REVOLVING DOOR:
Doug Jeffries is retiring from Global Kingston after 46 years on the Kingston sports beat. Jeffries, 66, started his career in 1976 after graduating from Loyalist College. He joined CKLC, and later CFLY-FM, anchoring early morning and afternoon sports, going on to host Kingston’s first call-in sports show. He also served as the PA announcer for Queen’s Football and the Kingston Frontenacs hockey club. When his position at CKLC fell to cuts in 1999, Jeffries was hired by CKWS radio. He joined the television side as a sports anchor in 2002. With Jeffries delivering his final sportscast Wednesday night, Kingston’s Mayor proclaimed June 15, “Doug Jeffries Day” in the City of Kingston.
My last scoop. At 1 p.m. today, after beginning my career at The Edmonton Journal in 1967 I received a phone call from Toronto informing me my position had been eliminated by Post Media. Thank you all so much for reading. Hardly the way I hoped it would end. -30-
— Terry Jones (@byterryjones) June 15, 2022
Terry Jones has been released by Postmedia. The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, age 73, started his career with the Edmonton Journal in 1967. He joined the Edmonton Sun as a columnist in 1982. The two newsrooms were combined in 2016, following Postmedia’s acquisition of Sun Media’s English newspapers. Jones has also contributed to radio over the years, hosting shows and sports segments on CFRN 1260 and CFCW.
TSN 690 (CKGM-AM) Montreal has announced it’s replacing Tony Marinaro with Sean Campbell and Mitch Gallo as co-hosts of the midday show. Campbell vs. Gallo will launch June 20. Marinaro left the station earlier this month after a 20-year run. He’d most recently been hosting weekday show, The Montreal Forum, as well as Habs Lunch.
Danny Mags will be joining Durham Radio’s new Vancouver station, WAVE 98.3 FM, set to launch in July. Mags, who’ll be hosting afternoons, is most recognizable from his time on Family Channel’s Life with Derek. He was most recently heard on Regina’s 104.9 The Wolf (CFWF-FM) before stepping away from radio to focus on his trivia and events company, BINGPOT! Trivia, which includes livestreaming on Twitch.
Tracy Houston has joined WAVE 98.3 FM as the station’s first sales and marketing executive. Houston has more than 20 years of media sales experience, most recently spending seven years in Toronto with Fifth Story where she was a Business Development Manager. Prior to that she was the Regional Advertising Representative for Brunico Communications where she represented Strategy, Playback and Media in Canada. She also led the sales and marketing arm of MTV Canada in the U.S. and Europe and has headed up international sales and marketing for B.C. films in television markets around the world.
Paul Arcand, host of 98.5 FM (CHMP-FM) Montreal’s Puisqu’il faut se lever morning show, has announced he’ll depart the station when his contract is up in two years time. Arcand, 62, has been at the helm of the highly-rated program since 2004. He started his career with CKBS St. Hyacinthe in 1978, going on to stops at CKVL, CJMS, and CKAC Montreal as a reporter, host and news director. Arcand is also a documentary filmmaker.
Zach McGibbon is leaving 580 CFRA Ottawa. McGibbon, who has been a writer and anchor with CFRA since 2018, is joining the newsroom at Quinte Broadcasting in Belleville, where he’ll be covering City Hall, among other duties.
Lindsay Biscaia is moving from CTV Barrie to CP24 Toronto. Biscaia has been an anchor and producer in Barrie for the last year and a half. Prior to that, she anchored news on The Morning Show on Global Peterborough, as well as sister stations, 100.5 Fresh Radio (CKRU-FM) and 101.5 The Wolf (CKWF-FM).
Andrea Ross has left CBC Vancouver to take on a new role outside journalism. Ross had been with the public broadcaster since 2016, starting as a reporter and editor in Edmonton. She joined CBC Vancouver in 2019 and had most recently been working as a Senior Digital Producer.
Andy Cole is joining Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM) Vancouver as a producer. Cole arrives from Bell Media where he’s most recently been producing shows like The Sport Market at BNN Bloomberg 1410 (CFTE-AM). Prior to CKST-AM’s 2021 format flip to Funny 1040, he hosted sports updates and was a board op at TSN 1040.
