Despite complaints of media concentration and a winnowing of options for TV-makers, producers acquainted with Alliance Atlantis Communications and its parent-to-be CanWest Global see an upside to the latter’s proposed $2.3-billion buyout of the Toronto cable channel giant, announced Jan. 10.

More young people are using mobile TV, but a significant amount of usage is occurring at home and is cutting into traditional TV viewing time. That was the message to be delivered by Levi Shapiro, director of the Los Angeles operations of telecom and mobile media consumer research firm Telephia, at NATPE Mobile++ in Las Vegas on Jan. 15.

The Canadian Film Centre has rebranded and rolled out new plans for the future that include a multi-platform project with NBC Universal and a video website similar to MySpace.

CanWest Global Communications, CHUM, CTV and CBC want to charge cable companies a fee for carrying their signals, telling the CRTC – which next month will hold a wide-ranging review of its TV regulations – that they need the added revenue to stay competitive and to pay for the coming conversion to digital TV.

Come on down, specialties and pay-TV.

A celluloid helping of Canadiana isn’t any less palatable because it’s been dished up elsewhere, says VIFF’s Terry McEvoy.

Run Robot Run!

The nine films in TIFF2006’s Canada First! program – a showcase for rookie Canuck feature directors, or those presenting at TIFF for the first time – are driven by misfit characters in false or contrived environments.

The return and recent IPO of JumpTV is going unchallenged by the pillars of the TV industry now that the Internet rebroadcaster has stepped back from the edge of the Copyright Act.

Film and TV production in Quebec so far this year looks to be on par with 2005, buoyed by three Hollywood pictures coming to the province.

The specially channels under the Alliance Atlantis umbrella have revealed their plans for the coming fall season, putting foul-mouthed cowboys, second-hand goaltenders and genealogists into primetime. Highlights of the lineup, all times Eastern, include: