A public interest advocacy group is pleased to see the Privacy Commissioner of Canada launch a second investigation into Facebook’s privacy settings, saying “we are not done with Facebook.” This is Stoddart’s second probe into Facebook’s privacy policies. In July 2009, the commissioner released a report highlighting her concerns over Facebook’s policies dealing with how it handles personal information, including disclosing whether it is deleted when an account is deactivated. In August, Facebook agreed to modify its website within a year to address the report’s concerns, and began work to meet the requirements. Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) director David Fewer told The Wire Report he was “happy to...
In response to the communication union’s call for CRTC hearings into cuts at Citytv, broadcasters should get their own financial houses in order instead of relying on the commission for help, Jan Innes, vice president of public affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., told The Wire Report. Rogers, which bought Citytv in 2007 for $375 million, announced cuts of 60 jobs at the station last week, representing six per cent of its employees. The layoffs signify the end of many local newscasts for the channel. Rogers maintains that Citytv was not profitable, and that its stations did not seek to participate in the CRTC’s fee-for-carriage hearings on whether cable and satellite...
Although Canwest’s creditors have put only the company’s newspapers up for sale, analysts say its broadcast and specialty channels are probably available—for the right price. They say Canwest’s specialty channels are its prized assets, and that Global TV, while...
The federal government is developing a broad, national digital strategy that could be released in the March budget, say experts and insiders. Insiders say they expect a made-in-Canada, national digital strategy that will touch upon modern spectrum management; information and communications...
On the final day of the CRTC’s hearings for its review of the campus and community radio sector, the Association des radios régionales francophones (ARRF) aired concerns about a competitive threat it sees from community radio stations in small francophone markets. “Regional francophone radio has...
With the CBC losing it’s Olympic bid for the first time since 1996, this year’s new Olympic broadcast consortium is under pressure to demonstrate that it can deliver Canadians the content they want via new, digital platforms. Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, a...
The prorogation of Parliament has put on hold a wide-ranging House of Commons committee study into digital media, but it’s likely to return to the priority list, say members of the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. The committee had launched a study titled “Canada and the New Medias” in October with a presentation from Chad Gaffield, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). It had developed witness lists with an eye towards collecting insight from a range of digital-media industry players. Gary Schellenberger, the committee chair and Conservative MP for Perth-Wellington, said the Conservatives’ list...
The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) told the CRTC Wednedsday that it could help meet the needs of the suffering community and campus radio sector with an “outcomes-based" approach to funding—in which the control of funding distribution is taken out of the hands of private donors. The need for a national strategy to fund...
Private radio proposed government subsidies, community funding, and charitable status as its prescriptions for the ailing campus and community radio sector Tuesday—solutions the community radio sector called “patronizing.” “Many of their points were patronizing. They...
Shaw Communications Inc. is standing its ground after the chair of the CRTC dismissed as “hogwash” the company’s recent salvo in the fee-for-carriage debate. Ken Stein, Shaw’s senior vice president for corporate and regulatory affairs, told The Wire Report that Shaw...
The future of community radio came into focus at a CRTC hearing Monday, where community radio representatives said new media cannot be their replacement and that the CRTC should start with a good definition of the sector and its objectives. Brian Burchell, station manager and CEO of University of...
Today I’m happy to introduce you, our readers, to Hill Times Publishing’s newest service, The Wire Report. In fact anticipation has been building for a number of weeks now. At Hill Times Publishing, myself, publisher Anne Marie Creskey, reader sales and services director Ryan O’Neill and online services manager Dan Hulton have...
The EU is pressuring Canada for significant amendments to its intellectual property regime this week as Canadian officials take part in trade negotiations in Brussels, an internal EU strategy document shows. The document, obtained by The Wire Report, is intended to help EU officials “facilitate the coordination of...
To answer the question of funding—the central issue in this week’s CRTC hearings on community radio—the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) is proposing a plan to reduce costs through shared local radio, television, and new media spaces. Starting Monday this week,...