Alan Regan has announced his departure from 980 CKNW Vancouver. Regan has been with the station since 2018, most recently as the Senior Producer for The Jas Johal Show. Regan was previously a producer with Newstalk 106-108 Dublin.
RADIO & PODCAST:
The National Campus & Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC) has announced the winners of this year’s Community Radio Awards In Broadcast and Online. Known as the CRABOs, this year’s winners were led by Edmonton’s CJSR-FM, which picked up wins for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting, Best Current Affairs or Magazine Program, and News. Dalhousie University campus station CKDU-FM, the University of Calgary’s CJSW-FM, and CIVL-FM, the campus and community radio station serving the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), each picked up three awards. Among the CIVL-FM programs recognized was long-running music program, The Wheelbarrow, whose creator Greg Aitken, passed away in February. This year’s GameChanger Award was presented to Luke Smith, who served as the NCRA’s Learning and Development Officer for seven years. Smith accepted a new role as Station Manager at CIUT 89.5 FM Toronto in May. Read more here.
CFQR AM 600 Montreal has launched live talk programming a decade after TTP Media received CRTC approval for the station. AM 940 (CINW-AM) alum Jim Connell started hosting the station’s first show, Morning Matters, on Monday, June 13. Playing music from the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, CFQR will also feature news, information and talk.
99.3 County FM (CKPE-FM) Prince Edward County, ON has announced a final tally for its 8th annual Radiothon, held June 2-5. With more than $65,000 in donations received, the station exceeded its $64,000 goal for the annual fundraising event that helps keep the non-profit, community, volunteer-driven radio station on-air. More than one-third of the station’s annual income comes from donations and grants.
Canadian Music Week RadioActive sessions are now available to watch on demand with a conference or virtual pass. Among the virtual sessions are early findings from Radio on the Move 2022, presented by Jeff Vidler of Signal Hill Insights and Caroline Gianias of Radio Connects. The study, now in its 13th year, includes the latest Share of Audio findings and what’s happening with AM/FM streaming and in-car audio consumption, based on a survey of more than 4,000 Canadian adults. Among the themes explored are that radio can no longer count on its convenience advantage over other audio competitors. Radio on the Move also looks at how Canadians are using audio to satisfy “need states.” Heavy AM/FM listeners (2+ hrs/typical weekday) are more likely to use broadcast radio “to get information,” “to learn something new” and “to feel connected.” Read more here.
CBC has announced a new five-year partnership with Massey Hall that includes CBC being named as the official media partner of Massey Hall and Allied Music Centre. The partnership includes building new programming initiatives to amplify emerging and established homegrown musical talent, and a live concert series for national audiences that will be available across CBC platforms, beginning this fall. Massey Hall and CBC’s history dates back to the 1940s when performances were recorded live from a CBC broadcast booth overlooking the venue’s historic Allan Slaight Stage. The collaboration also introduces new studio spaces for CBC at Allied Music Centre, located on the fifth floor of the new building adjacent to Massey Hall, which will also offer an alternate location for CBC Radio and TV hosts to conduct artist interviews.
SoundExchange is unifying its existing publisher services to build an integrated global publisher services administration and licensing division called SX Works Global Publisher Services. SX Works will focus on launching new solutions to support the global music publisher and self-published songwriter communities, with phase one focusing on the U.S. and Canada. The new division will be led by Paul Shaver, president of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), which SoundExchange acquired in 2017. SX Works will also engage music users and emerging technology platforms to ensure they have access to accurate musical work and sound recording data. Promotions within SX Works, include: Paul Gills, SVP, Operations and Client Engagement, who will implement the publisher operations shared services model across SX Works and CMRRA’s Operational team, along with leading the newly created Client Engagement and Strategy team at CMRRA; Veronica Syrtash, SVP, Business Affairs and Corporate Development, who will oversee new business, while continuing to lead CMRRA’s legal and business affairs; and Lori Ellis, VP, Operations, responsible for the development and administration of CMRRA and SX Works operational undertakings.
