Canada

Eisner's Vuguru Gets Rogers Investment, Will Spin-Off Tornante

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 26, 2009 - 6:20am.
Los Angeles - Vuguru, the two-year-old new media studio launched by former Disney head Michael Eisner's Tornante Company, announced on Monday that it has secured an investment from Canadian broadcaster and publisher Rogers Media, and will spin-off as an independent company. The deal also sees Rogers entering a long-term agreement to be the exclusive Canadian distributor of future Vuguru projects.

Canada Authorizes ISP Bandwidth Throttling as "Last Resort"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 21, 2009 - 10:07am.
Ottawa, Canada - Canada's telecom regulator on Wednesday issued new guidelines for Internet service providers in their use of traffic management practices, that include a provision allowing for intentional "throttling" of peer-to-peer traffic as a last result.
tags: Law | Policy | Canada | CRTC | Telus | Throttling | BCE |

Analysis: Facebook is NOT a Social Media Company

Authored by Jay Baage on September 20, 2009 - 4:07pm.
Last week I attended the Internet Marketing Conference in Vancouver, Canada. I figured that I would share some notes from there regarding Social Media Marketing in particular, since that is the field of marketing that, in my opinion, is evolving the fastest. First there is the issue of terminology. Everyone, including myself, tend to talk about social media marketing, but I guess one takeaway from the conference is that we're really talking about social marketing. As Louise Clements, Director of Sales, Facebook Canada points out, Facebook is NOT a media company.

Digital Distributor 24-7 Entertainment Enters Canadian Market

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 15, 2009 - 11:36am.
London - 24-7 Entertainment, a provider of online and mobile music distribution services, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a deal to provide digital distribution for Canada's CD Warehouse and MyMusic.com. Under the deal, MyMusic will use the 24-7 technology platform to deliver digital products on behalf of record labels and artists, with Warner Music Canada's RhinoRecords.ca to be the first customer. 24-7 also powers digital music stores for a number of retailers, telcos and other partners in Europe.

Analysis: What Canadians are Searching for Online

Authored by Heather Hopkins on June 10, 2009 - 7:27am.

Last week, we did a blog post on the top categories visited by Canadian internet users. We followed that up with a post looking at the number of words used in queries. To follow this theme, today we are posting on what Canadians are searching for online. The following table shows the top search terms entered into search engines by Canadian Internet users in the twelve weeks to 30th May 2009. The table is divided into two columns to show the highest volume navigational search terms (meaning that most searchers had a clear intent to reach a particular website) and the highest volume generic terms.

Buzz Watch: Tokio Hotel, Habbo and Breaking a Band in a Digital Universe

Authored by Jay Baage on April 15, 2008 - 2:41pm.

I'm on my soapbox again about the changing landscape for entertainment marketing and sales. I want to do a quick follow-up to my last article about the challenges that face Habbo Hotel, the popular virtual world for teens, when trying to cut a deal with the record labels to feature and sell their music. Today, the popular German teen rock sensation, Tokio Hotel, did an appearance in Habbo's Canadian Hotel and they are not alone. So far over 300 celebrity guests have visited Habbo to chat with fans and promote their projects. Clearly the artists as well as the record labels see the promotional value of following the fans to their online hang-outs. Habbo was subsequently the first virtual world to sign a deal with William Morris Agency. So why not set up a system to easily monetize music in this new media channel?

RIM Co-CEO to Music Industry Execs: “Don’t Disintermediate Yourselves As Hit-Makers”

Authored by Jay Baage on March 6, 2008 - 7:46am.

Toronto, Canada - Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research in Motion (NSDQ: RIMM), maker and developer of Blackberry devices, outlined his vision for the company as leveraging the convergence of social networking and multimedia in a morning keynote at the Canadian Music Week's digital music & media summit. His vision involves moving beyond facilitating text-messaging and email communication to bringing multimedia content and social networking together on mobile devices. He also challenged the music industry to embrace social networking to reach fans of all genres and sub-genres of music:
"Don't disintermediate yourselves as hit machines", Balsillie said to the room of music industry professionals.

Head of CTV Youth Channels, Live Earth President and Teen Artists To Headline Millennials Canada Youth Event on March 5

Authored by dmw on February 12, 2008 - 1:57pm.

Los Angeles, CA, February 12, 2008 -- Digital Media Wire, the leading digital entertainment publisher and events company, and Rogers MusicStore CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK, Canada's leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of Canada's music, media and entertainment industries, today announced an impressive line-up of speakers for Millennials Toronto, a youth-focused media and marketing conference at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto on Wednesday, March 5, 2008.

Digital Media Wire and Canadian Music Week Partner on Millennials Toronto

Authored by Jay Baage on November 28, 2007 - 12:21pm.

