The Weekly Briefing

REVOLVING DOOR:

Marina Glogovac

Marina Glogovac has been appointed CEO and President of the Toronto Star, effective June 1. She succeeds Lorenzo DeMarchi, who has been serving as interim CEO and will be returning to his role as Chief Investment Officer for Torstar Corporation. Glogovac joins the Toronto Star after serving as President and CEO of donation technology supplier, CanadaHelps. Prior to that, she had a 25-year career in media and e-commerce, including Group Publisher for St. Joseph’s Media, CEO and Chief Revenue Officer at Lavalife, Chief Marketing Officer at Kobo Inc., and as Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Now Magazine. Torstar Corporation has also promoted Neil Oliver from Chief Operating Officer to the position of CEO and President of Metroland Media. He’ll be responsible for Torstar’s community publications, its regional daily newspapers and press operations, and supporting the print operations of the Toronto Star.

Ian Young

Ian Young is the new B.C. Bureau Chief for The Canadian Press (CP). Young has been with the South China Morning Post for 25 years, the last decade as Vancouver correspondent. Young has also worked for newspapers in Australia, in addition to the London Evening Standard.

Ron Blommers

Ron Blommers has been named the new Retail Sales Manager at Stingray Halifax. Blommers, who has been General Sales Manager at Blackburn Media in Chatham, ON for the past 12 years, started his radio career with Q104 (CFRQ-FM) Halifax. Prior to returning to Canada, he spent 13 years with Clear Channel as a Senior Account Executive in Honolulu. He’s also done stints with iHeartRadio and Imagine Words & Music

Dan O’Toole

Dan O’Toole has signed an exclusive brand and content deal with Rush Street Interactive, a Chicago-based gaming and betting company, which operates BetRivers.ca. O’Toole made his debut as a BetRivers Brand Ambassador in a series of television ads that aired during the 2022 Winter Olympics. The former TSN SportsCentre host will continue to host his weekly sports and life podcast, Boomsies! which drops a new episode each Wednesday on most podcast apps, in addition to a video version on YouTube with the BetRivers Network.

Doug Jones

Doug Jones is retiring from the 99.3 REWIND Radio (CKDV-FM) Prince George morning show after 45 years in broadcasting, 38 of those with Pattison Media. Logan Middleton and Jen Grier will be taking over mornings, starting April 22. Middleton has been a weekend personality with Pattison’s 101.3 The River (CKKN-FM) since Jan. 2021, while Grier is REWIND Radio’s current midday host.

Dave Turnbull

Dave Turnbull has announced he’s joining 94.3 NOW! Radio (CHNW-FM) Winnipeg. He’ll host evenings Monday to Wednesday, in addition to the Saturday and Sunday daypart. Turnbull was most recently a co-host on CITI Mornings on 92 CITI FM, up until last August.

Matt Berry

Matt Berry has a new role as Music Director and Assistant Program Director for Harvard Media’s “X Brand” stations, X92.9 (CFEX-FM) Calgary and X100.7 (CKEX-FM) Red Deer. Berry has been with Harvard in various roles since 2009.

Mark Pare

Mark Pare has been released by CityNews 570 (CKGL-AM) Kitchener. He’d been a reporter with the station since 2018, arriving from KiSS 99.3 (CKGB-FM) Timmins. Pare started his broadcast career with Rogers Sports & Media in North Bay in 2012 after graduating from the Journalism program at Canadore College.

Chris dela Torre

Chris dela Torre, the afternoon drive host for CBC in Southwestern Ontario, is returning to Calgary to host afternoon current affairs show, The Homestretch. dela Torre took over the CBC Windsor regional show in 2017 after hosting numerous CBC Calgary regional programs and several national shows, including q, DNTO and The Story From Here. His first day back at CBC Calgary is May 9.

Jason Markusoff

Jason Markusoff is joining CBC Calgary as a writer, analyst and producer. Markusoff has been serving as Maclean’s Alberta correspondent for the last seven years. Prior to that, he wrote for the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal.

Lynda Steele

Lynda Steele, who left her afternoon talk show at 980 CKNW Vancouver last May, has resurfaced as a columnist for B.C. online publication, The Orca. After just 10 months of retirement, the former Global Edmonton anchor writes that she developed anxiety resulting from “the stress of having no creative outlet after 35 years in broadcasting.”