The newly created Graphics, Animation and New Media (GRAND) Network will hold its inaugural annual conference in June in Ottawa, where one of the hot topics will be the use of digital media and gaming technology in fitness and cognitive programs for seniors. Dr. Abby Goodrum, GRAND’s director for social sciences...
The debate around Canadian rules governing foreign ownership and control in the telecom sector has been reignited by the federal government's recent decision which allowed mobile services provider Globalive to enter the Canadian market, overruling a CRTC determination that the company is not under Canadian control. The government's action highlights the fact that Canada has long been criticized for having amongst the most restrictive rules in the world and raises questions about the need for greater liberalization of the existing restrictions. For almost a decade now, there have been calls for reform. In 2003, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology...
Inspired by the American discussion of a new a “start-up visa” for immigrant entrepreneurs, Canada’s new media industry is now buzzing about the idea. The notion is borrowed from the U.S., where talk of a start-up visa has been in the air for some time. In Canada, Dan...
Industry Canada is hoping a greater reliance on market forces will help revive commercial interest in portions of the L-band spectrum currently used for digital radio services. In consultation DGTP-010-09, the department proposes to replace the digital audio broadcast (DAB) designation in the 1452-1492 MHz...
A decision from Industry Canada last month to allocate additional spectrum in the 11 GHz band to direct-to-home (DTH) services allows Shaw Communications Inc.’s satellite TV company Shaw Direct to meet growing demand for additional satellite TV services, including high-definition channels....
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is wading into a battle between satellite TV giant DirecTV and Ciel Satellite Group over the Ottawa company’s plan to use an orbital slot that includes the U.S. as well as Canada. Ciel’s ability to serve all of North America could...
Ottawa-based tech patent firm Wi-LAN Inc. isn’t about to say just how much money it’s making from software that gives parents control over what their kids can watch on TV. But according to company president and CEO Jim Skippen, a new licensing agreement between Wi-LAN and PC-TV software firm CyberLink Corp. hints at the protective technology’s potential direction and prospects. CyberLink signed a multi-year V-Chip licence in December, indicating that the company would employ the technology in its equipment, which lets people use their computers as TV tuners. It’s a good move for Wi-LAN, Skippen says. “Most of our licensing has been manufacturers of...
Opposition is mounting to a proposal by FreeHD Canada Inc. to be exempted from contributing to a local programming fund and paying broadcasters a fee for their signals – in return for Canadians receiving a free basic tier of local channels. Bev Kirshenblatt, CBC senior director, regulatory...
Governments are trying to save or create well paying jobs in a variety of sectors including auto manufacturers, construction and other industries. But where’s the government in attempting to save jobs or create new innovation in information and communication technologies (ICT)? Not a...
There’s a new player in the regional race for digital dominance: the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) launched GENERATOR this week – a digital media cluster that aims to combine the individual efforts of Ottawa’s interactive companies and hopefully put the...
Proponents of “advanced advertising” say the new technology has the potential to generate significant advertising revenue and “staunch the bleeding” for cable and satellite operators. Targeted advertising technology—what the industry calls “advanced” or...
Despite a substantial setback with the loss of an important contract, Calgary’s Immersive Media Corp. is looking to expand its commercial business. One recent win: MuchMusic. The CTVglobemedia Inc. channel has signed on to use Immersive’s IM LIVE 360-degree interactive video platform....
The broadcast and film industries will suffer more than any other segments of the Canadian economy because of the global economic recession, according to the Conference Board of Canada. In a report that examines the impact of the recession on Canada’s culture sector, the board says broadcast...
Legal experts disagree on whether the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement would compel Canada to abandon “made-in-Canada” copyright reform. Public controversy erupted this fall after a series of leaks revealed that the ACTA proposes significant digital copyright reforms modeled on U.S....
An East Coast think tank argues that even though Canada’s communication landscape is substantially different than it was 20 or 30 years ago, our regulations still sport disco suits. The group says it’s time to reorganize – but how would its suggestions impact the market? Would...
