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Broadcast council boos Bye Bye
Radio-Canada’s most recent New Year’s Eve special was ‘abusive,’ ‘degrading’ and inappropriate for younger audiences, according to…
CFTPA’s Norm Bolen: A natural-born leader
Norm Bolen is as well-spoken as an Oxford grad, but his street-smart sense suggests a 21st century hybrid thinker.
Producers prepare to pounce
Despite his laudable French and bridge-building to Canada’s other solitude, Heritage Minister James Moore just doesn’t seem to get a break in Quebec.
What’s good for TIFF is good for Toronto
I was in Europe when I read e-mail rumors of a big announcement regarding the Canadian government and the Toronto International Film Festival. I assumed it was a much-needed injection of cash to complete the Bell Lightbox.
Hockey casters innovate in face-off for online eyeballs
The 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs are proving to be a breakout when it comes to online offerings, as each Canuck broadcaster tries its own digital power play. Whether it’s online video streaming or offering up new forms of digital content, the casters are pulling out all the stops in a bid to keep hockey fans engaged right up until Lord Stanley’s Mug is hoisted in June.
Huge gains and losses mark seesaw year
It certainly wasn’t the best of times. But it wasn’t the worst of times either. It could have been so much worse.
How the numbers are generated
Results for the Annual Report on Independent Production are gathered from company responses to Playback’s questionnaire.
Number one: Insight changes tack
While Vancouver’s Insight Film Studios keeps its first-place position as Canada’s largest independent producer for the second year in a row, the company saw its total production volume fall by 30% in 2008 to $125 million.
Number two: E1 leaps onto the charts
The new kid on the block in Playback’s ranking of indie prodcos is E1 Entertainment. Well, sort of.
Number three: Muse does its own thing
A slate of international coproductions and original homegrown content are keeping revenues up at Muse Entertainment this spring.
Bucking the trend: Carmody’s business up all ’round
Last year was disastrous for Toronto service production, due to a threatened Screen Actors Guild strike, an on-par Canadian dollar, and the trend of the city losing out to Vancouver on major projects.
3 things you didn’t know about… Les Stroud
Les Stroud, Survivorman Productions
The unions address the renewal hearings
Although he’s proven himself to be no lightweight in recent months, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein doesn’t appear to be prone to fits of gratuitous violence. That was made evident recently at the CRTC’s licence renewal hearings for private over-the-air broadcasters, when CFTPA national EVP and counsel John Barrack suggested the CRTC ‘give everyone a nudge’ – meaning broadcasters, of course – to honestly negotiate on terms of trade.
Moves & Signings
MOVES
3 things you didn’t know about… Les Stroud
Les Stroud, Survivorman Productions
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