Weekly Briefing

REVOLVING DOOR:

Julie Adam has been upped to Senior Vice-President of Television & Broadcast Operations at Rogers Sports & Media, as Colette Watson prepares to vacate the role on June 15. Watson has spent the last three decades with Rogers, initially hired as VP, Rogers Television and head of Rogers’ Ottawa bureau. She moved into her current role in 2014. Since 2001, she’s also served as the President & General Manager of CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channel), a role she plans to continue in. Adam, who has been with Rogers for 21 years and SVP of Radio & Audio since 2015, overseeing the company’s 56 radio stations and podcast networks, will take on an expanded portfolio that will encompass Citytv, OMNI Television, FX/FXX, OLN, the company’s 30 local Rogers TV stations, and Broadcast Operations. Read more here.

Chris Cuthbert is making the move from TSN to Sportsnet. Rogers announced Friday that Cuthbert will be joining Sportsnet’s NHL broadcast team as a play-by-play announcer upon the league’s return to play. Cuthbert, 62, first joined TSN in 2005 as a play-by-play announcer for the CFL ON TSN and network hockey coverage. Among his career milestones are calling 16 Grey Cups and serving as CTV’s lead play-by-play announcer for Ice Hockey at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Prior to TSN, Cuthbert was with CBC Sports for two decades and has also done work for NBC. Read more here.

Piya Chattopadhyay will succeed Michael Enright as host of CBC Radio One’s revamped Sunday morning show, starting this fall. With Enright’s 20-year hosting run on The Sunday Edition set to conclude June 28, a new format is being developed with Willow Smith, former executive producer of The Current, to serve as executive producer. For the last four years, Chattopadhyay has hosted weekly national show, Out In The Open, which the public broadcaster says will also wrap at the end of June. Out In The Open senior producer Brian Coulton moves with Chattopadhyay to Sunday mornings. Read more here.

Rosalie Woloski has retired from CBC Saskatchewan after 50 years in journalism. Starting her career with the Winnipeg Tribune and Maclean’s, she joined the CBC in 1978, covering the mining and forestry industries in Thunder Bay. She then spent many years as CBC’s lead agriculture reporter, the first woman to hold the role. Over the years, she’s hosted almost all of CBC Saskatchewan’s programs, in addition to overseeing the news division for five years. Most recently, she’s been producing Saskatoon Morning on CBC Radio One. Woloski is one of this year’s RTDNA Lifetime Achievement Award honourees for the Prairie Region.

Wendy Mesley has been suspended from hosting CBC’s The Weekly, pending an internal investigation into her use of “a word that should never be used” during a production meeting while quoting an upcoming guest. “Regardless of my intention, I hurt people and for that I am very sorry,” Mesley posted on Twitter Tuesday. “I am also deeply ashamed. I immediately apologized to my co-workers, and recognize this is a word that no-one like me should ever use.” 

Ken Wiebe, Sean Gordon and Marc Dumont are among the Canadians laid off by The Athletic, as the startup lets 46 or about 8% of its staff go as it adjusts to the economic impact of the cancellation of all major league sports. Remaining staff will take pay cuts, ranging from 10 to 20% through the end of the year.

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Well, The Athletic laid off a large number of extremely talented people today. And also me. I’m sad to leave, but all in all it’s been a terrific run so I have no complaints. To all of you who read along, it’s been a privilege to have you as an audience. ❤️

— Sean Gordon (@MrSeanGordon) June 5, 2020

Emma Loop, who has been a BuzzFeed News’ Washington, D.C.correspondent since 2016 and previously reported for BuzzFeed Canada on Parliament Hill, is among the reporters caught up in cuts at the organization. Prior to BuzzFeed, Loop was a digital journalist with the Ottawa Citizen.

Sandra Mason and Bill Tam have been appointed to CBC/Radio-Canada’s board of directors. Each will serve a five-year term. Mason is a Toronto-based Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), a former Board Director and Audit Committee Chair at The Canadian Press, a past Board Chair and Treasurer at Canadian Women in Communications and Technology, and was Chief Financial Officer at The Globe and Mail from 2008-15. Bill Tam is a leader in the B.C. tech sector and was behind the province’s largest technology accelerator, the BC Tech Innovation Hub. He also led the creation of The Cube, an accelerator focused on emerging start-ups in augmented, mixed and virtual reality. Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein, meantime, has announced his resignation from the board.

