HNIC becomes Movie Night In Canada
CBC has unveiled its plans for replacing the missing Hockey Night In Canada this fall and is turning the long-standing, uniquely Canadian Saturday night tradition into Movie Night In Canada.
The evening begins with family flicks like A Bug’s Life, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Lilo and Stitch, followed at 9:00 p.m. by past hits such as the Indiana Jones trilogy, Back to the Future, AI: Artificial Intelligence, and Legally Blonde.
At 11:00 the classics come out, with screenings of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddle, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window, Young Frankenstein, and Get Shorty. November 20th is golf night with movies Happy Gilmore, Bagger Vance, and Tin Cup.
Letter/Feedback to MIC
Sept. 24. 2004
Re: Vultures ready to pick over the bones of the HNIC season
Maybe CBC can broadcast in NHL time some games in Junior Hockey League for regional consumption i.e. Kelowna Rockets or Vancouver Giants games – there is HOCKEY even without NHL primadonas and hockey fans will sure love it.
Ivan Vaskovic
Research Watch
November 2004
ComBase Research Results
Second wave of a two-year rolling sample of community newspapers, this time including just over 35 Manitoba markets, as well as results on additional B.C. and Alberta papers.
For more information, contact Tom Ferguson at 1-800-481-6580 or Kelly Levson at 905-780-6419.
http://www.combase.ca
MSNBC and Bloomberg come to Canada
The CRTC has approved the addition of non-Canadian services MSNBC and Bloomberg Television to the lists of eligible satellite services for digital distribution.
Cable association rebrands
The Canadian Cable Television Association is now the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, a change made to better reflect the evolution of its members into a wide range of entertainment, information, Internet and telco services. The association has launched a new corporate logo and Web site, http://www.ccta.ca, expressing its new positioning.
This rebranding follows the findings of a nation-wide telephone survey of 1,200 cable and satellite subscribers conducted for the CCTA by Strategic Counsel earlier this year. It found that 83% of respondents felt a household Internet connection was important to them and there was high interest in new TV technologies such as PVRs and video-on-demand. More than half of those surveyed believed it made sense for cablecos to move into telephony and one-third of them would consider moving to cable-based phone service. When asked about the types of companies most likely to be described as an advanced media company, 45% identified cable generally or a specific cable company and 35% identified telcos or a specific telephone company
CCTA represents 80 cable companies providing TV services to 7.2 million homes – 1.6 million of which are digital cable subscribers – and cable high-speed Internet to 2.3 million Canadians.
Bell seeks open competition in new medium
Bell Canada has called on the CRTC to allow open market competition for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. Bell feels this would encourage the development and delivery of innovative services for Canadian consumers and businesses. Appearing Tuesday as part of a panel representing Bell, Aliant, SaskTel and Télébec at a CRTC public consultation examining what rules (if any) should apply to VoIP, Lawson Hunter, EVP of Bell parent BCE, took issue with the CRTC’s preliminary position taken in April that prices for VoIP be regulated. Hunter said this fails to take into account that many VoIP services are Internet applications, which are unregulated and would not allow the telcos a level playing field.
‘VoIP technology is enabling new competitors to build viable voice businesses in Canada and around the world with minimal investment,’ said Hunter. ‘This is not telecom as usual.’ The CRTC public consultation concludes today.
NBM’s new tween imprint to manga-fy mystery mavens
NBM Publishing, one of the oldest graphic novel publishers in the U.S., is going after the lucrative tween market with a new imprint called Papercutz. Under the guidance of editor-in-chief Jim Salicrup (a comic veteran who’s worked at Topps and Marvel), the division will start off by modernizing Simon & Schuster’s classic literary sleuths Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in two manga-inspired comic book series. The first issues will roll out in November, with new titles to follow each month.
Papercutz is also working on 96-page pocket-sized graphic novels for the brands that will hit retail in February (US$7.95). In their lead-off comic The Ocean of Osyria, the Hardy Boys have to return a priceless artifact to a Middle-Eastern museum, while Nancy Drew stars in a horror film about a spooky urban legend in The Demon of River Heights. Simon & Schuster recently revamped its Nancy Drew novel line, and the first new title quickly landed on the New York Times bestseller list following its March release.
http://www.papercutz.com/
Courtesy of our sister publication Kidscreen, October Issue
24/7 Canada launches online holiday shopping guide
Web advertising and permission-based e-mail marketing co 24/7 Canada, of Toronto, has launched a promotion geared to on- and offline marketers for the holiday season. In partnership with the leading sites in its newly created Shopping Vertical segment, 24/7 is offering advertisers new means to reach Canadian Net shoppers with the Online Holiday Shopping Guide. Sponsors of this new online space can feature up to 15 products or specialty offers. It’s a fully integrated feature across several sites in Shopping Vertical, including RedFlagDeals.com, FrugalShopper.ca, Hitched.ca, and FoundLocally.com. The Online Guide drives targeted and purchase-ready Canadian shoppers to sponsors’ online stores and catalogues. Sponsorship packages range from $10,000 to $25,000. Sales close Oct. 15.
http://www.247canada.com/en/Holidays.pdf
Portable TV with broadband gives advertisers more access to consumers on the go
Sony is unveiling a new product that integrates traditional TV and broadband IT technology. LocationFree is a portable personal broadband LCD television system that can be carried virtually anywhere across the country. Comprised of a 12.1-inch wireless touch screen LCD monitor and a base station, the personal TV system uses a dual band wireless connection and high speed Ethernet port to transmit data. This gives users TV, video, Internet browsing/streaming video, e-mail, and digital photos without a PC.
A ‘freeze’ feature that will aid advertisers allows users to save a TV scene, such as a 1-800 number, by using the ‘capture’ button on the monitor.
