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Brendan Christie
Flash forward to TV
Flash has made the leap to TV with the rollout of the new Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home, making HD video available for output on Internet-connected TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and the other assorted living room digital-age flotsam. What that means to non-geeks is that Flash-based applications will soon be able to run equally well on home television screens, the Web or mobile phones. (Right now, according to comScore Media Metrix, approximately 80% of online videos viewed worldwide are delivered using Adobe Flash, and the Adobe Flash Player is installed on 98% of Internet-connected desktops.)
Super-agency created
Boards at the William Morris and Endeavor agencies have ratified a merger which will see the creation of a huge talent agency with annual revenues estimated at
Andra Sheffer: Digital doyenne
You’d expect someone whose career has revolved around numbers and the administration of stodgy bodies to be, well… rigid. (Hell, her first job was in the bowels of Ottawa’s bureaucracy.) But Andra Sheffer exudes enthusiasm and has a remarkably lithe approach, most recently demonstrated in her role as prime mover in funneling much-needed millions to drama producers.
Net gaining on TV in Europe
Microsoft offered surprising insights in an April report entitled Europe Logs On: European Internet trends of today and tomorrow. Most surprising perhaps is a prediction that, based on current growth levels, Internet consumption will outstrip traditional TV in June 2010 – averaging 14.2 hours per week against 11.5 hours for TV.
The CMF: The devil is in the details
It’s said that nature abhors a vacuum. Well, so does Canadian media.
After the earthquake
Really, where do you start…?
It’s impossible not to categorize the decision to place the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund under the purview of cable and satellite operators as anything but an overwhelming win for the ‘casters…
Just Giv’er
When we were offered the opportunity a few weeks back to go glossy, we knew it was a chance to make some long-anticipated editorial and design changes. What you hold in your hand is the end result of that process.
In America
Shortly after Screen Actors Guild national executive director Doug Allen suggested suspending a strike authorization vote, he found himself out on the pavement – and not on a picket line.
Really? Pope launches YouTube channel
If you were wondering what’s happenin’ at the Holy See, now you can find out. The Vatican has announced its own channel on YouTube, saying the new offering was ‘a real and tangible example of the Church’s commitment in the field of new technologies, to reach out to a global audience without regard for nationality or culture.’
So, will we get half an Oscar…?
Canada may have suffered the Oscar snub, but one film can claim Canadian birth at least. Waltz with Bashir, nominated for best foreign-language Oscar, was pitched at the Hot Docs Toronto Documentary Forum in 2005.
Editor’s Note: The end of an era
This is it. This is the last newsprint issue of Playback magazine. After more than 23 years of ink-stained fingers, we’re officially going glossy. We’ll remain your biweekly source in print for all things Canadian media, but now you won’t have to wash your hands after reading us.
Editor’s Note
Looks like I picked a fine time to join Playback.
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