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18th December 2008

Digital Media Revenues Exceed Filmed Entertainment

Digital Media Grabs 10% Share of $845Bn Global Media and Entertainment Business in 2008

Strategy AnalyticsBoston – Global revenues from digital media will exceed revenue generated by filmed entertainment – movie theaters and home video combined – for the first time in 2008, according to new research from Strategy Analytics, a research company which provides timely and actionable market intelligence focused on opportunities and disruptive forces in the areas of Automotive Electronics and Entertainment, Broadband Connected Home, Mobile & Wireless Intelligent Systems and Virtual Worlds.

The report, “Global Media & Entertainment Market Forecast, 2004 – 2012,” predicts that total worldwide revenues from media and entertainment – including television & filmed entertainment, recorded music, games software and advertising – will exceed $845 billion this year, with more than 10%, or $90.0 billion, coming from online and mobile channels. In comparison, the global filmed entertainment market will generate $83.1 billion in revenues this year.

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18th December 2008

Interactive Ontario Annual General Meeting Announced

Interactive OntarioInteractive Ontario, the province’s digital media content industry’s association, will be holding their Annual General Meeting on Thursday, January 22, 2009. All IO members are welcome to attend. All Full Member companies can vote. Full Members have the opportunity to select board members via a vote that takes place during the AGM. Supporting Members are not permitted to vote. Membership fees are based on the size of the company. Since last fall, the Association’s membership has grown by 67%, to over 200 companies.

Following the AGM , IO will be hosting an iNTERACT networking event at The Gladstone Hotel. iNTERACTS are free for IO members and just $5.00 for non-members and include one drink ticket and munchies. The following day, Friday, January 23, IO presents iLunch 7.04, on The Digital Pangaea. Interactive Ontario’s mandate is to promote the interests of its members in the digital media content industry, and to enlist the support of government and private sector partners with a vested interest in its growth.

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18th December 2008

The Ice Caps Grow and Santa is Spotted in the South Pole!

Meridian4Montreal Meridian4 and Frogames have been hard at work adding content to Penguins Arena, their action-packed, non-stop battle for survival – “There can be only one” – FPS (First Penguin Shooter) and have also added a little Christmas cheer.

Frogames have added three new larger battlebergs for your penguin tribe to combat others in the ultimate struggle for supremacy and survival. More room to run, to hide, to watchPenguin's Arena your dynamite fish grenade smack a penguin clear off the iceberg into the cold waters below and then to be eaten by a great white…ah memories. They’ve also decorated for the holidays, adding a few string of lights, some garland, a Christmas tree or two and some of your old favorites like Frosty and even St. Nick might make an appearance.
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17th December 2008

Jerry Lewis And Rainmaker Join Forces On The Nutty Professor

RainmakerVancouverRainmaker Entertainment, one of the most prolific producers of CG animated films, announced the DVD release of their latest production, “The Nutty Professor.” “The Nutty Professor” is the animated sequel to the beloved 1963 classic and one of the great family franchises in movie history. “The Nutty Professor” debuted on November 25 from Genius Products, Rainmaker Entertainment and The Weinstein Company.

“The Julius Kelp character has always meant so much to me,” says Jerry Lewis. “AndThe Nutty Professor the chance to introduce him and “The Nutty Professor” to a whole new generation of kids and their families, and in a completely new way through animation, was very exciting. I loved working with the team at Rainmaker and found them to be fun, creative and very adept at creating comedy.”

Continuing its focus of developing and producing content, Rainmaker, in association with producer George Paige, approached Jerry Lewis with the idea of animating the characters from his 1963 live action film, which Lewis wrote and directed, and he enthusiastically agreed. The Weinstein Company signed on for financing and distribution. Evan Spiliotopoulos was brought on to write the script.
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17th December 2008

QuickPlay Media Wins Mobile Excellence Award for Best Mobile Video Solution

Award Honors QuickPlay for its Work on Rogers Vision, a Market-Leading, Fully-Integrated Mobile Video and Radio Service

QuickPlay Media Toronto – QuickPlay Media, the premier provider of mobile TV and video solutions, announced it has been named a 2008 Mobile Excellence Award winner in the “Best Mobile Video” category. The Mobile Excellence Awards have recognized QuickPlay Media for its role in powering Rogers Vision, Canada’s first fully-integrated mobile video and radio service, offered exclusively from the region’s largest wireless provider of voice and data services, Rogers Wireless.

“To be recognized by a panel of mobile industry experts is an honor for our team and a compliment to the success of the Rogers Vision service,” said Wayne Purboo, president and CEO, QuickPlay Media. “As our recent quarterly consumption analysis showed, demand for mobile TV and video content is growing. A key catalyst for this growth is services such as Rogers Vision, which deliver an integrated media experience that makes it fast and easy for end customers to access relevant content.”
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17th December 2008

Canadians Pick Up Awards From Spike TV

This past weekend, several Made In Canada projects picked up awards.