LocationFree’s high-speed broadband capability features a wireless connection to the base station so users can access the Web via a dedicated Internet browser. Using the on-screen keyboard, users can shop online, exchange e-mail, and enjoy Internet streaming contents like music videos and Internet radio, giving advertisers additional access to consumers on the go.
The monitor’s Ethernet port means users can plug in at hotels, airports and other locations. LocationFree will be available next month at a suggested list price of $2,499.
http://www.sony.ca
How Quebec’s broadcasters shake out in the ratings
TVA continues to dominate the top ten most watched shows in Quebec but claiming first place, however, is Radio Canada’s Tout le Monde en Parle (1,603, 000 viewers). TVA’s Transformation Extreme and Km/h hold the second and third sports respectively. TQS’s most-watched show was a repeat of Lance et compte landing in 28th place.
TVA is still in the top spot with respect to audience share with 27.7%, followed by TQS with 13.4% then SRC with 11.8%. In specialty channels, Super Ecran has 4.4% audience share followed by with Teletoon, 4.1%.
Zoom Media extends reach with Bally Fitness deal
Zoom Media, a targeted lifestyle media and marketing company announced yesterday that it has formed a partnership with Bally Total Fitness to launch a billboard program in seven Bally Total Fitness centres and 10 Sports Clubs of Canada locations in the greater Toronto area. There will be ‘Classic’ billboards in the locker rooms and restrooms and ‘Extra Lit’ billboards in the exercise areas. The two companies will also use the clubs for other marketing and promotional activities.
Zoom Media has 28,600 billboards in 3,900 establishments. Its eight networks include Parking, Resto-bar, Campus, Sport, McDonald’s, Medical, Golf and Agency. The Zoom Sport network now includes more than 320 health clubs across Canada. The company says advertisers like the fitness club environment because it reaches a variety of people, all interested in health and wellbeing. Communication and marketing manager Chantal Goncalves says Zoom uses psychographics, rather than demographics to pinpoint its targets and says the profile of fitness club users is ‘hedonistic,’ focusing on pleasure, wellbeing, health and good looks. Advertisers in the Zoom fitness club network that will now appear in Bally and Sports Clubs of Canada include Procter & Gamble, S.C. Johnson, BMW, and Bell Mobility, among others.
http://www.zoommedia.com
U.S. group wants pubs to disclose product placement deals
Sixty-one U.S. journalism and law professors have sent a letter to the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME, http://www.magazine.org) asking to set rules requiring disclosure of product placement in magazine, to prohibit the disguising of ads as editorial content, or providing special favours to advertisers.
The letter was orchestrated by Commercial Alert, http://www.commercialalert.org, a nonprofit group co-founded by Ralph Nader in 1998 that opposes commercialism.
The letter, addressed to ASME executive director Marlene Kahan, acknowledges that magazine editors are under increasing pressure to allow advertising to cross the line into editorial content and calls it a fundamental threat to press freedom and the integrity of journalism. Among the requests are that the words ‘advertising,’ ‘advertisement,’ or ‘promotion’ accompanying an advertorial or special section should be at least one-and-half times the size and weight of a publication’s usual body type.
When brand integration goes right
Mining a rather unusual source of inspiration, Mattel has turned to reality TV for its latest new concept. The El Segundo, Calif.-based toy manufacturer was recently featured on Donald Trump’s TV vehicle The Apprentice (Mark Burnett Productions), and the design team came away from the experience with a brand-new R/C line called Morph Machines that was dreamed up and developed by a competing team of entrepreneurs.
The range is comprised of four cars and trucks that have customizable, interchangeable parts. They’re designed to be smashed up and put back together again with new features like big-blown engines and pick-up beds. The Morph Machines line hits shelves in February 2005, with each SKU retailing for about US$30. Packaging will be co-branded with both the Tyco and The Apprentice logos.
The toyco wasn’t expecting to get a new toy out of the deal, just some excellent publicity for its design team. But since the winning team’s idea was such a good fit for the Tyco brand, the company tested the line with another kid focus group after the show’s taping and found it was still a hit with boys.
And they said you couldn’t measure product placement ROI… Next we’d like to see the Jacuzzi suit from the Simpson’s hit the market.
Courtesy of our sister publication Kidscreen, October Issue
Popular feature helmer bows new film
Iconoclastic director Bruce McDonald’s new feature, The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 17. The drama, produced by Vancouver’s Force Four Entertainment, is loosely based on the sensational 1995 case of a female jurist in B.C. who had an affair with accused killer Peter Gill while serving on his trial. With a TV window on CHUM-City, the $3 million project may sound like typical MOW fare, but, as conceived by screenwriter A. Fraser (Kissed) and McDonald, the film’s true events are merely a springboard for the kind of wild-and-wooly rock ‘n’ roll satire behind McDonald’s most acclaimed features (Roadkill, Highway 61, Dance Me Outside, Hard Core Logo).
Love Crimes‘ Canadian theatrical distrib is Montreal-based indie Cinema Libre. The film is slated for a March 2005 Canadian release and although there hasn’t been anything currently nailed down in the avenue of sponsorship opps with the theatrical/TV/video release of the movie, exec producer Hugh Beard is interested in exploring that avenue. McDonald is an accessible filmmaker, whose features have youth appeal.
Courtesy of our sister publication Playback, October Issue
Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance comes to CBC Radio
CBC Radio will be airing a dramatization of Rohinton Mistry’s acclaimed 1995 novel, A Fine Balance, starting Oct. 3 (Sunday Showcase) at 10 p.m, Oct. 4 (The Roundup) at 2 p.m. on Radio One and on Monday Night Playhouse at 9 p.m. on Radio Two. Hosted by international filmmaker Deepa Mehta and featuring a cast of more than 30 South Asian actors, the program runs for eight weeks.