LISTEN: The Steele and Vance Show is set to launch this fall on CHEK TV, which will see veteran radio and television broadcasters Lynda Steele and Jody Vance pair up to take on the issues of the day in primetime every week. On this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast, Steele and Vance give us a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the new show. We also talk about Jody’s five-year struggle with criminal-level listener harassment, working outside the limitations of corporate media, and more. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
LISTEN: Canadian and UK radio and TV veteran Nails Mahoney is on the latest Sound Off Podcast, discussing his radio path with Matt Cundill and his current ventures – presenter coaching business OnAirCoach and The Radio Space – a social media site designed specifically for people in the broadcast industry to network. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
SIGN OFFS:
Loretta Rogers, 83, on June 11. The matriarch of the Rogers family and the co-founder of Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI), Loretta Rogers was RCI’s longest-serving corporate director and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Rogers Control Trust. English-born, she was the daughter of Woolworth heiress Maysie Gasque and John Roland Robinson, a Conservative British politician, who was granted the title of Baron Martonmere and later served as Governor of Bermuda. Loretta married Ted Rogers in 1963 and served as the telecom and broadcast pioneer’s closest confidante. She invested her time and support to many charitable endeavours, notably establishing the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research in 2014 with a $130 million donation, the largest private donation in the history of Canadian health care. She also founded the Loretta A. Rogers Chair in Eating Disorders at Toronto General & Western Hospital, and the Ted Rogers Family Chair in Heart Function at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. She had served on the board of directors of the University Health Network Foundation since 2004, was on the Bishop Strachan School Foundation from 1980 to 2009, as well as President & Director of the Canadian Lyford Cay Foundation since 1980. She had also served on the board of the Robert Bateman Foundation since 2012 and was the founding Director of Toronto eating disorder support organization, Sheena’s Place. Read more here.
Jim Nihda, 92, on June 7, after suffering a debilitating stroke in August 2021. Nihda’s nearly four-decade career in broadcasting began after receiving radio training with Toronto’s Central Tech High School in 1949. His first position in radio broadcasting was with 1050 CHUM Toronto, as a daytime engineering trainee. He left CHUM that fall to join Oshawa’s CKLB as a broadcast technician. In 1951, Nihda returned to Toronto to work with L.J. Hagerty Advertising in their production department. He joined CBC later that year, helping launch CBLT-TV in 1952. He eventually moved into radio and became a top-ranked technician, working with TV and radio legends like The Happy Gang, The Rhythm Pals, Tommy Hunter, and Juliet. During the 1950s and ‘60s, Nihda traveled extensively with the “Canada Entertains” group who performed shows for Canadian UN and NATO troops in the Gaza Strip, England, Germany, France, Italy, Churchill and Resolute Bay. He single-handedly produced these shows for Canadawide re-broadcast on radio. Over the years, Nihda helped produce radio broadcasts of numerous historic events including royal visits, the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. In 1966, he was promoted to Duty Manager for Radio & Television at CBC Toronto’s Jarvis Street studios, where he took responsibility for CBC Network TV and Radio weeknight and weekend programming decisions. He retired from the CBC in 1985.
Fred Cole, 87, on May 9. The longtime chief engineer at Victoria radio stations CKDA and CFMS, Cole began his career in Ontario working at the Toronto AM stations of broadcasting icons Jack Kent Cooke and Ted Rogers. He went west at the behest of David Armstrong in 1967, remaining chief engineer of both Capital Broadcasting stations until their sale and dissolution in 1995. Cole went on to work as a technician at The Q (CKKQ-FM) Victoria, in addition to continuing to do contract tech installations on Vancouver Island.
TV & FILM:
The Directors Guild of Canada, BC District Council (DGC BC) has shared details of a tentative agreement it’s recommending to members that includes a nearly 16% wage increase for Location Managers and a meal penalty, among other improvements. The tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the Canadian Media Producers Association-BC (CMPA) comes following 15 months of bargaining which saw the DGC BC issue strike notice for the first time in union history. Highlights include wage increases of 3% each year, retroactive to July 11, 2021 and minimum wage differentials to ensure that, as minimum wage increases, the wage rates for positions just above minimum wage continue to increase as well DGC BC members will vote over five days, starting June 19. Read more here.
ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists), the union representing performers who make commercials, has unanimously endorsed a strategy to fight back against what it says is concerted union-busting by some advertising agencies. The National Commercial Agreement (NCA) 2022-2023 Solidarity and Action Plan is backed by an initial $1 million from national reserves and aims to keep commercials made using union talent and take legal steps to stop employers from walking away from the collective agreement to make low-paid commercials, with no benefits or retirement contributions.
The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) has announced the winners of the 2022 Rockie Awards International Program Competition. Juried by a panel of 150 international industry professionals, awards were presented in 28 categories spanning Documentary & Factual, Arts & Entertainment, Children & Youth, Scripted, and Podcast. The $25,000 Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content was awarded to Antica Productions for feature length documentary, Captive, while the Prix Francophone (Francophone Prize) recognized Pixcom and Quebecor Content television miniseries Audrey est revenue (Audrey’s Back). International winners included Friends: The Reunion (Best Comedy & Variety Program), RuPaul’s Drag Race (Best Competition Series), British police procedural Vigil, as well as discovery+ documentary Introducing, Selma Blair (Best Arts & Culture Program) which chronicles the actress’ battle with MS. Read more here.
The Guild of Music Supervisors, Canada (GMSC) and Canadian Music Week (CMW) have unveiled the winners of the 2022 Canadian Sync Awards, which celebrate the craft of music supervision in filmed media. Handed out last Thursday night at the El Mocambo in Toronto at a packed event hosted by Tara Slone, freelance music supervisor Cody Partridge claimed a leading four awards, including Best Sync – Sports Program or Promo; Best Sync – Soundtrack, Original Film or Episodic Series for Streaming Platform for Crave series, Letterkenny; Best Sync – Soundtrack, Episodic Series for Letterkenny; and Best Sync – Scene, Feature Film or Documentary Film for Wildhood. Find the complete list of winners here.
Rodeo FX has opened its third Canadian studio in Toronto’s Liberty Village, starting with an on-site team of 60 people joining the global team of 800. Behind projects like The Little Mermaid (2023), Netflix’s Stranger Things, and Season 2 of Apple TV’s Foundation, Rodeo’s new location will be led by Mai-Ling Dydo as VFX supervisor and Lara Osland as VFX producer. Dydo was formerly VFX supervisor at MR. X, starting as a CG artist before turning to supervision with credits on Penny Dreadful, American Gods, and Raised by Wolves. Osland, a fellow Mr. X alumnus, started in public relations before moving into production, and then management, including projects like Pacific Rim, The Boys, Midnight Mass and most recently Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
Monique Lamoureux and Patricia Blais of Avanti Groupe and Ian Quenneville of Montreal branded content and television producer TOAST Studio have announced the creation of new television production house, AVANTI │TOAST. The two studios will pool their respective expertise to produce content across fiction, documentary, magazine, and reality TV. Collaborations over the past year, include De garde 24/7 (Télé-Québec), Christine Morency: without filter (Crave and Z), Les justiciers (Noovo ), When the walls fall (Casa), Chefs de bois II (Vrai et TVA), And now? (True) and Bulles de star (Unis TV).
Craig McGillivray and Greg Rubidge have launched 10Star Media, a new content sales, financing and production company. McGillivray, who most recently worked as Vice-President of Distribution at Breakthrough Entertainment, will helm the new venture out of Toronto. Prior to Breakthrough, McGillivray held the same role at Peacock Alley Entertainment and before that was Territory Manager at DHX Media (now WildBrain). Rubidge is president of Syndicado, a Toronto-based VOD distribution company. He started his career in commercial banking, before moving into entertainment and technology.
