Halifax-based Cochran Communications is ceasing operations and halting production after more than 12 years as an anchor of the East Coast production community.

With the U.S. Screen Actors Guild set to unilaterally impose its Global Rule One May 1, Canadian actors’ and producers’ representatives have seized this as an opportunity to take pot shots at each other.

At the CCTA conference in Vancouver, Rogers Communications CEO Ted Rogers got it right and Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw, surely to the dismay of his shareholders, got it wrong. Rogers urged tough action against illegal grey and black market DTH signal providers. Shaw, as reported in this issue, says let the consumers decide. If the intent was not clear, Shaw later went on TV and said cable’s (already relatively modest) Canadian programming contribution could be in jeopardy if the unregulated market share in this country continues to grow unchecked. And of course, that is exactly what is happening.

More cuts at AAC

In the April 15 issue of Playback (‘T.O. studios gear up, but will the go?’), The Comweb Group was mistakenly identified as Comcast.

Montreal: The Canadian completion bond industry has emerged from a major shakeup with one of three established suppliers, Motion Picture Bond Co., slated to wind down operations by midsummer. MPB has not signed any new business since the start of the new year.

Vancouver: British Columbia’s most critically acclaimed feature for 2001 was snubbed again by the Canadian industry – this time at home.

Although many in the broadcast community feel that all the hype about convergence a couple of years ago was just that, the subject was centre stage again at NAB2002, the annual meeting of the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters and the world’s largest electronic media show. The convention took place April 6-11 in Las Vegas.

Montreal: Each morning, by 5 a.m., cast and crew on the new Lea Pool feature film Blue Butterfly, about 100 people in all including locals, Brits and some 40 Canadians, leave their ocean-side hotel to travel deep into the Costa Rican rain forest. It’s an almost uninhabited place with three magnificient waterfalls. Once the crew arrives at Bri Bri, another very long day of shooting begins.

Montreal: Astral Media/Fonds Harold Greenberg has announced $6 million in additional funding for French-language programs, primarily drama for young audiences.

What is a documentary? As the Canadian non-fiction market grows, so does confusion surrounding the definition of documentary. The evolving genre has come to encompass a wide variety of non-fiction formats that compete for funding, but it’s the traditional doc that is struggling.

* Peter Moss, former president of Cinar Entertainment, has been appointed to the newly formed position of VP of programming for Corus Television, effective May 1.