REVOLVING DOOR:
Bob Irving has announced his retirement after 52 years in broadcasting, 48 of those with Winnipeg’s 680 CJOB. The veteran sportscaster will conclude nearly five decades as the voice of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the final home game of the season on Dec. 5. Originally from Regina, “Knuckles” as he’s nicknamed, arrived at CJOB in 1973 and became the voice of the Bombers the following year. He’s since broadcast more than 800 games and several Grey Cups. Among the accolades he’s been recognized with are inductions into both the Blue Bomber and Canadian Football Halls of Fame and the Order of Manitoba. Read more here.
Doug Collins has retired after a 55-year broadcasting career, 51 of those years at CFJC Kamloops. Collins, 73, arrived in Kamloops in 1970, establishing himself as a radio staple in the market as the voice of morning news. In addition to serving as the station’s news director, starting in 1971, Collins’ range has spanned play-by-play and editorials with his “One Man’s Opinion” segment airing from 1973-2013. Collins semi-retired from his management roles in Oct. 2018. He was recognized with an RTDNA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Randene Neill is joining CityNews 1130 (CKWX-AM) Vancouver as morning co-anchor, alongside Terry Schintz. Neill was formerly an anchor with Global Vancouver for 18 years, up until 2016 when she left to pursue communications, initially with Anthem Properties Group and more recently Providence Health Care. She succeeds Amanda Wawryk, who left the station in early September to join Daily Hive Vancouver.
Stephen Bunda is leaving TSN 1200 (CFGO-AM) Ottawa after a decade. Bunda started with the station as an intern in 2011. His last day as a host and producer with the network is Nov. 12.
Stephanie Tsicos is leaving CTV Winnipeg, where she’s been an anchor and video journalist for the past five years, to join CTV Atlantic. She’ll be based in Halifax. Prior to joining CTV in 2016, Tsicos was a host and producer with Rogers TV in Midland, ON.
Gemma Lynne Stroobant has moved on from broadcasting to join Calgary’s Parker PR as Director of Public Relations. Stroobant was formerly with Global News Calgary for the last 12 years as a reporter, producer, writer, and 6 p.m. & 11 p.m. weekend weather anchor.
Daina Goldfinger is leaving Global News Barrie, saying it’s time for a change after two years of covering the pandemic. Goldfinger had been an online journalist with the station since April 2019. She plans to pursue freelance journalism and content creation full-time.
Kelly Boutsalis has a new role with CBC as lead producer of the public broadcaster’s Six Nations bureau. Boutsalis is an experienced freelancer who has previously been a contributor to CBC Life, Refinery29, FASHION, and Report on Business, among other publications.
Sarah Lawrynuik is the new Senior Producer of Canadaland’s Monday edition. Lawrynuik was formerly a climate change reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press and has also worked in various roles with CBC in Lethbridge and Calgary.
Victoria Ahearn is leaving The Canadian Press to join Playback as an editor. Ahearn has been with CP for more than 22 years, the last 15 focused in entertainment, TV and film.
Merita Ilo, The Canadian Press Ontario Bureau Chief, is leaving the wire service after 19 years. Ilo, who joined CP in 2003 after serving as the Balkans correspondent for the The Associated Press for a decade, is joining The Globe and Mail as weekend editor.
Drew Anderson is The Narwhal’s new Prairies reporter. Based in Calgary, Anderson was previously an online reporter for CBC News for the past six years. He’s also a past publisher and editor of Calgary news and entertainment magazine, Fast Forward Weekly.
Poorti Dube has joined Bell Media as National Sales Coordinator. Dube recently completed the Humber College Advertising-Account Management graduate program.
Chris McKee is leaving his reporting position with the Canadian Traffic Network (CTN) to join Postmedia as a journalist with the North Bay Nugget. McKee has been heard on Greator Toronto stations boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM), Flow 93.5 (CFXJ-FM), Jazz.FM.91 (CJRT-FM), The New Classical FM (CFMZ-FM), 1460 CJOY and Magic 106 (CIMJ-FM), among others, over the last three years.
Lilly Nguyen has been appointed CBC/Radio-Canada’s Director, Culture and External Engagement. Nguyen was most recently Global Communications Director with security services company, GardaWorld. She’s also worked as a cabinet minister’s aide, for the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, Place des Arts and SNC-Lavalin. In her new role, she’ll promote inclusion and drive changes to Radio-Canada’s internal culture while also building relationships with communities and industry players.