Apple and Major League Soccer (MLS) have announced a streaming partnership that will make the Apple TV app the exclusive destination to stream live MLS matches beginning in 2023 and through 2032. The global deal includes all MLS, Leagues Cup, and select MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT matches with no local broadcast blackouts. A limited number of matches will be available for free. Apple will also produce a new weekly live match whip-around show, game replays, highlights, analysis, and other original programming. As an added benefit to fans, access to the new MLS streaming service will be included as part of MLS full-season ticket packages. At launch, all MLS and Leagues Cup matches will include announcers calling the action in English and Spanish, and all matches involving Canadian teams will be available in French.
Bell Media and the National Football League (NFL) have announced a long-term expansion of their media rights agreement, ensuring Bell Media remains the exclusive television broadcast partner of the NFL in Canada. Live coverage of NFL games will continue on Bell Media platforms including TSN, CTV, CTV2, RDS, live streaming through the networks’ official websites and apps, as well as via TSN Direct and RDS Direct. The multi-year, extended agreement includes: Thursday Night Football and Sunday Night Football regular season games; Monday Night Football, including the new slate of games produced by ABC; NFL RedZone, available every Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. ET; all International Series Games, Playoff Games, and the Super Bowl. TSN will continue to cover the NFL, led by Sportscentre, NFL fantasy content and betting odds through TSN Edge, and a slate of NFL programming from ESPN, including NFL Countdown, NFL Live, NFL Primetime, Monday Night Countdown and the NFL Draft.
Sportsnet’s coverage of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final between the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning is underway. Coverage of the series is being carried on Sportsnet, CBC and SN NOW, starting with the Hockey Central pre-game show at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and SN NOW. Complementing Sportsnet’s live TV coverage, fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest NHL news across sportsnet.ca, the Sportsnet App and Sportsnet’s YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook channels. Fans can also join Steve Dangle for Watch a Playoff Game with Steve Dangle every game night on Sportsnet’s YouTube channel.
TSN has extensive coverage of Formula 1’s biggest auto racing event on Canadian soil when the Canadian Grand Prix 2022 returns to Montreal, June 17-19. Fans can access live bonus F1 feeds through the networks’ digital platforms, including Pit Lane, Driver Tracker, Timing Feed, Mixed On-Board Cameras, and in-car feeds of Canadian drivers Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi, as well as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Throughout the week, TSN’s Kayla Grey and auto racing reporter and former professional racing driver Tim Hauraney deliver updates from the Bell Studio at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. TSN’s Digital Sportscentre, hosted by Marissa Roberto; BarDown’s Daniel Zakrzewski; and MuchMusic VJs Teddy Tong and Georgia Kolev will also be on-site. Bell acquired the Canadian Grand Prix last year.
Global has confirmed the start of production and casting details for new original scripted series, Robyn Hood. With filming beginning June 20 in Toronto and Hamilton, Robyn Hood is produced by Boat Rocker, created by Director X (Superfly, Mister Tachyon), and written by award-winning screenwriter Chris Roberts (Orphan Black, Frontier). Set to premiere on Global in 2023, the eight-episode, one-hour contemporary re-imagining of the Robin Hood legend follows heroine Robyn Loxley and anti-authoritarian masked hip-hop band, The Hood, as they call out injustices and fight for freedom and equality in the city of New Nottingham. The cast includes Jessye Romeo (Pennyworth), Nykeem Provo (The Right One), Idrissa Sanogo (Titans), Daniela Kharlamova (The Boys), Jonathan Langdon (Run the Burbs), Sydney Kuhne (Kim’s Convenience), Ian Matthews (The Hardy Boys), Kira Guloien (Murdoch Mysteries), Manuel Rodriguez (Black Summer), and Lisa Michelle Cornelius (Chucky).
Hallmark Channel has greenlit Ride, a new, original primetime series set to begin production this summer in Calgary and premiere on Hallmark Channel in 2023. Co-produced by Endeavor Content-backed Blink49 Studios and Seven24 Films, in partnership with Bell Media for CTV Drama Channel, the series is based on an original script by husband and wife writing team Rebecca Boss & Chris Masi (Our Kind of People, Step Up: High Water, Star), who along with Sherri Cooper-Landsman (Beauty and the Beast, Brothers & Sisters) are showrunners and executive producers. Ride is a multigenerational family ensemble following the Murrays, part of a rodeo dynasty going back a generation, as they struggle to keep their beloved ranch afloat.