Representatives of the Ontario Technology Corridor (OTC) are off to Lyon France this week in hopes of convincing at least two or three digital media companies to consider setting up shop in Ontario. But judging by comments from one of the delegates, the group is facing stiff competition from within and outside of Canada. “The only reason a company expands is if they can see making more money, reducing their risks, or reducing costs,” says Gerry Pisarzowski, OTC spokesman and VP, business development at the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance. He adds that it’s up to him and the OTC delegation to make the connection between those desires and Ontario for the companies...
The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) has told the CRTC that it is concerned about the lack of transparency on the money cable subscribers pay for community programming. CACTUS told commissioners on day one of a hearing exploring the implications and advisability of a compensation...
Knowledge Network Corporation, British Colombia’s public educational broadcaster, has unveiled a new interactive website designed to extend the television experience online and to raise revenue through donations from its 26,000-strong household base. Launched last week, the new revamped website (knowledge.ca) is...
Toronto-based MyScreen Mobile Inc. inked a major deal last week to bring its interactive mobile advertising service to over 194 million cell phone users in Latin America and the Caribbean. Then there’s the 42 million Brazilians it will reach following a separate deal announced last month. Yet,...
Researchers and students across the social sciences and humanities are now at the heart of research and innovation as digital content and the use of digital media become the focus of attention in the Digital Age. There is a new conviction that our capacity for innovation increasingly depends upon a...
Canadian companies lose a whopping $9.7 billion in a year because of poor customer service, with landline, wireless, ISP and television signal distributors among the worst hit, according to a study from Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. The call-centre-equipment division of Alcatel-Lucent released the results of its 16-nation study, called “The Cost of Poor Customer Service,” which also provides breakdowns country by country. In Canada, companies lost nearly $10 billion in a year. (All financials are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified.) Across all of the countries surveyed, the grand sum of cash lost to poor customer service was US$338.5...
Independent television station owners in small markets are asking the CRTC for permission to use a third of their money from the new Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) to pay for the conversion to digital broadcasting. Rick Arnish, president of the Kamloops-based Jim Patterson Broadcasting...
The Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) is urging the CRTC to open new revenue streams for the television sector by allowing advertising on local avails and on VOD platforms. The ACA says the move could pump as much as $500 million annually into the ailing television industry. Bob Reaume,...
The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) wants the CRTC to cap the amount of money domestic broadcasters can spend on foreign programming, saying the savings will improve the industry’s bottom line and allow them to boost their investments in profitable Canadian shows....
The Ontario government is investing $26 million in a digital innovation “hub” in Kitchener Ont., where businesses of all sizes and types will be able to meet, share ideas, and hopefully accelerate growth in the province’s digital media and mobile sectors. Just don’t call it...
The CBC came out swinging in defence of carriage fees on the second day of the group-based licensing hearing. It urged the CRTC to wield its influence and issue a distribution order, rather than amending the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, saying it’s a simpler, faster and more efficient way for broadcasters...
Allowing Canadian television stations to charge a fee for their signals could create a trade war with U.S. border stations which would demand similar compensation when cable and satellite carriers redistribute their signals to Canadian homes, Rogers Communications Inc. executives warned the CRTC...
Nearly 20 years after the United States began allowing fee for carriage of local television signals, CTVglobemedia Inc. told regulators today that it’s finally time for the CRTC to follow suit with a made-in-Canada retransmission consent regime that would force broadcast distribution...
The change in advertising spending patterns in Canada continues, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll released Saturday. When asked to assess the pace of change in the media mix over the past two years, 92% of respondents (marketers) and 88% cent of respondents (agency management) indicated that virtually everything has...
Now that an international network-standards body has approved technology enabling mobile digital TV broadcasts, Industry Canada’s Communications Research Centre (CRC) plans to conduct mobile DTV tests in the Ottawa region. According to people involved in the project, the technology might change the broadcasting landscape in this country. The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) – an international non-profit that develops standards for digital TV – approved in October the A/153 ATSC Mobile DTV Standard, defining the technical specifications broadcasters need to provide DTV via handheld devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.’s...