Cathy Wong has been named Vice-President, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Official Languages at Telefilm Canada. Wong will be based out of the Montréal office when it reopens, overseeing creation and implementation of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, including policy management regarding the organization’s Official Languages activities. Wong has dedicated the past decade of her professional life to furthering inclusion and representation in the community, media, cultural and institutional realms. Elected as a city councillor in Montréal in 2017, she became the first person of Chinese descent to serve at City Hall. Over the years, she’s also worked as a columnist for Radio-Canada and Le Devoir, and as a host for CIBL radio.
Ashley Lawrence has been recruited by DAZN to serve as the global sports streaming platform’s newest ambassador. The Canadian Olympic women’s soccer gold medalist and Paris Saint-Germain star is teaming up with DAZN, home of the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Canada, through the rest of the 2021-22 season around a shared goal of elevating the women’s game. DAZN says following Lawrence’s gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics with the Canadian women’s national team, women’s soccer interest in Canada, as well as globally, is at an all-time high.
Donna Luke has been promoted to the newly-created role of Senior Vice President, Business Operations, at marblemedia. With the company since 2018, in her new role she’ll lead strategic and business planning by shaping and organizing production activity, overseeing Business Affairs, HR, IT, Operations, Production and Post Production.
Stefanie Haist has also been hired as marblemedia’s Head of Production Unscripted, while Diane Rankin, Senior Vice President, Rights and Executive Producer, moves into an expanded role, as the company works toward scaling its business globally. Haist, as Head of Unscripted Production, will take over managing productions day-to-day. She was previously Supervising Producer at THA and has worked on Undercover Boss Canada (W Network) and Hip-Hop Evolution (Netflix). Rankin duties now include commercial development strategy across marblemedia originals, shaping projects for international financing through pre-sales and co-productions and establishing a strong formats distribution business around the world.
Ehab Samy has been appointed BBTV Holdings’ new VP, Product and Engineering of subsidiary, BroadbandTV Corp. (BBTV Corp). He’ll report to BBTV Corp’s Chairperson & CEO, Shahrzad Rafati. An accomplished technology leader with 20 years of experience in both engineering and product leadership, Samy was previously Head of Product & Development at Vancouver’s Maximizer Software. He’s also held previous roles at Advanced Intelligent Systems, Plurilock, and Yocale. His appointment is effective Jan. 1.
Christine Laskin has been promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) of iNDIEFLIX, a member of the Vancouver-based Liquid Media Group family of companies. With the company for more than a year as Director of Operations and Corporate Partnerships, Laskin’s background includes past roles with Morgan Stanley, Delaware Investments, SEI Investments and InvestorForce.
RADIO & PODCAST:
Broadcast Dialogue’s Canadian Radio Awards, presented by HD Radio, will announce our 2021 winners on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Stay tuned to Broadcast Dialogue’s social media channels and CanadianRadioAwards.com. In the meantime, votes are still being tallied for our inaugural FYI Music News Emerging Artist Award which goes to a Canadian artist or group that has charted but has yet to break into the top 40, based on Mediabase data. Open to radio programmers and music directors, if you are a Weekly Briefing subscriber and haven’t received a ballot, please reach out at [email protected]. Voting will conclude Monday, Nov. 15 at noon ET. Read more about this year’s finalists here.
G98.7 (CKFG-FM) Toronto has introduced a new morning lineup as new General Manager Gary Gunter makes his mark on the station under the new ownership of multicultural broadcaster CINA Radio Group. The station’s new morning lineup sees former midday personality Red and comedian/on-air personality Jay Martin team up, with the show also featuring producer Perion Prince, mixologist DJ Ritz, and Chris Hayles providing hourly news updates. “Great Music Morning Show” will air weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. Geena Lee also joins the lineup as host of “Love Notes” every Monday-Thursday, 7 – 11 p.m.
John Derringer has celebrated his 5,000th show on Toronto’s Q107 (CILQ-FM). A 10-time Canadian Music Week Radio Personality of the Year, Derringer joined Q107 for the first time from 1984 to 1993. After leaving to host mornings at CHOM Montreal and later The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM), he returned to Q107 in 2000, replacing Howard Stern’s brief syndicated run on the station.
