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In response to articles discussing an advertisement free CBC , I had the following to say: #DigiCanCon @howardalaw I would rather that money went to distribution mechanism neutral content creation: #CBC via #Netflix #GooglePlay etc — Russell McOrmond (@russellmcormond) November 29, 2016 When I was asked to elaborate, I realized I need to give context as most people in the content industry do not think the same way as I do as a system administrators with decades of experience in the technology industry. The layered approach to communications technology 4134   COMMISSIONER DENTON: Mr. McOrmond, interesting brief. I see it is informed by an internet idea of the world. 4135   So in your preferred solution then there would be essentially some kind of bandwidth to the house, whether wired or wireless, it would be part of a municipal infrastructure such as sewage or water, and applications would float on top of that or through it. 4136   ...

It is only 2 more sleeps (as the kids would say) until the Monday episode of Supergirl launches #DCWeek , the 4-series crossover event between Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. I have been looking forward to this since I first heard about the possibility last spring. Unfortunately, as anyone who reads my blog knows, I've been having trouble watching Supergirl in Canada even though this content is very Canadian, being filmed in Vancouver. The other 3 shows are on the CTV GO app which, while not being ideal, at least works. For Supergirl I tried to watch on the Showcase website, then gave up and paid for a season pass via Google Play . It is Saturday and last Monday's episode of Supergirl has still not been posted to Google Play by Showcase . ( Nov 29 update : Nov 14'th episode still last posted, so 2 weeks behind). There is no way I'm going to trust that both episodes will be available on Monday, and that Showcase's screwup won't continue the r...

I own Samsung and ViewSonic televisions,  Philips and Panasonic DVD players, and mobile devices from ASUS, Huawei and LG.   I don't think I know anyone who only uses Canadian designed and manufactured technology to watch scripted programming.  I never heard a Minister of Canadian Heritage claiming that these technology companies should be brought "into the system", confusing these technologies as being part of the broadcast system and thus should be regulated as part of it. Why does Minister Joly apparently believe that other technology products and services such as Netflix, Google (YouTube, and Play Movies and TV), or Amazon Video should be brought into the system?  These technology companies are no more part of the system than the hardware manufacturers. When discussing how Canadian Content Creators harmed when Netflix claimed to be a "broadcaster" I discussed the differences between content libraries and broadcasters/BDUs.  There is a need to regulate compan...

While many participants in the "Canadian Content in a Digital World" consultations are focused on funding issues, real support is needed from the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Department of Canadian Heritage to reduce barriers that exist between Canadian creators and their potential audiences. While some people would prefer we all sit down and watched broadcast television like we did in the old days, the industry is moving forward in ways I discussed earlier in Canadian Content Creators harmed when Netflix claimed to be a "broadcaster" . I noted how people are moving to online content libraries away from broadcasting. While this is a major improvement over broadcasting, there are still barriers between creators and their potential audiences. While I can hope the Minister and Department will help, I also ask that they do no further harm. A number of policies that have been proposed previously, as well as some brought up during the consultations, put up more b...

I've written a number of articles on this site on what I call "Electoral Modernization" because I consider First Past the Post to be vastly inappropriate for modern times.  While there are a number of different criteria for success of a modern voting system, FPTP doesn't meet any of them. In PR doesn't necessarily "make every vote count"  I discussed the two major types of voters I've observed: those who vote for individuals to represent them and those who vote for parties to represent them. I continuously bump up against people who have something akin to a "colour blindness" when it comes to electoral reform.  Lets use the RBC colour mode l in an analogy of voting system features (what some want to call voting outcomes, but that is a bit presumptuous). Lets assign how well the voting system grants seats for people in proportion to their support in the population the colour "Red" Lets assign how well the voting system grants seat...

The deadline to participate in the Canadian content in the digital world consultation is this Friday, Nov 25, 2016 (See end of post). While you may not have time to publish your own ideas, you should still take the time to voice your support for ideas you agree with. As a new media supporter who "cut the chord" (well, unsubscribed from Cable TV -- the cabling is still all over the house ;-) a few years back I have a pro-Internet perspective. This is true regardless of the type of creativity we are talking about, and while most of my submissions focus on scripted television (as much of the other submissions did), the ideas apply equally regardless of the type of digitally stored and communicated content. As a software author and fan of the creativity of others I want Canadian creators to be well paid for their contributions, but don't believe that subsidizing old-media intermediaries is the way to do it. I have made a number of submissions to the consultation since it was...

A few people have posted a similar message with the #DigiCanCon hashtag. If we want CDN shows on *all* our screens *all* broadcasters must contribute#Netflix #DigiCanCon Content providers raise our voices Nov 7. — Barbara Worthy (@1babs) November 6, 2016 If we want CDN shows on *all* our screens then *all* broadcasters have to contribute. #Netflix #DigiCanCon — Heather Knox (@the_heatherknox) October 28, 2016 (Barbara Worthy is a writer, performer and producer primarily for CBC. Heather Knox is a Toronto based actor.) While their intention might have been to add some money to a funding source, ideas within this tweet threaten funding for Canadian creators as well as threaten their creativity in other ways. Funding issues I discussed a number of the funding issues in an earlier article on  making sense of the Netflix, ISP, ICT DigiCanCon tax . That was a summary of some of the most visible proposals, and a suggestion that funding through general revenue is the least risky to the i...

Last month I posted a review of the Showcase.ca website and my attempt to watch the Supergirl series. I later  found this series on Google Play TV , no thanks to dishonest broadcasters who don't want Canadians to find out about legal alternatives to cable. When I noticed the source was Showcase I wrote: I was considering paying for Supergirl season 2 to get away from the horrible Showcase website, but now that I know that it is Showcase that would get part of my money I dropped that idea.  I feel like I'm being pick-pocketed, not treated as a potential valued customer. I've given up trying to use this horrible Canadian broadcaster website. I paid my $39.99 and watched this week's episode ( Episode 6: Changing ). This episode isn't yet on the Showcase website yet even though it aired yesterday.  With Google Play TV I expect to be treated to the episode much earlier -- in the case of BBC Class I get access to the episode 12 hours before it airs on the Space cable cha...