Television consumers, whose voices aren’t always as prominent as those of big companies at CRTC hearings, have submitted a total of 1800 comments, expressing a range of opinions on the contentious fee-for-carriage issue. Some voice support for fee-for-carriage while others criticize Canadian...
Two Montreal-based interactive entertainment companies – virtual-world producer Tribal Nova and games developer ODD1 Inc. – are joining forces, allowing each to focus on what it does best while reaping the benefits of the other’s business. Similar mergers could soon follow as...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is asking the CRTC to relieve private radio broadcasters of mandatory contributions and new financial obligations to support community radio in Canada when a new regulatory regime is established next year. Responding to a call for input on a new...
Television broadcasters operating in major markets may be given some flexibility in meeting a August 2011 deadline for converting their over-the-air signals to digital, if Rogers Broadcasting Ltd and Corus Entertainment Inc. succeed in convincing the CRTC to be flexible. Released in July, the...
Ontario video game developers might find it easier to beef up their business skills, market their wares, and find funding now that the Ontario government is pumping $605,000 into Interactive Ontario, the new media industry association. Judging by comments at the group’s GameON Finance 2009 conference in Toronto last week, government support is just one of the pieces that the sector needs if it’s going to kick growth into high gear. In a presentation at the event, where developers, publishers and investors gathered to share information and shake on new deals, Ontario minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello said the funds would support three Interactive...
Forget tax credits, funding systems and market research – if video game developers really want to succeed, they need to get serious about creativity, according to Yannis Mallat, president and CEO of video-game maker Ubisoft in Canada. In a presentation at Interactive Ontario’s GameON...
Supporters of community television are urging the CRTC to adopt a regulatory model that empowers municipalities to play a strong role in independent volunteer-run community channels. Some envision a model that would see community channels managed by a board appointed by elected municipal officials. Cathy Edwards,...
The Ottawa region will be the test site for a new generation of digital television that will give over-the-air broadcasters the option of using part of their channel capacity to offer TV programs and other data services to portable or mobile devices, including laptops and cell phones. Broadcasters...
A yet-to-be enforced regulatory policy governing the distribution of independently owned television stations on satellite has come under attack by Canada’s two satellite television companies. Both Bell TV and Shaw Direct have criticized a proposal to review the policy, arguing that proposed changes are premature and...
An increasingly diverse customer base, new distribution options, and changing technologies present video game developers with novel opportunities, according to participants at a Toronto conference this week on the interactive entertainment industry. But speakers at GameON Finance 2009 also outlined a host of unprecedented...
New Media BC’s board of directors voted unanimously Tuesday in favour of merging with the Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC). The new association will be called the Digital Media and Wireless Association of BC (DigiBC). DigiBC will have a board of between 20-24 members, an executive committee...
Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society wasn’t expecting to create a tempest in a tea pot when it released data last week showing Canada having some of the poorest broadband service in the developed world. And while some Canadian analysts are criticizing the study...
An almost insatiable global demand for online games, combined with generous tax incentives throughout Canada, are continuing to drive growth in this country’s gaming industry – but stakeholders warn they still face an uphill battle in attracting financing. Part of the reason, says the...
A month after Channel Zero took ownership of CHCH-TV in Hamilton, the company says it’s on track to reduce losses at the 55-year-old money-losing station by maximizing local news, shedding U.S. shows, shoring up advertiser confidence and winning back audience loyalty. “What we saw was that the local news programming was—if not break even— very close to being break even [in terms of dollars],” said Cal Millar, president and COO of Channel Zero, which owns Movieola and Silver Screen Classics. Last month, CHCH-TV took some bold steps to shake up its format, including swapping its roster of U.S. entertainment gossip shows for a package of constantly updated...
Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. aims to buck the web TV trend with a new “TV anywhere” service supported by ExtendMedia Corp.’s technology. According to a Bell TV spokesman, the portal begins by offering up premium channel content instead of run-of-the-mill programming. Rather than...
Those awaiting quick action from the federal government to help Canada’s ailing local television sector will have to wait until the CRTC provides its assessment on the impact of fee for carriage early next year. While sympathetic to the financial plight of local broadcasters, Heritage minister James Moore cautions in...
If governments really want to foster healthy Canadian digital media sectors, they should take a comprehensive approach to developing the policies designed to support the industry. Focusing on just one or another aspect of the market won’t cut it, says a director of the Ontario Technology...
The National Film Board (NFB) has signed a three-year agreement with Brazil’s ministry of culture that sets the stage for cooperation on new models of joint productions on digital and traditional platforms. Tom Perlmutter, government film commissioner and chair of the NFB, says a key aspect of the agreement is to...
Canada’s broadcasters and the federal government have inked a landmark deal that waives $450 million in Part II fees and opens the possibility of a new capped fee regime. The settlement, which comes a week before a Supreme Court hearing on Part II fees, forgives money owing for 2006, 2007, and 2008. The payments were stalled because of a legal challenge launched by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). “The agreement represents a reasonable compromise for both sides,” said Charlotte Bell, chair of the CAB. Under the deal, the CRTC is required to start proceedings to consider a structure for a new capped regime. Heritage minister James Moore said the regime...
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) has requested a meeting with Canwest management to discuss how the media conglomerate’s bankruptcy filing this week will affect employees at its 13 specialty TV channels bought in partnership with U.S. banker Goldman Sachs. The CMG represents about 100...
Calgary-based MoboVivo has snagged a lucrative deal to distribute the award-winning prime time hit show The Tudors for iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry and laptop users simultaneously. Ranked third behind iTunes and Amazon in terms of downloads, the move cements MoboVivo’s dominance of the Internet...
The federal government is merging two web-focused funding initiatives for cultural groups into a single $37.5 million program scheduled to come online next April. The new Canada Interactive Fund (CIF) is designed primarily to help Aboriginal and ethno-cultural communities adopt new and emerging technologies such as Web 2.0...
The Directors’ Guild of Canada (DGC) has called on the government to create “a powerful tax incentive” to spur private investment in the film, television and new media industry. Taking the chance to add to its usual concerns—more public funding for the industry and tax...
Organizations representing the digital media industry and the wireless industry on the west coast could be joining forces in the coming months – but according to the executive director of the Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC), the group’s merger with New Media BC...
The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has joined hands with two well-known consumer advocacy groups to fight for more transparency in television broadcasting, distribution and regulation. The alliance with the Canadian Public Interest Centre (PIAC) and Quebec-based consumer group Option Consommateurs...
Montreal-based IT services company Nexio Technologies Inc. has started a web TV outfit designed to help companies broadcast their own content online. According to industry observers, the organization might be on to something with this business model. Launched earlier this month, the new subsidiary, called Nexio TV,...
Rogers Communications Inc. is hoping to score a much larger slice of the production subsidy pie by encouraging the new Canada Media Fund (CMF) to increase its funding for digital media content on web, mobile and video on demand platforms. Public and private broadcasters warn, however, that such a move would draw much-needed...
Canada’s major television networks say the CRTC should not consider any reduction in the 1.5% mandatory contribution BDUs now pay to support local programming until the economy picks up. CTVglobemedia Inc. doesn’t want any change for three years. Meanwhile, BDUs warn the new fee will result in higher bills for subscribers. The CBC/Radio-Canada tells the CRTC it’s “too early” to determine how quickly the economy will take to recover and urges the CRTC to maintain the current 1.5% stipulation until the middle of 2010. “There has been very little transparency or predictability with respect to the current economic crisis. A year ago, the Federal Government...
