Vancouver: Whether they are spurred by the expansion of the domestic broadcasting system, the changing appetites of television audiences or a thaw in the international television economy, Canadian programmers and distributors will be in a mood to spend at MIPTV in Cannes April 15-19.
Toronto distributor Canamedia Productions, for one, is trying to double the size of its catalogue to 100 titles in the lifestyle, adventure travel, documentary and youth genres in order to increase its presence in the market prior to its 25th anniversary.

Television movies drove a 13% increase in the value of English drama funding in the first round of successful applicants at the 2002 Canadian Television Fund, announced in March.
The Licence Fee Program will invest in 23 MOWs in 2002, up from 16 last year, and the value of that production will almost double to $16.3 million – growth attributed to a special MOW incentive this year that boosted the base contribution from 13% to 17%.
As a result, 70% of this year’s MOWs were able to reach the $750,000 cap, compared to last year when only 25% reached the maximum threshold.

Montreal: The Canadian Association of Broadcasters says government should open up the system so the private sector has maximum flexibility in its crusade to make Canadian programming profitable.
In a four-and-a-half-hour March 21 presentation to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, CAB proposed the departments of Finance and Heritage, along with private-sector broadcasters and producers, undertake a review of the entire Canadian programming finance-support mechanism.

Rosnick MacKinnon gets new name, new digs

Full Steam Ahead

Just how contentious can an ad be when it’s deemed inappropriate for digital outlets Fashion Television and Sex TV? Well, when the City of Toronto is involved, not so very contentious. This spot created by Grey Worldwide, Toronto, was to be the TV portion to a campaign that ran through the winter, mostly in the form of print ads, for Toronto Fashion Week.

Montreal- and Los Angeles-based production company Kingsborough Pictures is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against MCA/Universal City Studios and Miramax Film Corporation, alleging the defendants plagiarized the script The Dark Lady in the hit release Shakespeare in Love.

While Cinar Corp. continues to be entangled in a web of controversy, Arthur maintains its evergreen status, picking up three daytime Emmy noms for outstanding children’s animated program, outstanding achievement in music direction and composition (music director Jeffrey Zahn, composer Ray Fabi), and outstanding achievement in sound mixing – special class (Stephane Bergeron).

Montreal: Ongoing settlement payments, professional fees and current asset write-offs were among the primary factors in a $42-million net loss reported by Cinar Corp. for the fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2001. The loss includes $9.9 million from the discontinued operations of Cinar Multimedia and related write-off of assets, and $32.1 million from continuing operations. Results for 2001 are fully audited. The company says no comparative information is provided as financial statements for 2000 and 1999 remain unaudited.

Montreal: Radio-Canada has advised management of the possibility of an extended strike by 1,300 members of Syndicat des Communications de Radio-Canada.

The Partners’ Film Company

Ian MacLean is a veteran broadcaster and vice-president of the Media Experts iTV Lab, a research division of Montreal-based Media Experts with the goals of understanding, exploring and anticipating the impact digital technologies will have on television and the television advertising model.

Bob Kennedy is a senior partner in Flashcut Editing, Toronto, and chair of the PVR subcommittee for CPAT.

So, they say the recession is over. And we barely felt it.

In the wake of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m left thinking about Ireland and all the Canadian entertainment companies that have set up shop there over the past several years. Well actually, what’s really got me thinking about the Celtic country is Alliance Atlantis jetting Ted Riley off to Dublin to open a new operations office – not that there’s anything peculiar about a man named Ted Riley taking up residence in Ireland. The truth is, while none of the the seniors at AAC, including Riley, were willing to talk to me about the move and the AAC spokesperson insisted that human resources and ease of travel were top of mind, it’s pretty clear that once again Ireland’s glorious tax incentives are the name of the game.