Carolyn Combs is stepping down as Executive Director of Women in Film and Television Vancouver (WIFT-V). Combs, who will remain with the organization until August, is moving to Toronto to be closer to family. Also a film producer, Combs has been in the position since 2012. WIFT-V is currently looking for an Interim Managing Director. 

Shelly Quade has signed on as Talent Programs Manager at the Whistler Film Festival Society, overseeing the festival’s slate of 11 creative and business immersion programs, including the Producers and Screenwriters Labs, currently being delivered online. Quade is the former manager of programs and development and TELUS partner liaison at the National Screen Institute where she was responsible for their Features First and Totally Television programs as well as TELUS STORYHIVE editions. Quade is based in Halifax.

Amy Volume has crossed the hall to host middays at 106.1 CHEZ-FM Ottawa. For the past five years, Volume had been heard middays on Rogers’ KiSS 105.3 (CISS-FM) Ottawa.

Lianne Laing is joining the University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation as its Executive Director, starting June 30. The former CTV/Bell Media Ottawa personality, who was caught up in network cuts in late 2017, has most recently been hosting health and wellness podcast, Living Your Life with Lianne Laing, and working as a communications consultant and public speaker. 

RADIO & PODCAST:

Infinite Dial Canada, the third Canadian edition of the longest-running study of consumer media behaviour in the U.S., was released last Thursday by Edison Research and Triton Digital. Based on pre-pandemic data, among this year’s findings are that Canada is leading monthly audio online listening, 18+, with 70% of Canadians saying they had streamed audio in the past month, whether it be a podcast, music, or radio station. That compares to 67% of Americans, with Canada also leading Australia, South Africa and Germany. The study indicates that streaming audio is becoming more habitual for Canadians with 60% saying they had listened to online audio in the last week. Tom Webster, SVP of Edison Research, says the introduction of unlimited data plans by Canada’s top three mobile carriers has had a significant impact on the growth of online data consumption. Read more here.

 

Stingray has recorded an $8.5 million quarterly loss as its Radio division feels the impact of COVID-19. Q4 revenues, reflecting the quarter ended Mar. 31, were down 6.0% to $68.4 million from $72.7 million. Radio revenues decreased $4.1 million or 12.0% to $29.9 million from $34.0 million for Q4 2019. Total Broadcasting and Commercial Music revenues decreased $(0.2) million or 0.6% to $38.5 million, from $38.7 million in Q4 2019. The decrease was primarily due to the termination of some low margin international contracts, partially offset by organic growth in subscriptions. “Our fourth quarter results reflect some impact of COVID-19. The Radio segment was partially hit during the quarter and revenues continued to decline in April and to a lesser extent in May. Considering the initial impact of COVID-19 on Radio revenues, we are pleased with our consolidated fourth quarter results as Adjusted EBITDA increased 25.9% to $28.2 million,” stated Eric Boyko, President, Co-founder, and CEO. For the full-year, Stingray revenues were up $94.0 million or 44.2% to $306.7 million, from $212.7 million.

Radioplayer Canada launches Version 5 of the app Thursday designed to improve overall listener user experience. New in-app features include: a new user interface; a “Favourites” carousel to make finding presets easier; ability to share what you’re listening to with friends by sending a link that automatically opens the Radioplayer app and immediately streams that station; simple voice control (stop, pause, play); and deeper Apple Car Play integration. The new Radioplayer Canada app is available for download now in the App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Amazon Appstore for Android. Read more here.

99.3 County FM (CJPE-FM) Prince Edward County is partnering with the Hastings and Prince Edward School Districts to broadcast Grade 8 graduation ceremonies. The 80-minute broadcast will begin at 12:10 p.m. on June 23 and repeat at 6:10 p.m. that evening. The event will feature messages from local trustees, principals, and one graduating student from each school. 

LISTEN: The latest Sound Off Podcast features Jillene Khan, afternoon host on Magic 98 in Madison, Wisconsin. Her radio story is rooted in Minneapolis and she’s an ideal guest to bring on at a time when many people in her hometown are struggling with the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police.

FEATURE: Eric Blais’ latest Rethinking Media column explores proactively navigating “The New Normal.” Read more here.