Canada’s major broadcasters have tabled recommendations on fee-for-carriage that could result in tough negotiations and difficulties for the CRTC when it considers new regulations this fall to accommodate the concerns of broadcasters and BDUs. CBC/Radio-Canada, Canwest Television Ltd., and...
No longer content to rely solely on regulatory and Cabinet appeals, a growing number of communications companies are taking their battles directly to the court of public opinion. MTS Allstream Inc., CTVglobemedia Inc., Canwest Global Communications Inc., and the CBC are among those who have launched...
Canadian broadcaster CTV Inc. must be doing something right. Its web content portal, CTV.ca, racked up 6.15 million video feeds and 575,000 unique visitors in June, according to comScore. And the broadcaster recently expanded its online programming choices. We caught up with CTV’s VP, digital...
The Canadian Interactive Alliance (CIAIC) is calling for more public funding for the interactive digital media industry when the Canada Media Fund becomes operational next year. The Alliance is requesting at least 15%, or about $54.6 million, of the $364 million earmarked for the CMF. CIAIC president Ian Kelso issued the...
Montreal-based PaymentPin.com is taking on industry heavyweights Boku and Zong in the race to give consumers the ability to charge online purchases directly to their home or cell phone bill – without a credit card. It recently landed deals with three of the world’s top gaming, dating and social networking sites. Four-year-old PaymentPin is targeting online entertainment and services such as gaming, virtual worlds, reality TV shows, social networks and dating sites. It has struck deals with 105 carriers in North America, Europe and Australia, including Canada’s big three, who receive 50% for a mobile transaction and 25% for landline purchases. Last week PaymentPin...
As Canada’s main political parties jockey for an anticipated fall election, there are fears that plans to table a new copyright bill later this year will once again be delayed. However, analysts are optimistic that the nationwide consultations currently underway will continue to play a key...
Representatives from Canada’s digital music industry don’t seem particularly worried about competition from Spotify, the popular European music streaming service reportedly coming to this country. But that doesn’t mean the Canadian players are sitting still. Corus Entertainment Inc. is making mobile moves, and Puretracks Inc. has...
Almost a year after it was first broached, the CRTC has officially authorized the operations of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), paving the way for private and public over-the-air broadcasters in small markets to benefit from the $100 million subsidy starting Sept. 1. The authorization comes in a series of...
There will be no shortage of reading material this week for Canada’s broadcast regulatory lawyers. The CRTC is scheduled to release several decisions this week that will determine, among other things, new targeting advertising options for BDUs, public disclosure of financial data and issues...
As FreeHD Canada Inc.’s application winds its way through the CRTC’s assessment mechanisms, industry observers wonder if the new satellite TV service will be and do everything it says it will. “It’s not any different from what Shaw Direct and Bell are offering,” says...
The popular networking site Facebook is taking steps its executives say will offer more protection to the rights of users within the next 12 months. The technical and privacy policy changes contain several initiatives designed to sooth concerns raised by the Privacy Commissioner in July....
Negotiating a fair market value for local signals, Canadian content levels, and worries about a two-tier broadcasting system are among the top concerns raised in 103 interventions filed in response to the CRTC’s review of group-based licensing for television services. In June, the CRTC...
The fact that Vancouver-based video-over-IP company Broadbandtv Corp. just landed a deal to promote the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Google Inc.’s YouTube tells us the company must be doing something right. In an interview with Tech Media Reports, the firm’s CEO provides...
International Datacasting Corp.’s purchase of Comtech Telecommunications Corp.’s money-losing broadcast division Tiernan Video comes with risks, warn analysts, but it could be what’s needed to accelerate the Ottawa company’s move beyond radio and into the higher demand – and higher value – world of video. “The acquisition is in line with our strategic plan,” says Tracy Trottier, who heads the marketing and communications department at IDC. “It strengthens and deepens our presence in the radio broadcast market.” That said, the bigger value is in video. When it comes to radio, Trottier acknowledges that the market is limited....