Lake 88.1 (CHLK-FM) Perth, ON held its third annual Radiothon on Oct. 14 that saw listeners donate a record $120,177 in support of four area hospitals in Perth, Smiths Falls, Carleton Place and Almonte, as well as three rural community health centres. Lake 88, now a division of My Broadcasting Corporation, aired 12 hours of interviews and pledges to raise funds for healthcare equipment for a new emergency department and CT Scan unit. Lake 88 General Manager Brian Perkin says the success of the Radiothon was also a show of support for frontline workers, who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic.
Edison Research has released new survey data commissioned by WorldDAB, in partnership with Radioplayer and supported by National Association of Broadcasters, Commercial Radio Australia, and Xperi. The online survey talked to nearly 6,300 respondents who had recently purchased or leased a new car or plan to do so across Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the U.S. It found that broadcast radio continues to dominate as the most preferred source of in-car entertainment. Almost all (90%) said a broadcast radio tuner should be standard equipment in every car, a trend consistent across age groups. 82% of potential car buyers said they would be less likely to buy or lease a vehicle that is not equipped with a built-in radio tuner. Day-to-day consumption of broadcast radio among motorists remains significantly higher than for any other form of audio content. 65% of respondents say they listen in the car ‘frequently’, versus 23% for online streaming music services and 15% for CDs. The importance of free-to-air radio was also highlighted with 70% concerned about data charges for streamed content.
The Canadian Podcast Listener (CPL) study, now in its fifth year with the support of The Podcast Exchange (TPX), has released its annual survey of more than 3,000 Canadians, followed by the main survey of 1,600 monthly podcast listeners looking at what they listen to as well as changes in how they’re listening. Signal Hill Insights has released some initial findings that indicate the incremental five-year growth trend is continuing with monthly podcast listening up by two points from Oct. 2020. Weekly podcast listening is up even more as more Canadians make podcast listening a regular habit, rising from 18 to 21% of Canadian adults. Podcast listening in French Canada, which has long lagged behind English Canada, is up most sharply as more French-Canadian content becomes available, with weekly listening spiking from 12 to 18%. Audience composition largely held steady, with listening growing across all demos. Of monthly listeners, 47% are aged 18-34; 35% are 35-54 and 18% 55+. By gender, 54% are men; and 46% are women. Read more of this year’s CPL insights, here.
Media Girlfriends is producing a new podcast for the Toronto Star and Black North Initiative, called Between Us With Wes Hall. The podcast is about finding solutions to anti-Blackness and systemic, racial discrimination in corporate Canada. The first episode, which dropped Nov. 9, features Kardinal Offishall as Hall’s guest.
LISTEN: Callie and Jeff Dauler, who started their podcast when Jeff’s radio career abruptly took a turn in 2019 from Star 94.1 Atlanta, are on the latest episode of the Sound Off Podcast. Callie and Jeff discuss how they monetize not just the show, but their social media handles, and how they engage with listeners beyond the RSS feed. They also discuss how they’ve used conventional and unconventional podcast strategies to support their brand. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
SIGN OFFS:
Brad McNally, Nov. 6, after a five-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer. Born in Canada, but also raised in Australia and the UK, McNally started his on-air career at 4SB in Australia in 1972, in spite of his Canadian accent. He returned to Toronto in the late 1970s and worked around Ontario, including CFOR Orillia, before hearing CFNY and knowing that’s where he wanted to be. He joined the station, then located in Brampton, ON, in 1979. Eventually McNally left Canada, becoming group program director at SBS Broadcasters in Stockholm, Sweden in 1998. Other stops included JAZZ FM London, UK, 96FM Perth, and Sea FM and Hot Tomato 102.9 on Australia’s Gold Coast, in addition to stints at Rock 104 Dublin, Ireland and Helsinki, Finland. Following his brain tumour diagnosis in 2016, McNally returned to Perth to focus on his health. Over the past few years, he’d also been part of the weekly schedule on David Marsden and Igor Loukine’s Toronto-based alt online station NYTheSpirit.com. Read more here.
Cam Gardiner, 71, on Oct. 19, after a long battle with diabetes and kidney disease. Often referred to as “Mr. Windsor,” Gardiner started his radio career in Windsor, establishing himself as the voice of mornings for Windsor-Essex residents from 1987 to 2003, as co-host of “The Cam and Lisa Show,” alongside Lisa Williams for 16 years – first on AM580 CKWW and then AM800 CKLW. Gardiner was celebrated by family, close friends and former co-workers at an Oct. 1 ceremony where he was awarded the Key to the City by Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.