 

SIGN OFFS:

Greg Simpson, 71, on June 10, following a series of strokes. Simpson devoted his life to music early on, starting out managing local bands while still in high school in the 1960s. He began his radio career in 1969 as the music director at CJOE London, ON. From there, he went to work in promotions for A&M Records in Toronto, and then did several stints as a manager for Sam the Record Man and Records on Wheels. He returned to radio in 1979 as the music director at FM96 London, while teaching radio and music programming at Fanshawe College. In 1993, he founded Mindbenders Music, an artist management, music consulting and radio promotions firm. Among the artists he worked with were Kim Mitchell, Holly Cole, Lee Aaron, Strange Advance, Carole Pope, Luciano Pavarotti, and Lighthouse, while also consulting for radio, nightclubs, record labels, and industry events, including coming onboard to help manage Canadian Music Week. 

Peter Leo, 64, suddenly on June 6. Following his graduation from Carleton University in 1979, Leo joined CHEZ-FM Ottawa as a reporter. After a decade there, he joined CBC in 1989. Leo spent most of the next 30 years working behind-the-scenes with CBC Radio. Among those shows were World at Six, World Report, and The World This Hour, as well as helming election and other special, national network programming.

Janis Lockwood, 65, on June 5, following a short battle with cancer. Lockwood started volunteering at Carleton University campus and community station, CKCU-FM, in the 1970s, with a commitment that went beyond hosting her weekly one-hour music program. “On June 5, we lost a towering figure in the station’s 45-year history,” CKCU’s Jordan David wrote on the station website. “Janis was here from early days, helping to pull a fledgling campus-based community radio station up by the roots. Her on-air presence showed all of us how radio should be done. Her support for local artists showed many a musician that it could be done…Off-air, too, Janis represented the best of CKCU. More than a trusted volunteer and host, she was instrumental in keeping us going through times both good and bad. As funding drive coordinator. As a former member and chair of the Board of Directors. As a tireless advocate for the station and, during those bad times, the driving force behind a decisive effort to save us from ruin.” Outside her volunteer efforts, Lockwood worked over the years with the Ottawa Folklore Centre, National Archives of Canada, and was a past coordinator of the Ottawa Folk Festival.

David Liddell, 85, on May 24, following several strokes. Liddell worked for both CBC Radio and Television in Vancouver, before joining Vancouver Cablevision in 1970 as program manager. When the station was later purchased by Rogers, he was named VP, Programming. Liddell also helped establish Ghana’s first television station as part of a federal Canadian delegation. Among his professional affiliations were involvement in the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE); the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television; and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

Alan Gadsby, 84, on Mar. 16, of cancer. Gadsby joined CBC Vancouver in the early 1960s as a clerk in TV Traffic and rose through the ranks to become TV Traffic Manager, before transferring to TV Production as Unit Manager. He left CBC in the early 1980s to pursue freelance photography. Gadsby was a long-time member of the CBC 20 Year Association.

TV & FILM:

WorksafeBC says film and television production can resume in the province if BC Motion Picture Industry Coalition COVID-19 Safety Guidelines are met and employers have a customized safety plan in place. While there are still serious restrictions on international travel and a 14-day quarantine in place, WorksafeBC says those with a valid work permit will be allowed entry into Canada. The Province of Ontario moves into stage 2 of its reopening plan on June 12, which includes film and television production, however with Toronto and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area not yet approved to enter the second phase, it’s uncertain when full production will resume. California also plans to allow shoots to resume June 12, however they’ll be subject to scrutiny by county public health officers. Manitoba, which has just a handful of active cases, has been open for screen production since June 1. 

 

Global Montreal employees, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), who’ve been without an agreement since last August, have rejected a final offer from Corus Entertainment. The union says 91% voted against the collective agreement renewal offer, with almost 90% of members participating in the electronic vote. The more than 40 Global Montreal employees include journalists, video journalists, and technical and support staff. Corus’ offer, covering a period of four years, provided a lump sum payment in the first year, followed by annual increases of 1.5% in each of the following three years. The union says the increases would have been funded largely by the employees themselves by agreeing to reductions in the pay structure, with benefits and the employee pension plan part of the dispute. CUPE Local 4502 says it will be filing a request for conciliation.

BIPOC TV & Film, a grassroots collective of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour in Canada’s TV and film industry, has launched a petition calling for the story coordinator position to be upgraded under Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) status. The group says the position of the story coordinator, which is often held by BIPOC and women, has changed from an entry-level position to a highly nuanced job managing writer’s rooms with demanding hours that often call for 24/7 availability and a specific skill set, far above that of an entry level job. As of Wednesday, the petition had nearly 4,000 signatures.