Danielle Smith will be joining the Western Standard as the new host of the Danielle Smith Show. The show will stream live every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. MT across Western Standard’s digital channels on Facebook, YouTube, and Rumble, in addition to podcast platforms. The former 770 CHQR Calgary talk show host and leader of Alberta’s Wildrose Party, left Corus Entertainment last year, saying that in “this hyper-sensitive social media environment” it had become increasingly difficult to express honest opinions.

Michael A. Charbon

Michael A. Charbon has signed on with Newsmax as the conservative American news channel’s Canadian correspondent. The Mississauga-based political pundit has been hosting The Charbon Report for the last three years, which has obtained representation by Fourth Line Media in the U.S., and in Europe and Asia by Jordexx and Lola Clips.

Rob Waters

Dejero has promoted Rob Waters to Global Director of Sales and Michael Stanton as Director of Sales for the Americas. In his new role, Waters will spearhead the Waterloo company’s higher-level sales strategy to scale and grow the business across vertical markets including broadcast and media, public safety, government agencies and emerging markets. Waters joined Dejero as Director of Sales for EMEA in 2018. He previously held senior sales positions at Blackmagic Designs and IDX Technology Europe. Michael Stanton has been promoted to Director of Sales for the Americas and is responsible for business development, sales team management and growth strategy for Dejero across the U.S., Canada and Latin America. A former journalist and Emmy Award-winning TV news manager, Stanton joined Dejero in 2016 to accelerate the adoption of its live video solutions.

Keith Pelletier

Keith Pelletier has been promoted to President of Dielectric, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Pelletier has been employed by Dielectric for 25 years and has operated as Vice-President, General Manager of the RF antenna and system manufacturer since Sinclair acquired the assets in 2013. He steps in as President Andy Whiteside retires this summer.

 

 

RADIO & PODCAST:

SiriusXM Canada has announced a new multi-year partnership as Live Nation Canada’s official music streaming partner. SiriusXM will be on-site at Live Nation Canada events and venues, including RBC Echo Beach, Budweiser Stage, and festivals like Born & Raised, FVDED in the Park and Osheaga. On-site activations will include an exclusive branded lounge area, live broadcasts, VIP access and fan experiences. As part of the partnership, SiriusXM subscribers will also have a series of exclusive perks including chances to win tickets to Live Nation events or cash that can be redeemed towards event tickets at ticketmaster.ca. To celebrate the partnership and return of live events, Alexisonfire will perform a free show on April 27 at HISTORY, Live Nation Canada’s new Toronto entertainment venue. The concert will be broadcast at a later date on SiriusXM’s The Verge (ch. 173). 

Ben Wagner

The Toronto Blue Jays road game radio broadcasts will be called from a studio in downtown Toronto as Rogers Sports & Media has decided not to send play-by-play announcer Ben Wagner on the road this season. As first reported by The Canadian Press, Sportsnet hasn’t revived last season’s move to simulcast the television broadcast on radio, however radio play-by-play announcer Wagner will call away games using two 60-inch monitors – one with the regular Sportsnet feed and the other with an overhead view of the ballpark. Other monitors feature a bullpen cam and scoreboard feed.

Roz Weston, co-host of The Roz & Mocha Show which originates from KiSS 92.5 (CKIS-FM) Toronto, has announced a book deal with DoubleDay that will see him publish a memoir this fall. A Little Bit Broken will detail the radio and Entertainment Tonight Canada personality’s life from kicking an opioid addiction to recovering from bad choices. Available now for pre-order, the memoir will come out Sept. 27.

Spotify Greenroom is now Spotify Live as the streamer brings its live capabilities directly onto the Spotify app. Spotify says the change “reflects our belief in the future of live-audio creators and live experiences being provided to all 406 million Spotify listeners around the globe.” To start, live audio in the Spotify app will be made available for select original programming, while independent creators who wish to go live will still be able to do so in the Spotify Live app. Programming kicking off the live audio rebrand includes a Swedish House Mafia album release party, live from the desert, on Friday, April 15.