British Columbia commercialization centre, Wavefront, celebrated the grand opening of its new facilities this week in Vancouver with the unveiling of two major agreements that forge closer ties with the Chinese and Japanese markets and strengthen Canada’s position as a go-to country for mobile content development....
Asset acquisition and a scramble for category 2 licences are two main issues that will dominate a marathon hearing at the CRTC next month, where 27 applications will be under the microscope. Of the applications the CRTC will be examining, seven deal with asset acquisition. The applications were filed by big names in...
Rob Chaplinksy, the managing director of a California-based private equity firm that’s set to open a branch in Toronto this summer, says poor returns on early stage venture investments in Canada’s tech sector is due to lack of quality managers. “The money is there but it has not been going to great...
CRTC vice-chair Michel Arpin says it was a convincing business case – and not political pressure – that prompted the regulator to change its mind and grant a licence to a French-language community radio station in Ottawa. “I am not saying that we have caved in. To the contrary, I think it is a...
If there is anything that is “beyond everybody’s wildest dreams” it is that citizens and consumers in 2009 would be paying as much as $50 per month for television they mostly got for free three decades ago. The cable and satellite business is protected by regulation. Moreover, that public policy allows it to reap more than $10 billion in revenue last year. That said, we now have more cable and satellite porn channels than local channels in most Canadian markets; and the biggest jacking-up of cable and satellite bills to consumers – almost 30% since 2002 – has had nothing to do with the integrity of the Canadian broadcasting system but with the...
If there is anything that is “beyond everybody’s wildest dreams” it is that citizens and consumers in 2009 would be paying as much as $50 per month for television they mostly got for free three decades ago. The cable and satellite business is protected by regulation. Moreover, that public policy...
Facing criticism from new media organizations, the president of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) says her organization is doing all it can to ensure the new Canadian Media Fund (CMF) meets the needs of both new media and the television companies. “I don’t think the new media community or the television...
Television services and the wireless and Internet sectors are crucial factors that have fuelled revenue growth totaling $54 billion last year for the broadcast and telecommunications industries, according to figures in the second annual Communications Monitoring Report released by the CRTC this...
The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) is calling on Ottawa to eliminate income tax for information and communication technologies (ICT) workers as well as taxes on technology sold in Canada in an effort to stimulate the ICT sector and kick-start a national ICT strategy. Greg Lane says there’s need for...
A recent Canadian Media Guild (CMG) survey showing that only 6% of residents of Kamloops, BC watch over-the-air (OTA) television doesn’t tell the whole story and the federal government shouldn’t allow broadcasters to discontinue OTA service in cities with small populations, says Lise Lareau, president of the CMG. “This idea of...
The Canadian Television Fund will kick off an online consultation process with industry stakeholders on Aug. 6 to map the way forward for a new Canadian Media Fund (CMF).The process will focus on key policy issues that will guide the newly created CMF. The CMF is an amalgamation of the Canadian Television Fund and the Canadian New Media Fund and is...
The Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) is criticizing a recent CRTC ruling on access to telecommunications and broadcast services for not mandating video relay service (VRS). Disability groups praise several directives but the provision exonerating companies from a mandatory VRS is not one of them. Released July 21, the...
BitTorrent Inc. has shot back at ISPs arguing that peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic is hogging the network and therefore requires them to perform application-specific throttling. In a letter to the CRTC, the company says that while “network management is essential to the preservation of Internet-based business models, it is...
Apple Inc.’s App Store features 70,000 applications for download. How can individual app developers stand out in such a big crowd? According to a researcher at the MaRS Centre in Toronto, patience is the name of the game. “The benefit of thinking long-term and releasing new content on a fixed schedule is to discourage get-rich-quick thinking,” says Tim Tang, a market intelligence researcher at MaRS, a non-profit organization connecting scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs. “Hopefully this would put technical-savvy developers in a more business frame of mind.” In an analysis of the App Store, Tang discovered that the average price per app is US$2.47 – and it could be dropping, because there are so many free applications on offer. It may...