Adam Scorgie’s Score G Production Films will produce Super Channel original documentary, Bif Naked: One of a Kind, along with Electric Panda Entertainment, Her Royal Majesty’s Ent., and Gruvpix Films. Anticipated to air in early 2024, the feature doc will be written and directed by Genie and Sundance award-winning director, Jennifer Abbott (The Corporation, The Magnitude of All Things), and produced by Scorgie, Yas Taalat, Gabriel Napora and Shane Fennessey. Executive producers include Peter Karroll, Yipeng Ben Lu, Mackenzie Donaldson, Costa Vassos, Cody Sparshu, Jim Malmgren and Darin Thera.
Boat Rocker has announced that its premium scripted drama series, American Rust, starring Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney, has been picked up for a second season by Amazon Freevee. Created by Oscar nominee Dan Futterman and based on Philipp Meyer’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name, production on the second season is scheduled to begin later this year with Daniels and Tierney returning.
The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), APTN, and CBC have announced the CBC-APTN Early Stage Scripted Development Program for Indigenous Creators. A new pilot project to support Indigenous creators in the pre-development project stage, the program is open to emerging Indigenous television creators with scripted projects in English or an Indigenous language. Selected participants will have access to CBC and APTN executives, and receive support for their projects with the aim of progressing them to the next stage of development, and ultimately into production. Applications are open. The deadline to apply is July 22.
CBC, BIPOC TV & Film and the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) have announced the creation of new accelerator program, the CBC-BIPOC TV & Film Showrunner Catalyst. It will support the career advancement of senior writers who identify as Indigenous, Black or People of Colour through hands-on and personally tailored on-set experience. CBC, BIPOC TV & Film and the CFC have made an initial three-year commitment with the opportunity to renew. The first part of the Catalyst will consist of a series of hands-on masterclasses covering all facets of bringing a show to life, while the second part will see each participant build foundational skills by working with an experienced showrunner and participating in key elements of production from prep meetings to running the floor, managing set, and taking a block of episodes through to post.
Magnify Digital, OCAD U and TELUS Fund are collaborating on an intensive project to research and develop tools for measuring how screen media content impacts audiences. Understanding and Magnifying the Impacts of Cultural Content is a 12-month project aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the success of a media product, its critical reception, and its impacts on audiences. Under the academic leadership of Dr. Sara Diamond and Dr. Chris Kim, the initiative will develop, test, and implement tools that will later be shared via ScreenMiner, Magnify Digital’s new cloud-based audience analytics platform (formerly called, ViewerCentric). The overall objective of the project is to develop systems for the qualitative analysis of screen media products to create benchmarks and a scoring system for festival invitations, awards and earned media.
France 24 is strengthening its presence in Canada with a new distribution agreement with Rogers, making the English channel available in the “International news” package (channel 116). Subscribers can also sign up for the channel only. As part of the launch, France 24 will be broadcast free-to-air for three months.
TYT is expanding its reach to the Canadian market. The American progressive news network is launching on live TV streaming platform FuboTV, and is now included in FuboTV’s Elite and Ultimate channel plans, and its News Plus add-on. TYT aims to provide a progressive perspective that other news channels don’t, including coverage of primary and midterm elections. Shows include The Young Turks hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, The Damage Report with John Iadarola, and Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey.
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
The CRTC has imposed $7.5 million in penalties on Bell Canada for three violations of the Telecommunications Act, related to an ongoing dispute over access to its utility poles. The CRTC found that Bell denied permit applications for access to its telephone poles from Videotron, its main competitor in Quebec. As a result of subsequent delays, Videotron network deployment was held up, creating a competitive advantage for Bell. The decision sets the penalty for each of three violations of the act at $2.5 million each. The dispute dates back to 2020 with the issue also eliciting complaints from Cogeco Connexion and Maskicom. Read more here.
