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Interactive Ontario Has Four New Directors

Interactive Ontario [1]TorontoInteractive Ontario [1] today announced four new directors have been elected to the Board. These directors were voted in on January 26th at the Interactive Ontario Annual General Meeting of Members.

Newly elected board members include:

Sara Diamond, President, OCAD
Collin Douma, VP, Social Media, Proximity Canada
Gary Schwartz, President & CEO, Impact Mobile
Jeffrey Elliott, Founder and Co-CEO, GlassBOX Television Inc.

“Interactive Ontario is thrilled to welcome these new directors to the Board. Each one is a leader in their field, and contribute greatly to the interactive digital media industry,” said Ian Kelso, president and CEO of Interactive Ontario. “ We look forward to working with them over the course of the next year to continue to build the interactive digital media industry in Ontario and Canada.”

Re-elected board members include:

Mark Bishop, Partner, marblemedia
Danny Dowhal, COO, The Learning Edge Corp.
Trevor Fencott. Managing Partner & CEO, Bedlam Games
Laura Jo Gunter, Dean – Information Arts & Technology, Seneca College
Mike Mays, VP Finance, Silicon Knights

Returning Board members include:

Pary Bell, Vice President, Product, Digital Media, Rogers
Vikas Gupta, CEO & President, TransGaming Technologies
Lydia Sani, Partner, Redwood e-Learning Systems and Invisions Productions Inc.
Michael Schmalz, CFO, Digital Extremes
Scott Simpson, CEO, bitHeads / Headgames / playbrains

The executive was re-appointed by the board and includes:


President – Ian Kelso, President and CEO, Interactive Ontario
Chair – Mark Bishop, Partner, marblemedia
Vice-Chair – Lucie Lalumiere, VP, