, we will not agree to a…
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TORONTO – At a press conference on Wednesday, Canadian actors called on political leaders to start taking Canada’s cultural industry seriously. The arts contribute $85 billion dollars and one million jobs to the Canadian economy each year, they said.
“Our culture and our jobs are under attack by a government that wants to cut arts funding, censor our work and allow increased foreign ownership,” said actor Wendy Crewson. “Culture is critical to our identity as a country and is a huge part of our economy. These policies are job killers and artists will not stand by and allow these…
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OTTAWA/GATINEAU – Tickets for the October 29th Telecom Laureate Awards Gala at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa/Gatineau are now on sale.
The 2008 Telecom laureates who will be honoured are: Jim Balsillie (RIM); Mike Lazaridis (RIM); Carol Stephenson (Stentor, Lucent, Richard Ivey School of Business); David Golden (Telesat Canada); The late David Simmonds and his sons, Robert Simmonds, Gordon Simmonds and Donald Simmonds (Clearnet, Lenbrook Communications).
The 2008 Special Recognition Award winner is the Western government telephone companies and their successor companies for 100 years of service: Manitoba Telephone System (MTS Allstream) – Pierre Blouin, CEO; Alberta…
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ANYONE WHO HAS spent longer than five minutes in this industry knows that the lead question Canadian viewers most often have for us is: “Why can’t I get HBO here?” (Actually, it’s very often “why the he** can’t I get HBO?!!)
Finally, we can tell them, “we do have HBO in Canada.” It’s not the exact HBO Americans get because it does have a 30% Cancon requirement, but it’s a lot closer than the way the dominant American pay channel’s programming has historically been available here.
As reported by Cartt.ca Monday morning, Astral Media (owners of The Movie…
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MONT TREMBLANT – Attendees were very pleased with the new trade show format at the 2008 Canadian Cable Systems Alliance.
The group tweaked its annual general meeting, renaming it Connect 2008 – The Summit for Independent Communications, rescheduling some of the traditional events and re-formatting the trade show. Feedback was very positive on Monday from some of the 250-plus attendees we talked to here at the Fairmont Hotel.
Here are a few of the things we saw and heard on Sunday and Monday.
************ Rogers Communications is now a member of the CCSA. Both the Alliance and the largest…
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OTTAWA – Political parties should be sharing their plans for the future of Canada’s TV and film production sector, the CFTPA said today.
When a film or television production rolls into a small town or a large city in Canada, employment comes with it. In fact, as small and medium-sized businesses, the 400 independent producer-members of the Canadian Film and Television Association employ more than 100,000 Canadians every year, says a press release the association issued today.
“Among them are writers, directors, actors and designers as well as carpenters, caterers and drivers to name a few. The production industry…
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