TV & FILM:
Telefilm Canada has unveiled changes to the Production Program made as part of Telefilm’s program optimization process and the result of several months of Canada-wide consultations with the industry. Among the more significant changes, projects in diverse languages are now eligible and having an eligible distributor is only required for projects with an overall budget of $3.5M or more, regardless of language. As well, the “two strikes” rule will be discontinued for the 2022-23 fiscal year to take into account the pandemic impact on the industry. Funding participation is increased for projects with budgets between $1.5M and $2.5M. Additionally, the cap on “greenlight” funding has increased. Guidelines, as well as eligibility and assessment criteria, are available on the program page.
Network Entertainment is teaming up with the Hockey Hall of Fame and TSN to produce new 10-part series, Legends of Hockey: Greatness Calling 2000-20. Carrying on the tradition of Network’s original award-winning landmark series Legends of Hockey, launched in 1996, the upcoming series will showcase the stories of Hockey Hall of Fame inductees from 2000 to 2020, including Mark Messier, Ray Bourque, Brett Hull, Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Hayley Wickenheiser, Dominik Hašek, Pavel Bure, and Nicklas Lidström. Legends of Hockey: Greatness Calling 2000-20 has commenced production and will be interviewing over 60 Honoured Members with cameras travelling the globe. The series will be presented in one-hour episodes to air exclusively on TSN in the fall of 2022.
UNINTERRUPTED Canada, in partnership with Crossover Films and Bell Media, have started production on full-length original doc, The Grizzlie Truth. The film explores the demise of the Vancouver Grizzlies NBA franchise through the eyes of director and superfan Kathleen S. Jayme. The film, 25 years after the team left, explores the untold story behind the franchise’s downfall and the impact it had on the community. Production and principal photography are currently underway with a theatrical debut with Photon Films set for fall 2022 and broadcast debut with Bell Media in winter 2022 on TSN and Crave platforms.
Crave has ordered a third season of Canada’s Drag Race, produced by Blue Ant Studios in association with Crave and World of Wonder. Canadian drag artists looking to show off their distinct brand of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent, can now submit applications. Applicants must be 19 years of age by Nov. 8, 2021 to apply, and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada. Additional details about the new season will be announced at a later date.
Corus Entertainment and the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) have announced that two-time CCMA Award winner Lindsay Ell and Canada’s Drag Race, Season 1 winner Priyanka will co-host the 2021 CCMA Awards, presented by TD. For the first time, this year’s awards will livestream exclusively on the Global TV App and on Prime Video on Monday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Country music fans can also listen to the awards show live across Corus-owned radio stations Country 105 (Calgary), CISN (Edmonton) and Country 104 (London). Set to appear are Ell, Dallas Smith, Tenille Arts, Tim Hicks, MacKenzie Porter, Dustin Lynch, Don Amero, Robyn Ottolini, Tenille Townes, Jess Moskaluke, The Reklaws featuring Sacha, Tyler Joe Miller, JoJo Mason and High Valley.
CBC family dramedy series Moonshine (8×60) has revealed casting and production details for Season 2. Created by Sheri Elwood and produced by Six Eleven Media and Entertainment One, the series follows the Finley-Cullens, a dysfunctional clan of half-siblings battling for control of their family business – a ramshackle summer campground called The Moonshine. Production on the eight-episode second season recently wrapped in Nova Scotia and is set to premiere on CBC in fall 2022, with the first season now available to stream on CBC Gem. The new season will see Allan Hawco (Republic of Doyle, Frontier, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) join the cast. Guest stars rounding out the cast in Season 2 include Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie’s), Shelley Thompson (Trailer Park Boys), Jonathan Torrens (Mr. D), Leigh Ann Rose (The Young and the Restless), Ernie Grunwald (Call Me Fitz), Joe Cobden (The Sinner), and Kirstin Howell (Diggstown).
ABC has an Alanis Morrissette-inspired sitcom in the works. Relatable is an autobiographical parody of Morrissette’s family life from The Goldbergs supervising producer Elizabeth Beckwith and Marlon co-creator Christopher Moynihan. Morrisette will executive produce and also provide original music for the series.
