TORONTO — Independent content creator and distributor Epic Story Media Inc. (ESM) announced today it has signed deals with broadcast and licensing partners on a number of series across its slate of children’s programming.
ESM has sold evergreen brand Pocoyo to WarnerMedia Kids & Family U.S. for its Cartoonito preschool block, which was launched on Sept. 13.
In addition, ESM also recently signed a deal with B.C.’s public broadcaster Knowledge Network to air the Pocoyoseries in Canada.
Owned by Zinkia Entertainment, Pocoyo is “a fun and educational series about a little boy who discovers the world around him with his inseparable group…
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Bloomberg says company chairman wanted up to nine senior executives gone
TORONTO – Rogers CFO Tony Staffieri left the company due to “a high-level power struggle” during which the company’s chairman attempted to unseat the company’s CEO, the Globe and Mail reported last Friday.
Staffieri’s abrupt departure from Rogers was announced by the company on Sept. 29. No explanation was given at the time.
The Globe and Mail has since reported unidentified sources said Staffieri had developed a close relationship with Rogers chairman Edward Rogers, had ambitions to be CEO and “frequently butted heads” with Joe Natale, the company’s current…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is now allowing Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. (CPAC) to participate in the proceeding dealing with the broadcast side of the proposed Rogers/Shaw transaction as an interested party, thereby granting it several new rights.
In a letter dated Oct. 7, the CRTC authorized CPAC to appear at the upcoming hearing into the matter in its own right and granted CPAC the right for its representatives to participate in any in camera discussions that may be held regarding its governance.
The CRTC also granted CPAC “the right to file a reply to intervenors in accordance with section 27…
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IGLOOLIK, Nunavut — Uvagut TV, Canada’s first 24/7 Inuktut TV channel, announced today it has filed a motion with the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) to secure the right to broadcast and rebroadcast the next round of public hearings being conducted by the NIRB into the proposed phase two expansion of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s Mary River mine (located in northern Baffin Island).
Cartt.ca readers will remember Uvagut TV first started broadcasting live coverage of the controversial mine hearing in January 2021, shortly after the channel launched.
In April, Uvagut TV was allowed to continue live broadcast coverage of…
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WOODSTOCK, N.B. — Rural broadband provider Xplornet Communications Inc. announced today Dennis Steiger (above) is joining the company as its new chief technology officer.
In this role, Steiger “will lead all aspects of architecture, planning, design, implementation, and operations of the Xplornet national broadband network for rural Canadians,” reads an Xplornet press release.
With more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications and media industries, Steiger previously held CTO positions at Shaw Communications Inc. and at Australia’s national broadband network NBN Co.
“Mr. Steiger brings deep experience with ambitious broadband rollouts in Canada and Australia, with a mixture of best-fit technologies, including fibre-to-the-home, hybrid…
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TORONTO — Canadian family entertainment company Portfolio Entertainment announced today it has made a number of international deals across its slate of kids and family series with channels in Latin America, Portugal, Russia and Hong Kong.
Portfolio has secured its first sale of its new half-hour family Christmas special Where Oliver Fits: A Christmas Eve Tale and series of Where Oliver Fits shorts (pictured above, 9 episodes x 2.5 minutes) to Discovery Kids Latin America.
“We can’t wait for kids around the world to meet Oliver,” said Donnie MacIntyre, Portfolio’s vice-president of sales and business development, in a press release.
“His adventurous spirit…
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NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Metro Vancouver’s TransLink and Shaw Communications announced today the launch of free WiFi for customers on six RapidBuses, on three SkyTrains, at Edmonds Station and at Carvolth Exchange.
This marks the beginning of a system-wide rollout that will provide TransLink customers with free Shaw WiFi on all buses, SeaBus ferries, SkyTrains, transit stations and major transit hubs by 2026, according to an announcement on TransLink’s blog.
“We are proud to partner with TransLink so its customers can stay connected when they are on buses, trains or in transit stations across the Lower Mainland,” said Katherine Emberly, president…
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LOS ANGELES and TORONTO — Independent entertainment company Boat Rocker announced today it has struck a first-look deal with Canadian brothers, actors and producers Shamier Anderson (above, left) and Stephan James (right).
“Under the deal, Anderson and James, the stars of Boat Rocker’s highly anticipated series Invasion and Beacon 23, respectively, will develop and produce original television projects for the company under their Bay Mills Studio banner,” reads a Boat Rocker press release.
Anderson is starring in the Boat Rocker-produced series Invasion, created by producer Simon Kinberg, which will premiere on Apple TV+ on Oct. 22. James is an executive producer…
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TORONTO – WildBrain Television announced today its fall lineup for Family Channel and Family Jr., which include several exclusive Canadian broadcast premieres.
“This October, WildBrain Television is handing out treats for the whole family to enjoy,” a press release says.
New programming includes Game of Talents (pictured above), which will premiere exclusively on Family Channel on Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Hosted by Wayne Brady (Let’s Make A Deal, Whose Line Is It Anyway?), the show “infuses the spectacle of a large-scale variety show with a clue-centered, high-intensity investigative game, pitting two teams of contestants against each other as they attempt to…
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Panelists talk C-10, competition and of course, the Rogers/Shaw deal
By Lynn Greiner
TORONTO – Every ISP Summit, a highlight session is the regulatory panel. The CRTC always seems to generate enough controversy to make the panel entertaining as well as interesting.
This year was no different.
Moderated by Monica Auer, executive director of the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, the panel featured two CRTC alumni who are less than impressed with the way the organization has operated recently.
Konrad von Finckenstein, a consultant and arbitrator, was CRTC chair from 2007 to 2012, and Timothy Denton, now chairman of the Internet…
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