Hot Docs has announced its 2020 Rogers Audience Award Winners, who will share in the $50,000 Rogers Audience Award. This year’s top five-rated Canadian feature documentaries, each receiving $10K, are: The Walrus and the Whistleblower; 9/11 Kids; The Forbidden Reel; First We Eat; and There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace. Read more here.

Bell Media has kicked off a slate of programming aimed at amplifying voices in the fight against racism. Tyrone Edwards, Marci Ien, Lainey Lui, and Anne-Marie Mediwake will co-host 90-minute special Change & Action: Racism In Canada this Saturday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and June 14 on Crave. It will feature a series of conversations with artists, public officials, business leaders, activists, and athletes, on how Canadians can take action against systemic racism.

 

Ending Racism: What Will it Take? will air Thursday, June 11 across Rogers’ TV and digital channels. Hosted by Cityline’s Tracy Moore and Sportsnet’s Donnovan Bennett, the one-hour, national prime-time special will feature discussion from guests like Olympian Donovan Bailey and Black Lives Matter Vancouver founder Cicely Belle Blain sharing their experiences and views on how Canadians can advocate for impactful change. The special will air at 7 p.m. local time on Citytv, OMNI Television, Rogers tv community stations, and Rogers Radio news websites, plus 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Sportsnet. Rogers Sports & Media says this is the first of a series of ongoing initiatives that will continue to drive the conversation.

Global will air a primetime edition of Living in Colour, hosted by Farah Nasser on Friday, June 12 at 7 p.m. ET. Living in Colour: Being Black in Canada will discuss racism in Canada and the ways in which Canadians, institutions, businesses and government can actively support anti-racism. Living in Colour began airing within Global newscasts and on digital platforms in 2018 as an initiative spearheaded by Nasser and Global News producer Alley Wilson, who sought to give audiences the perspectives of marginalized communities. Over the past two years, the series has tackled issues like racism in hockey, Blackface and the relationship between police and racialized communities. 

CBC, CAVCO (Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office) and CMPA (Canadian Media Producers Association) are launching a series of short virtual information sessions to introduce emerging independent producers and content creators from underrepresented groups in the industry (women, Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, LGBTQ2+ persons, and persons with a disability), to topics related to the business and financing of TV, film and original digital content. The half-hour sessions will happen every day at 2 p.m. ET over a three-week period. Upcoming topics include: How to negotiate a development deal, presented by Niki Singh, Manager, Scripted Programming, Business & Rights, CBC (June 15); Hiring talent from underrepresented groups in the industry, presented by Nick Davis, Director, Engagement & Inclusion, CBC & Tonya Williams, Founder, Executive & Artistic Director, Reelworld (June 24); and Producing in the time of COVID, presented by Michelle van Beusekom, Executive Director, Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC). Find the full schedule here.

Youth Media Alliance (YMA) is hosting a free Zoom session on how to successfully pitch during a pandemic. Speakers will include Marie McCann, Senior Director, Children’s Content, CBC; Athena Georgaklis, Head of Development, Nelvana; and Kevin Wright, Principal, The Optimal Pitch, as they explore pitching kids’ content in the age of physical distancing. The panel is set to take place Thursday, June 18 at 2 p.m. ET. RSVP here by June 17.

Super Channel has joined BANFF Spark as a founding industry partner of its Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media as the second cohort of 50 women get set to participate in the Banff World Media Festival entrepreneurial program, supported by the Government of Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES). With a strong mandate to champion diversity, the program is designed to specifically empower women of colour, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, LGBTQ2+ women, and non-binary individuals. Across the first and second cohorts, 46% of participants self-identify as being from diverse communities. BANFF Spark programming is being delivered in a revised format, in concert with the recently launched BANFF Virtual Edition rolling out from now until September.

Discovery Velocity is on nationwide freeview, jumpstarted by coverage of the 88th edition of 24 Hours Of Le Mans Virtual Auto Race, beginning June 13. Available until July 8, new and returning series airing during the free preview include the series premieres of Driven (June 16), Roadkill (June 20), and Wheeler Dealers: Dream Car (June 22). The freeview is available through participating television service providers across the country, including Bell, Bell Aliant, Bell MTS, Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Shaw Direct, and SaskTel.

