TORONTO – Next Tuesday, "OMNI News: Online Edition" will launch to multilingual audiences anywhere in the world, joining the already popular news updates the channel does online.
Rogers-owned OMNI Television has been streaming 60 to 90 second updates of its newscasts to five, non-official language communities each weekday. Visits to this feature have been numerous and in response, OMNI has opted to post key content from all of its language newscasts – OMNI News: Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese and South Asian Editions – online at www.omnitv.ca/ontario.
"OMNI News has established strong audience numbers in all language broadcast corridors," said…
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OTTAWA – NDP Heritage critic Charlie Angus read from Cartt.ca today in the House of Commons while calling for hearings into the future of the Canadian Television Fund.
The emergency hearings will happen soon after a motion to launch them passed the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage today.
During Question Period this afternoon, Angus suggested that Heritage Minister Bev Oda was colluding with the cable industry to kill the fund after reading our Analysis piece on the CTF this morning which keyed off an interview with Shaw Communications senior vice-president Ken Stein, who described the meeting to Cartt.ca.
Oda…
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HOUSTON – This year’s SCTE Emerging Technologies Conference held last week in Houston, was far more “marketing” oriented than Engineering.
The Thursday session themes continued around consumer consumption of any content, anywhere, any time on any device and the growing demand for “personalization” of TV. The YouTube and MySpace.com generation mandates “personalization” and sharing of content and cable engineers have to learn to adapt.
Some of the changes illustrated in data are: Twenty million Americans aged 12+ have downloaded a full-length movie within the last month, according to Solutions Research Group, and 80% of total movie “downloaders” only use peer-to-peer…
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TORONTO – Characterizing it as an unnecessary middleman, Rogers Communications has told the CRTC it objects to any license being granted to Only Imagine Inc.
The company – which is now just an application before the Commission and a web site – wants to sell the two minutes per hour of local availability ad time supplied to cable and satellite operators by American cable channels like CNN, A&E, Golf Channel and others, into the Canadian marketplace and turn over a large portion of the profits to fund Canadian drama.
The applicants – former broadcasters Drew Craig of the former Craig…
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OTTAWA – That’s the question the entire industry is asking. With no direct experience in the cable, telecom, or TV fields, what does the eminently qualified career public servant have in mind for the CRTC as its new chairman?
At this point, no one really knows.
"He’s a bright guy and is certainly engaged in the dialogue a little bit from what we know about him in communications issues," said Rogers Communications vice-chair Phil Lind. "He could be good."
"Was I surprised it was him? Yes. But once the process got derailed and once Fern (Belisle, the front-runner…
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TORONTO – When Canadians are made aware of what a personal video recorder can do for them – specifically the convenience and simplicity of watching their programs on their own schedule – interest in the product grows and the likelihood of purchasing the technology increases, according to new research released today by CTAM Canada.
In contrast, in the U.S. TiVo and other Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) have been around since 1997 so awareness and adoption of PVRs in Canada is much lower. The research indicates that just five percent of Canadians own a PVR compared to 15% in the…
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TORONTO – The Movie Network said today it will launch MMore HD, it’s third 24/7 high definition channel, this Thursday, February 1, beginning with Rogers Cable.
MMore HD will feature select simulcasts of HD programming from The Movie Network’s multiplex channels MMore, MExcess, MFun! and MFest.
"HD is an absolute priority for us," said Domenic Vivolo, senior vice-president, marketing and sales, Astral Television Networks. "In fact, Astral Media has made an unparalleled commitment to HD and we can proudly claim that we have more HD channels and, justifiably, more HD content than any other broadcaster in Canada."
MMore HD…
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OTTAWA – It’s no increase (as producers, actors and broadcasters were hoping for) but the $200 million committed to the Canadian Television Fund by the federal government over two years is far more than two of CTF’s primary industry contributors are currently paying.
That is to say, zero.
Hot on the heels of Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media’s decisions to suspend monthly payments to the CTF, Heritage Minister Bev Oda said Friday the federal government is renewing its $100 million a year contribution to the fund through 2008-09.
"This announcement signifies this Government’s commitment to producing quality Canadian programming…
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TORONTO – The 2007 Canadian Digital Broadcasting Summit will be held January 29th and 30th at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre.
On the agenda are topics such as IP delivery of broadcasting, HD studio conversion, how the last mile (consumer premises) affects HD rollout, broadcast delivery capacity, IT infrastructure, subscriber rates and the recent trend towards the consumer as broadcaster.
Canadian comic Ron James will entertain at dinner on day one of the conference, which is organized every year by the Canadian Satellite Users Association. Cartt.ca is a media sponsor of the event.
Other speakers include: Paul Bush, Telesat;…
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TORONTO – A well-attended networking "President’s Reception" kicked off the new year in style for CTAM Canada at Flow Restaurant in Toronto Wednesday evening.
Over 70 CTAM Canada members were in attendance, including the folks in the pictures below.
CTV Specialty’s Ben Keyes and Insight Sports’ Sean Luxton.
Astral Media’s Mark Waschulzik and Alliance Atlantis’ Drew Robinson.
Mountain Cablevision’s John Piercy.
Rogers Cable’s Mark Lethbridge in the crowd.
Turner’s Matt Tolleson and Speed Channel’s Hawley Chester.
The Weather Network’s Paul Temple and High Fidelity…
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