LISTEN: After more than two decades on-air together, Clay St. Thomas and Karen Daniels are ending an epic run co-hosting mornings on Pattison Media-owned JR Country (CJJR-FM) in Vancouver, going out on top as the #1 music station in the market. Clay & Karen join us on Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast ahead of the show’s retirement to reflect on their longevity, what makes a successful on-air duo work, and what’s next, beyond sleeping in. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

LISTEN: On the latest episode of the Sound Off Podcast, Matt Cundill speaks to Chris Ash about his journey from the UK to Saskatchewan, and eventually 94.3 NOW! Radio in Winnipeg, where he is now. You’ll hear about his humble beginnings in Kettering, near London, how he fell in love with broadcasting, and how he’s honed his skills through years of hard work, along with a dash of charisma. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

TV & FILM:

DGC BC (Directors Guild of Canada, B.C. District Council) members have voted 92.2% in favour of a strike mandate. Held last week, the vote follows a breakdown in negotiations after a year of trying to reach a new three-year collective agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). The DGC BC Collective Agreement covers the categories of Director, 2nd Unit Director, Production & Unit Manager, plus those employed in various Assistant Director and Locations Departments, including entry level Production Assistants. AMPTP and CMPA – BC say a strike authorization vote sends a message of labour uncertainty in the province and “seriously jeopardizes British Columbia’s reputation as an attractive location for motion picture production.” The producers say after being close to reaching an agreement, DGC BC made additional demands that were not part of the mediator’s recommendations. Read more here.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) announced the winners of the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards over six days during Canadian Screen Week, culminating in Sunday’s awards broadcast on CBC and CBC Gem. CTV’s Transplant led television honours, winning eight Canadian Screen Awards including: Best Drama Series; Best Lead Actor, Drama Series for Hamza Haq; and Best Lead Actress, Drama Series for Laurence Leboeuf. The fifth and final season of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience took home three awards: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon won Best Lead Actor and Actress, Comedy; and Andrew Phung was named Best Supporting Actor, Comedy, marking his fifth win in the category. Film honours were led by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s Scarborough, which earned a total of eight Canadian Screen Awards including: Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Direction; and the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize. Find the winners in Drama & Comedy Crafts and Scripted Programs & Performance here and Cinematic Arts here.  

Barry Avrich has issued an apology after the Oscar Peterson: Black + White director stated during his Canadian Screen Awards acceptance speech for Best Direction, Documentary, that “There are so many Black stories in Canada that need to be told. It doesn’t matter who tells them, we just need to tell them.” Organizations including the Black Screen Office, Reelworld, and the Indigenous Screen Office, were among those that took issue with the statement as diverse creators continue to fight for equitable access to funding and distribution.

Spin Master Corp. won The Golden Screen Award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, for PAW Patrol: The Movie. The Golden Screen Award recognizes the Canadian film that grossed the highest domestic box office between Jan. 1, 2021 and Feb. 24, 2022. The first feature film for Spin Master Entertainment, in association with Nickelodeon Movies, and distributed by Elevation Pictures in Canada, PAW Patrol: The Movie grossed over $7.5 million in Canadian box office sales and $152 million to date globally. A second feature film, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, has been greenlit with its theatrical release set for Oct. 2023. 

The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) has announced this year’s nominees for the 2022 Rockie Awards International Program Competition, recognizing excellence in television and digital media from around the globe. By company, the BBC leads this year’s nominations with 23, followed by National Geographic and Disney Branded Television with nine nominations each; HBO with seven nods; Sky with six; and Warner Bros. with five. By country, the UK secured 59 nominations, followed by the U.S. with 54, Canada with 30 nominations, nine for Australia, and six for France. The Rockies Program Competition ceremony will be held in-person and live-streamed on YouTube during this year’s festival at 6:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. MT) on Monday, June 13. Read more about this year’s nominees here.

The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) has released Profile 2021, a summary of film and television production activity in Canada between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, including a look at how the pandemic impacted Canada’s media production industry. Topline numbers show that during the period, media production in Canada generated $9.09 billion in production volume, $11.27 billion in GDP and created 216,660 jobs across Canada. Canadian production volume decreased by 12% in 2020/21, due at least in part to the pandemic. During the same period, FLS (foreign service and location) production saw a marginal uptick of 0.4 per cent, the only sector to see an increase in 2020/21, propelling it to an all-time high production volume level of $5.27 billion.

Sphere has acquired film distributor, MK2 l MILE END, which will become part of Sphere Films, with Charles Tremblay appointed as President of the division. The existing team of Anick Poirier and Lorne Price will continue to successfully sell feature films to the international market. Since it was founded by Tremblay in 2017, MK2 l MILE END’s slate of films has included award-winning titles including Palme d’Or and Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Quebec films like And the Birds Rained Down by Louise Archambault and Maria Chapdelaine by Sébastien Pilote. The distributor launched its own home cinema platform in 2020. 

