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On April 12, 2019, Chandler Walter wrote Here's how to (legally) watch Game of Thrones live in Canada . I've not been shy over the years stating that I believe that Bell Canada is the largest contributory copyright infringer in Canada .  By blocking or making extremely inconvenient legal options for accessing streaming content in Canada, Bell's business practices have induced far more infringement than ISOHunt or any other the other alleged copyright villains ever have. You can abuse exclusive licenses to force audiences back in time to legacy cable television, or you can provide people legitimate options to pay for streaming content, but you can't do both. This final season is the first year I'll be watching Game of Thrones when it is released, as this is the first year that Bell Canada has allowed Canadians to do so legally .  While Bell's Crave streaming service is inferior to all of the digital native streaming services like Netflix, Google YouTube/Play, or ...

I have made an intervention to the CRTC in opposition to FairPlay Canada's so-called "application to disable on-line access to piracy sites". Summary While is is appropriate for the courts to be able to require Internet Service Providers to block access to specific “sites”, it is inappropriate for vertically integrated media distributors to be allowed to do this without a court order. These media distributors are in a conflict of interest when it comes to providing lawful online distribution of media, and their business models are known to induce copyright infringement. Given this conflict we should not only be demanding that court oversight exist prior to blocking, and not as an expensive appeal process, but that government and regulators need to reduce rather than increase the influence of broadcasters and BDUs over Canada’s digital communications networks. Read more: Tweet informing Fairplay of my intervention, as requested by the CRTC. Re-tweet if you agree with my s...

CBC runs InCanada , an "online" Canadian Media Panel. I put "online" in quotations because while the panel is online, the CBC's broadcaster bias is always visible in how they ask questions. The latest survey is no exception. The survey was essentially about Alias Grace , a Canadian-American miniseries that will air on CBC on September 25, 2017, and on Netflix on November 3, 2017. The survey typically conflates Netflix with broadcasters, when Netflix is not a broadcaster . This is about as nonsensical as confusing a radio station with a record store when discussing music, and yet the legacy broadcasters continue to try to push this nonsense. I sometimes make the comparison to the difference between an outhouse and indoor plumbing: Like broadcasting, people made use of outhouses before modern conveniences like indoor plumbing came along. And like indoor plumbing, people aren't likely to want to go backwards once they get used to online streaming. While outhous...

I just finished season 1 of Van Helsing via Netflix Canada. Filmed in Vancouver with most cast members being Canadian, this is the type of Canadian content that makes me feel proud of Canadian talent.  There were so many familiar Canadian actors from other series out of Vancouver including Flash and Sanctuary, and it even had Amanda Tapping directing 4 episodes. Nomadic Pictures , the producer, operates out of Calgary. I'm excited to hear that season 2 has already been ordered, and that production starts next month.  My hope is that for future seasons that legal Internet distribution will be simultaneous with any broadcast-era distribution. The Wikipedia page for the series  suggests that some fortunate events happened for this to be released on Netflix Canada on December 23'rd (after the September 23 broadcast launch) rather than being tied up in broadcast-only licensing for much longer : Super Channel's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. In earlier articles ( Ad ...

I received an email this morning from Amazon.ca titled "Your Prime membership now includes Prime Video", indicating that Amazon Prime Video has been launched in Canada. Like Youtube(Google) and Netflix, Amazon is an internet native company, so I wasn't surprised to see that Prime Video worked on most of my devices.  It plays from my desktop, Chromebook, and has an Android App.  Missing, and something people often complain about, is Chromecast support. Amazon has a competing Amazon Fire series of devices, but they are not being sold in Canada.  This is quite unfortunate that their ongoing rivalry with Google diminishes the utility of their service. Vertical integration isn't helpful, and it is inappropriate to expect everyone to have so many different incompatible devices plugged into their televisions. This service wasn't quite what I was expecting.  I thought Amazon Prime would be more like Google Play Movies and TV, offering per-movie, per-episode or per-season...

When the current Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly suggested that someone saying " Without culture, nobody would be on the internet" was thoughtful, and possibly even a new idea, I became aware that this is a area of policy that is new for Ms Joly. We now see a new campaign aimed at the Minister called Focus On Creators launched by several associations which has a similar message the Minister may not have a context for. While I am an author of software and non-software works, and in my policy analysis and activism I always have a Focus on Creators, I do not agree that all the groups who are promoting this campaign have that same focus.  All too often representatives of these groups claim the interests of some intermediary is synonymous with the interests of a group of creators, and are focused on that intermediary.   Technology giveth, and technology taketh away It is normal technological and societal progress that new technology disrupts old technology, as well as the busines...

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...

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...

The Canadian content in a digital world consultations are underway, and the Minister of Canadian Heritage has indicated that everything is on the table. Unfortunately there is a large group of people who have been dominating the consultation with what I would consider to be minor details of an issue that is far broader than they seem to be aware of.  Their focus has been sources of funding for creating Canadian content -- both on the variety of government programs as well as the ongoing claim that stronger copyright aimed at audiences will somehow better protect the economic interest of creators.  I believe discussing mandating Netflix become a contributor to the Canadian Media Fund is as helpful as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. These consultation participants appear to have missed the elephant in the room, which also represents the greatest threat to the interests of creators,  which is the concentration of vertically integrated communications companies.  ...