Guru Studio, the animation studio behind PAW Patrol, Netflix Original series True and the Rainbow Kingdom, has teamed up with Grammy-winning producer Timbaland and his Beatclub team to produce the theme song for new CBC Kids animated series, Big Blue. The series was created by Guru designer Gyimah Gariba, one of Animation Magazine’s 2020 Rising Stars of Animation. It will make its world premiere on CBC Kids, beginning Dec. 4. Aimed at kids 5-9, it follows sibling underwater adventurers who lead a quirky submarine crew with a magical ocean fairy stowaway. Additional international broadcasters on board include Nickelodeon in the UK, ABC Me in Australia, CTC Kids in Russia, and NRK in Norway.
TVO Original Magic Shadows, Elwy Yost: A Life in Movies tells the story of the host who shared his love of cinema with Ontarians for two decades on Saturday Night at the Movies. Premiering Nov. 27 and streaming online at TVO.org, YouTube and Roku, Magic Shadows brings together new and archival interviews with Canadian stars and personalities who pay tribute to Yost and the cinematic arts he championed from 1974 to 1999. Yost was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1999 and passed away in 2011.
AaSheNii Productions Inc. has begun filming new dramatic thriller Broken Angel / MaaShwaKan MaNiTo in and around the lower mainland of Vancouver, including locations in Maple Ridge and Langley. The film stars Sera-Lys McArthur (Outlander), Carlo Marks (Pretty Little Liars), Asivak Koostachin (Red Snow), David Lyle (Arrow), and Brooklyn Letexier-Hart (Night Raiders). Broken Angel follows an Indigenous woman and mother who escapes with her daughter from an abusive alcoholic partner to a women’s shelter on the reservation. Broken Angel will include both English and Cree dialogue. The film is written, directed and produced by Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin (AskiBOYZ), executive produced and co-produced by Patti Poskitt (Monkey Beach) and Anne Wheeler (Firefly Lane).
Boat Rocker Media has reported its financial results for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2021. Revenue for Q3 2021 was $203.3 million versus $78.0 million in the third quarter of 2020, an increase of $125.3 million or 161%, driven by the Television and Representation segments. While revenue increased in all segments, production revenue in the Television segment rose by 128% due to a higher volume of content delivered in 2021 versus 2020, principally driven by two premium scripted series, American Rust and Invasion. Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 2021 was $11.5 million compared with $6.0 million for the same period of 2020, an increase of 91%.
WildBrain reported its Fiscal 2022 first-quarter results for the three-months ended Sept. 30, 2021 (Q1 2022). Revenue grew 18% to $112.6 million, compared with $95.5 million in the prior year, reflecting growth at Spark and strong Consumer Products performance. Content Production and Distribution revenue increased 3% to $37.6 million in Q1 2022 vs $36.3 million in Q1 2021, driven by higher production revenues from premium projects including Sonic Prime and multiple new series and family specials for Peanuts. Q1 2022 revenue at Spark increased 73% to $15.4 million vs $8.9 million in Q1 2021, as advertising rates continued to recover. AVOD revenues increased 128% in Q1 2022 vs Q1 2021 through value adds for IP partners in direct advertising sales, paid media, data insights and digital production. Advertising rates, on average, increased 120% in the same period.
Corus Entertainment’s YTV, along with Nelvana and Canadian clothing company Retrokid, are launching the YTV x Retrokid ‘Keep It Weird’ Collection, available starting Nov. 17 at 9 p.m. ET at retrokid.ca. The collection, made for millennial Canadians who grew up watching YTV, is comprised of hoodies and t-shirts featuring exclusive hand-drawn designs of throwback YTV network logos and favourite series Camp Cariboo, UH-OH, Video & Arcade Top 10 and You Can’t Do That On Television. In addition to the hoodies and t-shirts, a limited number of the classic Camp Cariboo Keener hats are available to purchase, with net proceeds donated directly to Kids in Camp – a registered charity established to financially assist families to send their kids to an Ontario Camps Association accredited camp.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
Struum, the streaming aggregator that lets viewers access thousands of shows and movies from over 50+ services with one monthly subscription, has closed a $7 million Series A funding round led by Corus Entertainment. Created by former Disney and Discovery executives, investment syndicate Gaingels also participated. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner is also a backer via Tornante Company, the investment firm he created in 2005 when he left Disney. Struum has carriage deals with 60 streaming providers, including iNDIEFLIX and Magnolia Pictures, with a subscription offered at $4.99/month.