Videotron has won a Federal Court challenge over a dispute with U.S.-based Xperi (formerly known under the names Rovi and TiVo) over the alleged use of patented technology in Videotron’s illico viewing platform. Those patents have now been declared invalid. Quebecor President and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau called the ruling “an important victory for Videotron and all technology companies that grapple with organizations whose practices are akin to those of patent trolls, which create no value for society and cost millions of dollars per year.” Quebecor and Videotron are calling for Patent Act anti-trolling provisions, which exist in other jurisdictions, to end abuse of process.
SkyChoice Communications is challenging Bell Canada’s FIBE trademark in Federal Court, maintaining it’s impeding independent ISPs from using the word “fiber” in their marketing and branding. The Oakville, ON-headquartered internet, TV and home phone provider says the FIBE trademark lacks distinctiveness with only a one letter difference between FIBE and FIBER. Canadian trademark regulations generally prohibit registration of marks which can be confused with common words. To fund the significant costs of the legal challenge, SkyChoice has teamed up with Freedom Fibers, a grassroots organization dedicated to improving internet affordability. It’s set up a GoFundMe to support the legal effort. Read more here.
RTDNA Canada has announced the winners of the 2022 Best Canadian Local News Awards, honouring the best journalists, programs, platforms, stations, and newsgathering organizations in audio, digital and video. Leading the winners, who all advanced after winning Regional awards, is CBC Saskatchewan which claimed 10 wins including Breaking News, Live Special Events, Continuing Coverage and Excellence in Sound, Digital, and Editing. RTDNA Canada has also recognized the winners of its National Awards of Excellence. CBC captured 13 awards, followed by seven for CTV and its platforms, and three for Global News.
The Western Association of Broadcasters (WAB) wrapped up their 86th conference on Thursday evening at the Banff Fairmont Springs with the WAB Gold Medal Awards Gala. Among this year’s winners was Golden West Broadcasting Saskatchewan Program Manager Barrie Vice, who was inducted into the WAB Hall of Fame. Clayton Kroeker, morning show co-host at Harvard Broadcasting’s 96.3 Cruz FM (CFWD-FM) Saskatoon, was the recipient of this year’s Leader of Tomorrow Award, presented to a broadcaster under 30 who has demonstrated leadership and skill in broadcasting. In the Digital Innovation category, Pattison Media was recognized for its involvement in the HuskieFAN app, which delivers University of Saskatchewan Huskies home and road games for Football, Men’s Hockey and Women’s Hockey. Read more here. Quarter Century Club honourees marking 25 Years in broadcasting include: Abbey White, Andrew Dawson, Barb Bell, Cam Birnie, Colin Lovequist, Darrell Gibson, Ginette Ouimet, Kevin Becker, Lochlin Cross, and Shauna MacKinnon. This year’s Half Century Club honourees are Marty Forbes and Royal Watson. The 87th annual WAB conference is slated for June 7-8, 2023.
Karin Larsen has been inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. Before getting her start in media, Larsen was one of the country’s top synchronized swimmers in the 1980s, serving as the alternate for Canada’s gold medal-winning pairs team at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She got her start in broadcasting as a part-time weekend sports researcher at CBC Vancouver in 1988, working behind-the-scenes on shows like CBC’s NHL Breakaway and BCTV’s Down the Stretch. She went on to cover 11 Olympics, five Paralympics, several Grey Cups, the Stanley Cup playoffs, and countless Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions games. She’s also served as an announcer and host for CBC Olympic coverage, including co-hosting the Closing Ceremony of the Torino Winter Olympics.
Danielle Graham is suing Bell Media for $1.2 million, alleging she was fired from CTV’s eTalk after complaining about gender discrimination. Graham, 41, had been with the show since 2007 and its co-anchor since 2015 when she parted ways with Bell Media in March. As first reported by the National Post, the former eTalk host’s allegations include being passed over for a promotion and receiving less pay and fewer perks. Graham’s suit claims she was fired in March one day before a scheduled meeting with CTV Vice President David Daigle to discuss gender discrimination and abuse she had been experiencing. The suit alleges Graham was fired specifically to pre-empt that meeting after lodging three complaints in the previous year.