Adrienne Mitchell

Cineflix Media has announced it’s partnering with showrunner, director, and producer Adrienne Mitchell and her newly-launched production company, BentFrame Film & TV. The partnership gives Cineflix Media the first option to co-produce original content developed by Mitchell, while providing BentFrame with access to development support from Cineflix Studios. In addition, Cineflix Rights will retain exclusive first-look rights to distribute the shingle’s content internationally. The Toronto-based prodco, focused on female driven dramatic series and feature films, already has several projects in development. The announcement follows Cineflix Media’s recent acquisition of Back Alley Films—co-founded by Mitchell—along with its library of content IP. Zach Marcovici, also previously of Back Alley, joins BentFrame as Director of Development and Production. 

Pamela Anderson

Corus Studios has announced its biggest-ever U.S. output deal with Hulu, consisting of over 400+ episodes of lifestyle, renovation, unscripted and crime content. The expanded partnership includes the U.S. pre-sale of Pamela’s Garden of Eden (8×60), following Pamela Anderson as she renovates her family home. Hulu also picks-up all three seasons of Global News-produced series Crime Beat (53×60), based on the successful podcast of the same name. In the home and renovation genres: Gut Job (8×60), Hoarder House Flippers (6×60), Styled (8×60), Trading Up with Mandy Rennehan (10×60) Making It Home with Kortney and Kenny (10×60) and Rock Solid Builds (Season 1 & 2). Hulu will also carry additional seasons of Farmhouse Facelift (Season 2 – 8×60), and will be the SVOD home of Buying The View (26×30), the first U.S. sale of docu-series Cheese: A Love Story (6×60), and baking competition show, Wall of Bakers (10×60).

Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company, has entered into an agreement with A+E Networks to produce Hoarders: Canada, the first-ever format commission for the series outside the U.S. The series has been greenlit by Blue Ant to premiere on its specialty channel Makeful in late 2022. Hoarders: Canada follows a team of experts as they tackle some of Canada’s most challenging hoards, giving viewers an in-depth look at the emotional stories of those dealing with compulsive hoarding behaviour. Produced by Saloon Media, nationwide casting for Hoarders: Canada will begin this month. 

Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen

NRK has commissioned a series based on Leonard Cohen’s relationship with muse Marianne Ihlen. The 1950s-set So Long, Marianne will be co-produced for the Norwegian state broadcaster by Buccaneer Media and Redpoint Productions, along with Connect3 Media, which will handle Canadian production. Primarily taking place on the Greek island of Hydra where the pair met, the series will also be set in Oslo, London, New York and Montreal. Cohen’s relationship with Ihlen inspired songs including “So Long, Marianne,” “That’s No Way To Say Goodbye” and “Bird On The Wire.”

Griff Rhys Jones

BBC First original series Griff’s Canadian Adventure (6×60’) follows Welsh comedian and travel enthusiast Griff Rhys Jones as he embarks on a journey across Canada. The series explores how history has shaped Canada; uncovering what makes each province so unique, yet distinctly Canadian. From the Atlantic Coast of Newfoundland to Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest, each episode sees the comedian undergo a unique and quirky challenge that reflects the region he is visiting – from cutting cod tongues and singing sea shanties with Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle in Newfoundland to trying his hand at dog-sledding in Manitoba and eating his first-ever poutine in Quebec. The series will have its Canadian broadcast premiere April 21, exclusively on BBC First. 

Katharine Dowson, Adam Beach, Ryan Cook

Discovery’s all-new Canadian original woodcarving competition series, A Cut Above, will be hosted by Golden Globenominated actor, Adam Beach. The 12-episode series shoots this spring in Squamish, B.C., and is set to premiere later this year on Discovery. Joining the cast is world-renowned Canadian chainsaw carver Ryan Cook and UK sculptor, Katharine Dowson, who bring their combined expertise to serve as competition judges. A Cut Above puts 12 of the best chainsaw carvers from across the world to the ultimate test of creativity, strength, and skill, as they turn ordinary logs into works of art.

Crave has secured a deal with Sesame Workshop to bring Sesame Street programming to the platform. Crave becomes the Canadian streaming home of the iconic children’s series when Season 51 drops on Friday, April 15, along with the Sesame Street: Classic Episodes Collection. Additional Sesame Workshop programming coming to Crave this year includes: Sesame Street Season 52, Cookie Monster’s Food Truck, Elmo’s World, Once Upon A Sesame Street Christmas, and Sesame Street Mecha Builders, the upcoming CGI-animated Sesame Street spinoff. 