We are very happy to announce a partnership with Canadian Music Week (CMW), Canada’s leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries, to host the next edition of our youth-focused media conference The Millennials in Toronto on March 5, 2008, as an integrated part of the CMW (Pictured from left to right Ned Sherman, CEO and Publisher, DMW, Neill Dixon, President, CMW, Gary Taylor, CMW, Joakim Baage, VP, Content, DMW.)

Canadian Govt. Pledges Film Piracy Bill Following Schwarzenegger Visit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2007 - 11:33am.

Los Angeles - Following a trip up north this week by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Canadian government said it will introduce legislation aimed at stemming film piracy in the country, Variety reported.

Activision's Beenox Studio to Triple Quebec Workforce by 2009

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 1, 2007 - 3:58pm.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision's Beenox studio said on Tuesady that the company expects to triple its workforce over the next two years, creating over 200 new jobs in the Quebec area. Founded in 2000, Beenox has more than doubled its staff over the past 18 months, and will focus on developing titles for next-generation consoles.

tags: Games | Activision | Canada | Beenox |

Rogers Media Plans Purchase of Seven TV Stations

Authored by Scott Goldberg on April 9, 2007 - 9:13am.
Alberta, Canada – Rogers Media, a unit of Rogers Communications, says it will spend $119.6 million to purchase seven local television stations and three specialty channels from CTVglobemedia Inc, Reuters reported.  The sale comes as CTVglobemedia tries to win regulatory approval for the $1.47 billion acquisition of CHUM Ltd. announced earlier in the year.

 

U.S. Copyright Owners Want Canada Added to List of Piracy Havens

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 15, 2007 - 11:51am.

Washington - The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which represents U.S. software, music, movie and video game firms, has asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to add Canada to the U.S. "priority watch list" of countries considered havens for piracy, which includes China, Russia and Venezuela.

Sirius Canada Tops 300,000 Subscribers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 14, 2007 - 5:04pm.

Toronto - Sirius Canada, the Canadian unit of the subscription radio service provider, announced on Wednesday that it has surpassed 300,000 subscribers, with more than 100,000 joining since November 22, 2006. Sirius radios are now available in more than 3,500 retail locations in Canada. New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio claims a total of more than 6 million subscribers.

Neteller Founders Charged With Laundering Online Gambling Proceeds

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 18, 2007 - 12:05pm.

New York - Two Canadian men who founded the U.K.-based online money transfer company Neteller have been arrested by U.S. authorities and charged with laundering billions of dollars in illegal online gambling proceeds.

Digital Chocolate, EMI Music Canada Team on Mobile Entertainment

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 18, 2006 - 2:34pm.
San Mateo, Calif. - Mobile entertainment publisher Digital Chocolate said on Monday that it has partnered with EMI Music Canada to develop joint music and gaming applications. Their first offering will be a mobile game called "Club k-os" that features recording artist k-os' likeness and music, integrated into a custom version of Digital Chocolate's "Nightclub Empire" mobile game.

TV News Website IBCToday.com Adds Fox News Videos

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2006 - 6:47pm.
New York - Online TV news syndication service Internet Broadcasting Corp. announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement to offer content from Fox News. Under the deal, Montreal-based Internet Broadcasting's IBCToday.com will include up to 40 Fox international and U.S. national news, business and entertainment video stories each day. IBC also has similar agreements with Associated Press TV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
tags: Internet | Video | TV | Fox | News | Canada | Fox News | IBC |

Canada Launches $2 Million Competition for Game Developers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2006 - 4:24am.
Toronto - The Canadian government has announced the launch of a video game development competition that will award a total of $2 million in financing to start-up studios.

Internet Broadcast Corp. Launches Global TV News Site

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2006 - 2:55pm.
New York - Internet Broadcast Corporation (IBC) on Thursday announced the launch of its online TV network that will feature international TV network news from cities around the globe.

The free service will publish between 70 and 90 global news clips each day that have been translated or subtitled in English. Montreal-based IBC said it has signed agreements with news broadcasters and wholesalers including Associated Press TV, Reuters, and Canadian Broadcasting Corp., as well many South-Western Asian, Eastern European and African local television broadcasters.
tags: Launches | Video | TV | IPTV | News | Canada | IBC |

AMD Moves Closer to Completing $5.4 Billion ATI Acquisition

Authored by dmw on October 13, 2006 - 1:15pm.
Sunnyvale, Calif. - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the computer chipmaker and main competitor to Intel, said on Friday that its proposed $5.4 billion acquisition of Canadian graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies has been approved by the Minister of Industry under the Investment Canada Act, satisfying one of its conditions for closing. To secure the approval, AMD promised to increase the number of employees in research and development activities in Canada, as well as the amount it spends in R&D in the country. The deal, first announced in July, also on Friday received approval from ATI's shareholders. It is expected to close the week of Oct. 23.