CBC will start airing Season 1 of award-winning series Mohawk Girls on Tuesday, June 16 as part of its Tuesday night comedy lineup. Following its run, Season 2 will launch Tuesday, Aug. 4 on CBC and CBC Gem, with Seasons 3-5 to be available this fall on CBC Gem. The critically-acclaimed, half-hour dramedy originally aired on APTN from 2014-17. Starring Jenny Pudavick, Brittany LeBorgne, Heather White, and Maika Harper, Mohawk Girls is a comedic look at the lives of four women trying to stay true to their roots while navigating work, love and what it means to be Mohawk in the 21st century. 

TSN is set to launch new weekly show, CFL2020, discussing the latest news from around the Canadian Football League. It will air Fridays at 7:30 p.m. ET, beginning June 12, ahead of TSN’s weekly CFL ENCORE FRIDAYS. Hosted by Rod Smith, the new show features news and analysis from the CFL ON TSN panel of Henry Burris, Matt Dunigan, Milt Stegall, and Davis Sanchez; CFL Insiders Farhan Lalji and Dave Naylor; Glen Suitor and Duane Forde; as well as players, management, and personnel from around the league. Moving forward, the show will examine each of the nine teams’ off-seasons, and what their rosters will look like upon the league’s return.

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

VMedia has launched RiverTV, what it’s billing as Canada’s first live TV and on-demand streaming channel platform. It features over 30 channels, including local Global TV stations, CHCH-TV, W Network, Showcase, Adult Swim, Treehouse, and Family Channel, bundled with seven U.S. live and VOD channels (Cheddar, Drink TV, Law & Crime, Newsmax, Newsy, Real Vision and REVOLT). Subscribers can also add a la carte channels like Hollywood Suite and nick+. Priced at $16.99/month, RiverTV is available to stream via the RiverTV app on any Roku, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, or iOS mobile device. 

 

Media Central Corporation, the publisher of the Georgia Straight, NOW Magazine, Canncentral.com, and ECentralSports, has issued an open letter to shareholders. CEO Brian Kalish, says since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, the company has trimmed nearly $300,000 a month in costs, more than half of which it expects to maintain after the pandemic abates. Media Central says it’s also re-focused the editorial of its alt-weeklies away from venues and arts to focus on health, education, finance and esports. Additionally, Kalish says editorial has been merged with sales and marketing as part of an “omnichannel approach to publishing.”

Twitter is testing a new feature for Android users that prompts those re-tweeting an article they haven’t opened with the phrase “Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.” Twitter says the prompt is aimed at promoting informed discussion. Kayvon Beykpour, the digital media giant’s product lead, said in a Tweet of his own that “It’s easy for links/articles to go viral on Twitter. This can be powerful but sometimes dangerous, especially if people haven’t read the content they’re spreading.” 

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Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.

To help promote informed discussion, we’re testing a new prompt on Android –– when you Retweet an article that you haven’t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you’d like to open it first.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 10, 2020

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

Corus Entertainment has announced it’s initiating a review of the experiences of current and former employees who have come forward with allegations of a culture of racism and microagressions. Former Corus social media strategist Joshua Grant went public last week with his experiences at the company, including an incident in which he says he was asked to create a meme for Big Brother Canada based on civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick’s “Dream Crazy” NIKE ad. Grant alleges he was threatened with firing when he suggested it was inappropriate. ET Canada contributor Ika Wong also indicated that she did not wish to return in the current climate. “We want to listen carefully, understand their lived experiences and make any necessary changes,” Corus said in a statement. “In order to do so, we have retained an independent, external consultant from a company called DiversiPro, with expertise in workplace diversity and anti-Black racism.” Earlier this week, the Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ) and Canadian Journalists of Colour (CJOC) issued a joint statement saying they are especially concerned by the level of systemic racism “saturating” Canadian journalism and media. Read more here.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) says editorializing during newscasts must be clearly represented. The CBSC has issued its decision following a listener complaint about a Dec. 2019 newscast on Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto, in which anchor David McKee inserted an editorial opinion into a story about streaming services. The report, on the federal government’s review of potentially imposing a tax on internet video streaming services, was introduced by McKee with the statement, “The libraries of streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ could soon have more of a Canadian flavour that nobody watches or wants if the federal government gets its way.” Read more here. The National Post’s Colby Cosh responded with his own opinion piece on the CBSC decision.