Longhope Media Inc. and OMNI Television will premiere all-new satirical sketch comedy series ABROAD, in English and Tagalog, on April 24 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. Co-created by and starring Filipina comedian Isabel Kanaan (Second Jen, Air Farce NYE), the 12-part, half hour series is based on her experiences as an immigrant from a comedic perspective. Starring alongside Kanaan are Aldrin Bundoc, Joy Castro, Nicco Lorenzo Garcia, Justin Santiago, Carolyn Fe, Jon Blair, Natalie Metcalfe, Sharjil Rasool, Nile Seguin, Christian Smith, and Jillian Welsh.

CHCH-TV has moved into its new home in suburban Hamilton on Innovation Drive. In 2021, CHCH said goodbye to its previous location on Jackson Street West in downtown Hamilton, which it had occupied since the station’s launch in June 1954. The new facility features a 3,500 sq. ft. fully digital and 4K-ready broadcast space, complete with a 360-degree anchor desk.

Cogeco is the title sponsor of the 2022 Ontario Mixed Curling Championship, airing the event throughout the province on YourTV. The tournament takes place at Belleville’s historic Quinte Curling Club from Wednesday, April 13 to Sunday, April 17. Curlers from across the province are competing for the opportunity to represent Ontario at November’s 2022 National Championship. YourTV’s Al Galloway is anchoring event coverage. Cogeco customers can check yourtv.tv for their local listing.

Andre Rampersad (HFX Wanderers) of Trinidad & Tobago doing battle with compatriot Ryan Telfer, formerly of Atlético Ottawa

MEDIAPRO Canada has sealed a media rights agreement with Flow Sports, the Caribbean sports broadcaster owned by British telecom CWI Group, that will bring live coverage of Canadian soccer to households across 22 Caribbean territories. The deal means close to 500,000 households across the region will have access to live coverage of the Canadian Premier League (CPL). The deal covers the 2022 season with an option to renew. The strong Caribbean talent pool in the CPL includes Alex Marshall, HFX Wanderers (Jamaica), Emery Welshman, Forge FC (Guyana); Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Valour FC (Haiti), and two players form Trinidad & Tobago: Andre Rampersad and Akeem García, both of HFX Wanderers – as well as HFX Wanderers coach Stephen Hart, also of Trinidad & Tobago.

Knowledge Network’s executive leadership is under scrutiny following the release of a 2022 audit that shows over the past seven years, just 1.7% of the films supported by the B.C. public broadcaster were the work of filmmakers of colour. That equates to $34,000 of the $2M granted to filmmakers. A petition to replace CEO Rudy Buttignol, who has overseen Knowledge Network for 15 years, has gathered more than 500 signatures to date. 

The 23rd annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival will welcome artists and audiences back to Toronto for in-person screenings and events, Oct. 18-23. imagineNATIVE will then present the festival online, Oct. 24-30. Programming and ticket details will be announced in the coming months. Submissions are now open until May 18.

CBC is offering a week-long slate of programming in recognition of Earth Week 2022, April 18-22. New and original content available on CBC platforms includes Arctic Blue with Peter Mansbridge (World Premiere, April 18). The new CBC Docs original takes an in-depth look at Canada’s claim to the North and asks who will have authority over the Arctic when it isn’t covered in ice. documentary Channel original Coral Ghosts has its CBC TV premiere April 19, combining 100 years of underwater photography with Dr. Tom Goreau, a marine biologist who inherited the family legacy of protecting the world’s coral reefs. The Fifth Estate’s Bait and Switch: Recycling’s Dirty Secrets (April 20 on CBC, CBC Gem) sees the show team up with Radio-Canada’s Enquête for a joint investigation showing how Canada still routinely ships plastic waste to developing countries. 

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

Citytv has launched a new subscription streaming service on Amazon Prime Video. Citytv+ will offer live and on-demand access to series like The Bachelorette, Law & Order, Canada’s Got Talent, Atlanta, and Chicago Med/Fire/P.D., in addition to titles from FX and FXX like The Americans, Sons of Anarchy, Atlanta, The Shield, Damages, and Baskets. Multicultural broadcaster OMNI TV is also available on Prime via Citytv+ with daily third-language newscasts in Arabic, Cantonese, Filipino, Italian, Mandarin, and Punjabi, plus locally-produced programming in more than 20 languages. CityNews 24/7 will offer digital news, including the latest headlines, weather, and traffic, as well as live coverage of Breakfast Television and CityNews local newscasts. Available to Prime members, Citytv+ is available for $4.99/month. Prime members can also access a free tier of Citytv’s live programming schedule. Read more here.

