* Art Reitmayer has been named president and CEO of Multivan Broadcast Corp., Vancouver’s new multilingual station that will launch in 2003. Previously, he was a VP with CanWest Global Communications, a position he held after it acquired WIC Western International Communications where Reitmayer was president of WIC Television Inc.

Until federal cabinet announced June 5 that the highly contested toronto|one licence would be upheld, Drew Craig had a $35-million television operation in the broadcasting equivalent of cold storage.
But following a cabinet ruling to strike down appeals of the licence filed this spring by some of the nation’s top media outlets, the president and CEO of Calgary-based Craig Broadcast Systems is now ready to set up shop in southern Ontario.

Montreal: A revitalized National Film Board and its new senior management team recently completed a five-city Preview 2002 tour, highlighting this season’s English Program lineup of more than 40 new documentaries, animated shorts, youth programs and interactive productions originating from six production centres.

Members of Ontario’s interactive industry dominated the 2002 Canadian New Media Awards, capturing 10 of 12 prizes at a ceremony held in Toronto on May 27. Dan Fill, head of convergence initiatives at Toronto’s Decode Entertainment, was among the night’s big winners, taking home the producer of the year award. Fill’s credits include the award-winning Angela Anaconda Online, Kidtime, The Undergrads.tv and The Hoobs Online.

Pat Ferns takes exception to a reporter’s comment that there is nothing new at the 23rd annual Banff Television Festival.

Among her many roles and achievements, Trina McQueen is deputy chair of CTV and chair of the Banff Television Foundation’s board of governors. She was formerly the chair of the foundation’s board of directors, of which she’s been a member for more than 13 years. At the end of June, McQueen will be leaving CTV, where she held the position of president and COO until her resignation announcement six months ago.

Montreal: In the April 17 U.K. budget, Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer, restricted the application of tax-based film relief to feature films, effectively eliminating a vital financing mechanism for U.K. television productions and coproductions.

Sandra Richmond is a partner at the Toronto law firm of McMillan Binch and a member of the firm’s KNOWlaw group.

John Ritchie has been senior producer at Vancouver’s Force Four Entertainment for the past 11 years. His production credits include producing, directing, writing and executive producing more than 60 hours of primetime documentary and dramatic television programming in the last five years. He is currently the executive producer of The Shopping Bags for WTN and a coproducer on Third World, a Force Four/Howe Sound Films six-hour miniseries in production for CBC.

Montreal: Canada’s national public television networks are changing the way they do business, with each other and subsequently with independent producers. And while program exchanges between CBC and Radio-Canada continue to be done through acquisitions (Omerta, D’Or, Anne of Green Gables, even the Reseau TVA series Fortier), the networks have become much more proactive in the past two years in the development of joint planning exercises.

Steven JP Comeau, president of Halifax-based Collideascope Digital Productions, is a Gemini Award-winning entrepreneur, producer, director, musician and all-round new media guy. Comeau serves on the board of the CFTPA, where he is the head of the Atlantic Council and cochair of the New Media Committee. He also served on many other industry boards and committees such as the Telefilm New Media Advisory Committee.

Each year, the Banff Television Festival offers TV and new media professionals the opportunity to attend intimate sessions hosted by some of the world’s premier content creators. The Master Classes bring in international guests to discuss their experiences in the biz and offer informed advice on a wide range of craft and industry topics.