RTDNA Canada has announced the winners of its National and Network Awards, as well as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winners. They include CTV senior anchor Lisa LaFlamme and Global National Senior National Affairs Correspondent Eric Sorensen in the Network category, with Lifetime Achievement Award Winners also selected in each region. They include NTV anchor Glen Carter, retired CBC Charlottetown broadcaster Pat Martel, Global Toronto investigative reporter Sean O’Shea, retired CBC North Cree Unit veteran Emma Saganash, retired CTV Toronto anchor Ken Shaw, longtime CBC Yukon morning show host Sandi Coleman, CTV Lethbridge news director Terry Vogt, CBC Radio Saskatchewan producer Rosalie Woloski, CKNW Vancouver anchor Gord Macdonald, and former CTV Victoria bureau chief Ed Watson. Read more and find highlight reels, here.

Standard Media Index, which tracks monthly media ad-spending performance and pricing data, has launched in Canada. Standard promises to capture 94% of all national brand spend by aggregating and structuring all media spend from the billing systems of agency partners. SMI offers ad intelligence across all media types, including television, digital, out-of-home, print, and radio. SMI already operates in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

Innovation, Science and Industry Min. Navdeep Bains has announced a six-month postponement of the 3500 MHz spectrum auction process and its associated key dates to allow the telecommunications industry to maintain its focus on providing essential services to Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The auction is now scheduled to start June 15, 2021. The ministry says it will continue to monitor COVID-19’s impact on the telecom industry and remains open to further changes to the timelines for spectrum auctions if necessary. Bains also announced a consultation on the 3800 MHz band, to be launched in August, that will give stakeholders the opportunity to weigh in on how additional spectrum can be used to further support Canada’s wireless infrastructure.

The CRTC has approved Bell’s plan for AI-assisted automated blocking of scam voice calls on a 90-day trial. The trial will leverage AI to analyze telecommunications traffic in order to flag anomalies that suggest possible fraudulent and scam activity. These anomalies would then be subject to review and, if fraudulent or scam activity is verified, Bell Canada and its affiliates would block subsequent related calls at the network level. With concerns from some intervenors about false positives, Bell has committed to implementing an automated unblocking process that would provide telecom service providers with a contact number to report and investigate those possible false positives.

The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the constitutionality of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). The Appeals court concluded that CASL falls within federal jurisdiction over trade and commerce and that if left to the provinces, the national approach would be jeopardized should spammers arrange to locate their servers in a jurisdiction with more lenient laws. The CRTC previously ruled on its constitutionality in 2017.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING :

Stingray has selected Targetspot to monetize digital audio advertising across its Stingray Music services including its free, ad-supported TV audio channels (FAST) and the Stingray Music app. The exclusive worldwide agreement gives Targetspot the mandate to monetize Stingray’s audio advertising space (70 million monthly active users) for two years. Targetspot launched its business in 2007 and operates its own tech stack, serving more than a billion audio impressions monthly. 

Dejero has introduced new short-depth versions of its 1U rack-mounted WayPoint receiver and CuePoint return video and teleprompter server to its portfolio. The smaller chassis of WayPoint 50 and CuePoint 50 make them a good fit for remote production vehicles where space is at a premium, and for portable flyaway kits that simplify transport and enable rapid response in case of a disaster recovery scenario or for contingency preparedness. Recently, Dejero deployed advanced release versions of the new WayPoint 50 and CuePoint 50 as part of a portable flyaway kit to support a facility under complete evacuation in response to social distancing regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new WayPoint 50 single-output compact receiver reconstructs broadcast-quality video transported over multiple IP connections from a Dejero transmitter, decodes HEVC or AVC, and outputs to SDI or MPEG-TS workflows.

Ross has launched softGear, a new signal processing platform that draws its design from the company’s Emmy award-winning openGear ecosystem. softGear complements existing hardware-based workflows with software-based processing for both on-premise workflows and cloud environments, offering video, audio and metadata processing on COTS hardware. The three initial product offerings built upon the softGear platform are: the Nielsen Watermarking Encoder for IP (NWE-IP), which allows watermarking for audience measurement in AES67 and ST 2110 environments; the Radio and Streaming Audio Processor (RSAP), which integrates the latest generation of Orban radio processing for AM, FM, DAB and streaming; and the Broadcast Audio Processor (BAP), which integrates Dolby Realtime Loudness Levelling (RTLL), Nielsen Watermarking and Dolby Digital encoding in a flexible multi-channel solution for television playout and distribution chains.