By Howard Law
UNTIL LAST WEEK, PARLIAMENT’S Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was plodding through the clause-by-clause review of Bill C-10 with no tasty headlines. Perhaps the bill’s revamp of the Broadcasting Act, which would sweep in Netflix, isn’t controversial anymore.
Of course, federal political partisanship is inevitable, as Canadian as bad weather.
And so, we now have the Conservatives’ faux controversy over free expression on social media platforms. In an e-mail blast from CPC MPs across the country, they made their case:
“Recently, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-10 – a bill that would regulate social media websites like Facebook, YouTube, and…
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Mediaucracy looks at Cancon policy for TV in the global online era
By Len St-Aubin
IN HER FORTHCOMING BOOK, Mediaucracy: Why Canada hasn’t made global hits and how it can, Irene Berkowitz shows how policies intended to support premium Canadian content are colliding with the global online era and that collision is preventing Canada from generating Cancon hits for the global market at a level this country’s world-class production industry is capable of as, ironically, this country turns out global hits for foreign broadcasters and streamers.
The book makes a strong case that this outcome is largely due to a missing link…
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TORONTO — Asian Television Network International (ATN) appears to have high hopes the federal government’s Copyright Act review, launched April 14, will put an end to the piracy of television and movie content in Canada.
ATN, Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster, has long blamed content piracy for its declining revenues (which we’ve reported on numerous times, including here, here, here and here).
Last Thursday, in a press release titled “Purging the Piracy Parasite – ATN Applauds Government Initiative”, the broadcaster says it is “encouraged” by the copyright legislation review and public consultation process announced jointly…
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OTTAWA — The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) released today its latest quarterly report on wireless plans, which shows prices for the majority of mid-range data plans across Canada have decreased since tracking began a year ago.
As Cartt.ca readers know, the federal government wants service providers to reduce the cost of wireless plans by 25% over two years (from the beginning of 2020 to early 2022), and has been tracking prices since January 2020.
For plans with 2 GB to 6 GB of data, the latest tracking data shows most of these plans have seen price…
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TORONTO – Wireless upstart Data On Tap (dotmobile), filed a petition to federal cabinet Tuesday asking the federal government to overturn the portion of the CRTC’s recent wireless policy decision which excluded a mandate for full mobile virtual network operators to participate in the wireless market in Canada.
Dotmobile is Canada’s first full MVNO but has yet been unable to come to a wholesale agreement with any Canadian wireless network operator (company owners say none of the carriers even return their calls seeking a meeting). The CRTC’s much-ballyhooed wireless decision, however, didn’t mandate access for full MVNOs like…
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$7 million project will be complete by October
VANCOUVER — In partnership with the B.C. government, Rogers Communications announced today it is expanding its 5G wireless network to provide reliable connectivity along Highways 95 and 97, helping to connect communities in Okanagan, Vernon-Kamloops-Cache Creek and the Cariboo regions, as well as southeastern British Columbia.
With the network expansion, Rogers will provide more than 90 kms of new coverage, from Golden to Spillimacheen along Highway 95, and from Pine Pass to Chetwynd along Highway 97, says Rogers’s press release. The company is leveraging financial support from the provincially funded Connecting British…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today in an information bulletin it is adopting a new standardized approach to monitoring linear community channels and on-demand community programming services, which will serve as general guidance going forward and will come into effect on September 1, 2021.
In July 2020, the Commission launched a proceeding to gather input on its proposed standardized approaches to monitoring community programming. The Commission received 10 interventions from Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, SaskTel, Telus, Csur la tele, the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC), the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the Conseil provincial du secteur…
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By Ken Kelley
OTTAWA – With the increased prevalence of employees working from home over the last 14 months, the trend has unquestionably shone a light on the importance of connectivity, and security, in our day-to-day lives. And while much has been discussed of the role that 5G technology may play in our daily lives outside of the home, the latest installment of a Canadian Wireless Telecom Association online forum, 5G Canada: What’s Next, examined how the latest wireless standard will impact different verticals and elements of society, in addition to the evolution of the connected or smart home in…
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TORONTO — Bell Media today announced a partnership with ad tech company Xandr, a business unit within AT&T, to create a proprietary omnichannel demand-side platform (DSP) for advertisers.
The new Bell Media product is being branded as SAM DSP and is an enhancement to the company’s strategic audience management (SAM) suite of data-enabled tools for marketers, says Bell Media’s press release.
Powered by Xandr’s buying platform, Xandr Invest, SAM DSP “will enable Canadian advertisers to easily plan, run and measure scaled, targeted campaigns using premium inventory over multiple platforms and channels,” reads the press release.
“We are building a best-in-class self-serve platform…
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TORONTO — TV and radio broadcaster ZoomerMedia Limited announced today its first-half results for its 2021 fiscal year, which saw a revenue decrease but substantial growth in earnings and net income.
For the six months ended February 28, 2021, ZoomerMedia generated revenues of $25.36 million, which represents an 8.5% decrease compared to revenues of $27.7 million reported by the company for the six-month period ended February 29, 2020, according to ZoomerMedia’s management discussion and analysis (MD&A) containing its financial results.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA from its continuing operations rose 30.3% to almost $6.8 million in the first half of fiscal 2021,…
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