WildBrain Spark, the AVOD network on YouTube and YouTube Kids, is now the exclusive advertising partner of Gamefam, one of the top publishers on Roblox, with a game catalog that includes popular titles Tower of Misery, Twilight Day Care and Car Dealership Tycoon. Under the partnership, WildBrain Spark holds exclusive global rights to provide direct advertising services for the entire Gamefam network, which boasts over 500 million visits each month. The Gamefam network also includes WildBrain’s own IP as it develops more game titles, like the new Strawberry Shortcake game created by Gamefam as part of the recent relaunch of the kids’ brand. Through the partnership WildBrain Spark is responsible for all ad inventory and ad formats on the Gamefam network, which targets a core age group of 6 to 17-year-olds.
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI) won’t seek an appeal of last week’s B.C. Supreme Court ruling effectively giving Edward Rogers control of the company’s board of directors. The company declaration late Sunday followed Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick’s decision granting Edward Rogers’ petition to replace five of RCI’s independent directors with nominees of the Rogers Control Trust (RCT) – which controls 97.5% of Class A voting shares or approximately 29% of RCI – through a written resolution, without convening a meeting of shareholders. In her decision, Fitzpatrick likened the family “squabbles” to a Shakespearean drama. She ultimately agreed with Edward Rogers’ assertion “that if a sufficient majority of shareholders support a course of action, they should be able to act quickly and decisively without the expense and delay of a meeting. Neither the Board nor management should be able to interfere with the will of an overwhelming majority of a company’s shareholders.” Read more here.
Ericsson has announced Rogers Communications as the first North American service provider to join its global Startup 5G program. Designed to help communications service providers (CSPs) accelerate the commercialization and monetization of 5G by introducing them to the right consumer innovation partners, the program will also encourage 5G innovation transfer between start-ups and Rogers to create new business opportunities for both sides. As part of the program, Rogers will receive access to an exclusive list of companies developing scalable services, devices, and applications over 5G.
BCE Q3 net earnings grew 9.9% to $813 million with net earnings attributable to common shareholders increasing 9.4% to $757 million, or $0.83 per common share. Quarterly wireless service revenue and adjusted EBITDA recovered to pre-COVID levels, growing 5.0% and 5.6% respectively in Q3. Media revenue grew 14.5%, reflecting higher advertiser spending across all platforms; digital revenue increased 32% and now represents 22% of total media revenue. Media operating revenue increased 14.5% in Q3 to $719 million, driven by increased ad spending across TV, radio, out of home and digital media platforms as COVID-19 economic recovery takes hold more fully, as well as higher subscriber revenue. Advertising revenue increased 18.6% in the quarter, driven by stronger conventional and specialty TV performance, due to a timelier start to the new fall TV programming season, more live sporting events compared to 2020, and revenue generated from the recent federal election. Subscriber revenue was up 12.3% in Q3, driven by a 5% year-over-year increase in Crave subscribers. Digital revenue grew 32% due to rapid expansion of CTV’s AVOD product, continued scaling of the SAM TV media sales tool and continued Crave growth.
Quebecor reported its Q3 financial results for the third quarter of 2021, consolidated with its Quebecor Media subsidiary. Revenues of $1.15 billion were recorded in the third quarter, up $36.5 million (3.3%) from the same period of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was $520.3 million, up $6.9 million (1.3%) despite the $18.8 million unfavourable impact of the recognition of a one‑time item in the Telecommunications segment in the third quarter of 2020. Telecommunications segment revenues grew by $1.6 million (0.2%) in Q3, while Videotron significantly increased its revenues from Internet access services ($15.9 million or 5.6%) and mobile telephony ($13.4 million or 8.0%) in the quarter.
Stingray Group announced its financial results for the second quarter of Fiscal 2022, ended Sept. 30, 2021. Revenues in Q2 2022 rose $7.1 million or 11.1% to $71.4 million, from $64.3 million for Q2 2021. For the quarter, revenues in Canada increased $7.0 million or 17.6% to $46.7 million, from $39.7 million for Q2 2021. The revenue growth was reflective of further recovery in Radio and rapid growth in advertising, partially offset by FX. Broadcasting and Commercial Music revenues were essentially flat at $39.1 million, with the increase in advertising revenue offset by foreign exchange headwinds. Radio revenues improved 28.6% year-over-year to $32.3 million as the Canadian economy reopened at varying degrees provincially. In Q2, the number of subscribers continued to rise, reaching 611,000, an increase of 27% over the same period last year and 7% sequentially.
The COVID-19 News Support Fund (NSF) for private, independent TV and radio broadcasters is now officially open for applications as the broadcast industry continues to emerge from the pandemic. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is once again acting as the fund’s administrator on behalf of the federal government. The $9.4 million fund, directed at independent local TV and radio broadcasters, is for qualifying stations that can demonstrate: they provide news and/or information programming; have eligible Canadian programming expenditures of at least $5,000 annually; and have been negatively impacted by the pandemic resulting in financial hardship to their operations and therefore in need of government funding. The deadline for applications is Dec. 3. Read more here.
The Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB) has handed out its annual awards recognizing member stations across four categories. Logan Strauss of Blackburn Media is the winner of this year’s Best in Class Sales Award, while Community Service Awards went to Quinte Broadcasting and Starboard Communications; and Central Ontario Broadcasting’s Indie88 (CIND-FM). The winners of this year’s Creative Awards were Durham Radio’s Larry MacInnis and Brian Cox for their Shop Local Promo; and Liam Myers and Dawson Houle from Vista Radio’s 2day FM (CHGK-FM) and Juice FM (CJCS-FM) Stratford for their Frauds and Scams PSA. Station Promotion Awards were won by Corus Peterborough’s Fresh Radio 100.5 (CKRU-FM) and Wolf 101.5 FM (CKWS-FM) for “Gitty on the Go.” Durham Radio’s KX94.7 (CHKX-FM) Hamilton and KX96 New Country (CJKX-FM) Ajax were also recognized for their “Thank A Farmer Week.”
The Webster Awards, recognizing excellence in journalism in British Columbia, have announced their 2021 winners across 16 categories. Among this year’s winners are CTV News Vancouver, which claimed the award for Best Feature/Enterprise Reporting – TV/Video for Unmarked Graves: Canada’s Reckoning. Best Feature/Enterprise Reporting – Radio/Podcast was won by Laura Palmer of Rogers’ Frequency Podcast Network for Gone Boys: Island Crime, Season 2. Best Breaking News Reporting – TV was awarded to Global BC for Unmarked Graves Discovery, while the Breaking News award for Radio went to Yvette Brend and Drew Kerekes of CBC Vancouver.
The Sidney Hillman Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2022 Canadian Hillman Prize honouring excellence in investigative journalism in service of the common good. The Hillman Prize celebrates print, digital and broadcast reporting that highlights social or economic injustice, hopefully leading to meaningful public policy change. Entries must be published or broadcast in 2021 and have been made widely available to a Canadian audience. Nominated material can be submitted here. The deadline for entries is Jan. 15.
Ipsos has conducted the first-ever Canadian survey of online harassment against journalists, which indicates 72% of media professionals experienced some form of harassment over the past year. Conducted online between Sept. 27 and Oct. 13, a total of 1,093 journalists, news managers, videographers, camera operators, and publishers participated in the survey. The results were shared with participants at the #NotOK — Stand Up for Journalism and Democracy virtual forum, a two-day event hosted by CBC/Radio-Canada and attended by media workers from across the country. Among other findings, the survey indicates that harassment of journalists is on the rise with 65% experiencing harassment online. One in five experience online harassment weekly or more than once a week. Read more here.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is joining the Coalition Against Online Violence. As a member of the coalition, the CAJ will work with journalism organizations around the world to identify solutions to the ongoing problem of online abuse and harassment faced, in particular, by female journalists and journalists of colour. The CAJ is the first Canada-specific journalism organization to be accepted as a member of the coalition.
BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:
Futuri has announced a major update to its POST podcasting system, which was recently patented by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The update includes: a new in-app audio editor, designed to save production time, speed up distribution, and enable audio brands to quickly make edits to on-demand broadcast content; customizable widgets to apply station brand standards to embedded audio; improved ad insertion capabilities: and streamlined publishing to third-party destinations. The update comes as Futuri releases new white paper, Growing Audience with On-Demand Broadcast Audio. It includes new data from a U.S. study on On-Demand Broadcast Audio (ODBA), also known as time-shifted audio, across all PPM markets, conducted by Nielsen, which reviewed millions of occasions of minute-level data.