Amazon is raising the price of its Prime membership in Canada. The subscription, which encompasses free one-day shipping on many items, access to its Prime Video streaming platform and other benefits, will go up $2 to $9.99/month, while an annual renewal will increase by $20 to $99 per year. It’s the first price increase for Prime since Amazon launched in Canada in 2013.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

CRTCThe CRTC has been allocated $8.5 million in the federal budget to develop a regulatory regime if Bill C-18, the Online News Act, becomes law. Covering the reuse of journalism by digital giants like Google and Facebook, some critics are concerned about the role of the CRTC with former Vice Chair Peter Menzies telling The Globe and Mail that putting the commission in charge of a framework for negotiating deals between news outlets and tech giants is “like putting a baseball umpire in charge of a soccer game.”

Corus Entertainment has announced its second quarter financial results reporting a consolidated revenue increase of 1% for the quarter and 6% year-to-date. Consolidated segment profit decreased 23% for the quarter and 9% year-to-date, with net income attributable to shareholders of $16.2 million ($0.08 per share basic) for the quarter and $92.4 million ($0.44 per share basic) year-to-date. Doug Murphy, President and CEO, said Q2 results reflect strong subscriber revenue gains and a recovery in the company’s radio business, offset primarily by lower timing-related content licensing revenues. 

Shaw Communications has announced consolidated financial and operating results for the quarter ended Feb. 28. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated revenue decreased by 2.0% to $1.36 billion, adjusted EBITDA decreased 0.8% to $632 million and net income decreased 9.7% to $196 million. In the second quarter, the company added approximately 16,900 new Wireless customers. Second quarter Wireless revenue decreased 3.9% to $323 million and adjusted EBITDA increased 26.8% to $123 million compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2021. Wireless service revenue grew 9.2% due to continued subscriber growth, partially offset by lower ARPU as the company continues to scale its lower revenue Shaw Mobile customer base. 

The 2022 Michener – Deacon Fellowships for Investigative Journalism will be awarded to Stéphane Blais, an environmental journalist with The Canadian Press, and freelance journalist Rob Csernyik. Blais’s project will focus on lithium, a high-demand element used in manufacturing electric batteries. The mines are mainly in Indigenous territories and little is known of their environmental and economic impact. Csernyik’s project seeks to identify how the toxic relationship between gambling and suicides has evolved, and investigate what, if anything, governments and public health authorities are doing to address the problem. 

MTM JR. has released a report on children and their usage and ownership of cell phones.  The report finds two in five Canadian kids, aged 2-17, own a cell phone and 60% have used one in the past month. Although usage (87%) and ownership (81%) are the highest among teens, 39% of kids aged 2-6 have used a cell phone in the past month. Apple is the most popular brand among kids with 64% owning an iPhone, followed by Samsung (24%). 41% of children have either talk, text and data plans for their phones, while 34% have just a talk and text plan. MTM also found children prefer watching video content on bigger screens, such as TV sets, tablets or computers/laptops. Only 5% of children cited smartphones as their preferred device for watching SVOD services like Netflix or Disney+.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

Dielectric FM pylon antenna

ADVERTORIAL: The vast majority of UHF North American broadcast antennas today are slotted cylinder pylon antennas, which offer benefits including smaller tower footprints, fewer parts, lower windload and superior pattern flexibility. Unfortunately for radio broadcasters, their narrow bandwidth characteristics were impractical for passing full-band FM signals. Just in time for the 2022 NAB Show and the company’s 80th year in business, Dielectric has unveiled its innovation to resolve these bandwidth limitations with the FMP family of FM pylon antennas. Dielectric will demonstrate its benefits in Booth W7107 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 24-27. David Rusch discusses how these advances were realized with Dielectric President Keith Pelletier.

NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance (NVISA) will demonstrate the latest innovations and developments related to NextGen TV and the implementation of ATSC 3.0 at the 2022 NAB Show. NVISA is a worldwide coalition of developers and manufacturers working to accelerate the industry’s evolution toward next-generation broadcast and OTT television systems. A complete list of NVISA member exhibitors and speakers is available in the NVISA NAB 2022 Show Guide.

 

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