Spike TV VGA 2008At the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Burnaby’s EA Sports development team won the Best Team Sports Game category with NHL 09. FIFA 09 was also nominated in this category. Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland won the Big Name In The Game – Male award for his voice over work as Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty: World At War. Ubisoft Montreal won the Best Individual Sports Game category with Shaun White’s Snowboarding, beating out EA Montreal andEA Blackbox’s co-developed Skate It. Far Cry 2, also from Ubisoft Montreal was nominated for the Best Shooter category, but was beat out by a tie between Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead.

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14th December 2008

Game Design Expo Industry Day Sold Out

Game Design Expo Vancouver – For the second year in a row, tickets to Industry Speaker Day (February 7, 2009) at Game Design Expo 2009 have sold out!

Missed out on tickets? For aspiring game designers and anyone interested in game design and development, Game Design Expo also features a free Open House on Sunday, February 8, 2009 at Vancouver Film School’s acclaimed Game Design programme.

Attendees will hear about the world-renowned one-year Game Design program, meet faculty, students, and alumni, play student games, and experience sample classes covering subjects like Level Design and Storytelling.

The day also features a special schedule of industry presentations – featuring speakers from LucasArts, Big Fish Games, and Vicarious Visions (Activision) – and an exclusive Women in Games panel, where you can be the first to hear the details of a $30,000 Women in Games Scholarship.

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14th December 2008

Tale of Despereaux Is A Delightful Treat

Vancouver The Tale of Despereaux starred in an special advance premiere yesterday afternoon at the VanCity Theatre. Hosted by our ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver chapter with support from Universal Studios, Framestore and the Vancouver International Film Centre, the premiere was also a fundraiser for the Metro Vancouver Food Banks – and only the second public showing of Despereaux in the world.

The Tale of Despereaux is the story of a seafaring rat and a non-conformist young mouse. While Roscuro the rat (Dustin Hoffman) learns lessons about cause, effect, actions and consequences, our young hero, Despereaux (Matthew Broderick) lives his life in a Quixotic way, basing his actions on chivalry, courage, and honour is a constant source of concern among the other mice. He doesn’t even let his banishment into the dark dungeons below Mouseworld divert him from quest to save the Princess Pea (Emma Watson), who is living in a prison of her own. This tiny mouse with the heart of a knight sets out to right wrongs and save the Kingdom of Dor from an eternity of gloom, reuniting family and changing lives forever.
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12th December 2008

Canadian Government Agencies Will Partner to Drive Modernization

TorontoIDC Canada has released a new study that profiles ten of these emerging companies. 10 Canadian New Media Companies to Watch (IDC #CA3TIW8), provides insight into the solutions, go-to-market strategies, partners, and customers of the profiled vendors. Their lessons learned may provide a model for other emerging companies in the Canadian technology marketplace, and help larger vendors and investors identify partnership and investment opportunities.

“New media is radically changing who is in control of information and conversations on the Web,” says Krista Napier, analyst, Canadian ICT Innovation and Export at IDC Canada. “The growing use of blogs, micro-blogging sites, broadband TV, podcasts, and social networks, to name a few, are driving a new approach to communications that is real time, and two-way, with a variety of mediums to fit the message. Canadian entrepreneurs are leveraging this phenomena to develop a number of solutions and services that are making new media more intuitive, digestible, and manageable for individuals, while providing organizations with cost-effective solutions to initiate, manage, track, listen to, and engage in conversations on a number of platforms, all while measuring their impact.”

The analysis in this study provides valuable input to ICT vendors, large and small, to identify success factors employed by emerging Canadian vendors with solutions that address New Media. Some of the key findings from this study include the following:

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12th December 2008

Copyright Promotions Licensing Group Expands To Canada

Toronto – Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (CPLG), one of Europe’s oldest and most powerful independent licensing agencies, is expanding to North America. Kelly Elwood, will head up the Toronto office and report to Katarina Dietrich, CPLG CEO. CPLG Canada is the Canadian affiliate of the CPLG group of companies, recently acquired by Cookie Jar Entertainment.

CPLG Canada mirrors divisions held by Europe’s leading licensing agency including entertainment and sports. CPLG Canada will manage the consumer products on all Cookie Jar properties including Caillou, The Doodlebops, Richard Scarry’s Busytown Mysteries, Inspector Gadget, Johnny Test, Magi-Nation, Metajets, Mommy & Me and CAKE.

“With more than 25 years of experience in the kids’ consumer products and marketing industries including executive positions with Cookie Jar Entertainment, Mattel Canada, Robin Hood MultiFoods Inc. and Unilever, Kelly Elwood is the ideal person to oversee our Toronto office,” said Dietrich. “Having found great success in Europe, we are excited to expand to Canada and we look forward to adding top children’s properties such as Caillou, The Doodlebops and Richard Scarry to our growing list of licensees.”

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