Jennifer Valentyne and Jacqui Delaney won’t be taking part in Corus Entertainment’s third-party investigation into allegations of gender discrimination and abuse against suspended Q107 morning show host John Derringer. Both former co-hosts on the long-running show, Valentyne and Delaney have refused to sign a confidentiality requirement. As reported by the Toronto Sun, Delaney was also told by Turnpenney and Milne LLC, the legal team handling the matter, that she would be a witness only in the case and not a complainant with the review to focus on those working at the station now.
CBC/Radio-Canada is the first Canadian broadcast media to be awarded Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) certification from Reporters Without Borders (RSF). JTI scrutinizes a news service’s transparency and editorial practices and makes its compliance visible to users. It was launched by RSF and its partners in 2018 to combat disinformation and promote trustworthy journalism. To obtain certification, CBC/Radio-Canada assessed its Journalistic Standards and Practices, against the JTI standard. Each service then published a Transparency Report, which was independently audited by Deloitte, which awarded CBC News and Radio-Canada Info top marks across the board, including in key areas like accountability for journalism principles, accuracy and responsibility for sources. The Winnipeg Free Press, France Télévisions, and swissinfo.ch (a branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) are among other media certified by the JTI.
The 2022 Webster Awards are open for submissions. Celebrating the best in journalism in British Columbia, the deadline is July 31. Submissions are being accepted for stories published between June 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022. Find out more about all 14 categories here. Tickets are on sale now for The Webster Foundation’s in-person stand-up cocktail and canape reception on Sept. 20 where the three finalists in each category will be announced. The Webster Awards will be presented online on Nov. 3.
BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:
The Association of Central Canada Broadcast Engineers (CCBE) is planning the in-person return of their Career Development Conference after a two-year pandemic hiatus. CCBE says the 2022 conference will be a year of rebuilding with a scaled-down event to take place, Aug. 26-27 at Kingbridge Centre in King City, ON. It will feature technical paper presentations and offer delegates an opportunity to meet with industry manufacturers and vendors. The conference is open to all engineers, technologists and technicians working in the broadcast industry. Details and registration can be found online at ccbe.ca.
Orban Labs, a worldwide leader in audio processing for AM, FM, TV and internet broadcasting, has signed an agreement with RCS to provide Orban’s OPTIMOD zStreamsTM processing for RCS’ Disaster Recovery, a unique Zetta automation feature. Zetta’s cloud-based Disaster Recovery tools backup all audio, schedules and metadata and when the station is ready to return to its normal live output, rapidly restores all of the original data.
Firstlight Media has received the 2021 Google Cloud Industry Solution Partner of the Year Award for Media & Entertainment. The Toronto-based OTT and pay-TV cloud services provider was recognized for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, including driving joint customer success in new markets and business models; spurring the adoption of cloud-based workflows and platforms; and laying the groundwork for innovations that advance the technical and product capabilities of OTT and Google Cloud. Firstlight Media’s platform is designed to build and run scalable applications in the cloud using cloud-native technologies, including containers, microservices, a service mesh, APIs, and immutable infrastructure.
The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has awarded its highest technical honor, the 2022 Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award, to Dr. Youngkwon Lim, Principal Research Engineer at Samsung Electronics. Lim has led the ATSC TG3/S33 Specialist Group on Management and Protocols since it was organized in 2013. TG3/S33 is responsible for the most technical documents of any specialist group in TG3 – 8 Standards and 3 Recommended Practices, including A/331 “Signaling, Delivery Synchronization, and Error Protection,” which is one of the most complex documents in the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards. ATSC also presented the Mark Richer Industry Leadership Medal to Sony Electronics for leadership in deployment of ATSC 3.0 tech, as it incorporates ATSC 3.0 electronics into all its consumer TV models in the U.S. Named for the former ATSC president who led the organization for two decades, the award recognizes an individual or team that demonstrates exemplary leadership in advancing the mission of ATSC.
