– Media investment management firm GroupM predicts ad spending in Canada will drop by 2.9%, or $11.6 billion, this year compared to last. (That’s better than the 4.4% drop it predicts for global spending.) The 2008/09 period is a more serious advertising recession in scale and duration than the post-dotcom disruption of 2001, notes Adam Smith, GroupM’s futures director in London.

+ Cinephiles are breathing easier after Quebec’s culture minister kicked in $175,000 to help the venerated rep theater Cinéma Parallèle settle into a new home in downtown Montreal. The minister, Cinéma Parallèle and non-profit corporation Angus Development Corp. announced that they will work together to move the Cinéma to a new complex in the next two years.

– Canwest Global Communications saw its second-quarter loss balloon to $1.4 billion as it recorded a $1.19-billion non-cash write-down related mostly to the crumbling value of its newspaper business.

+ Digital specialty OUTtv has announced its largest-ever feature film acquisition, picking up 60-plus films from Alliance Films, Water Bearer Films, Mongrel Media, BBC Worldwide, and Ariztical Entertainment. The gay- and lesbian-focused network is available to more than 550,000 subscribers.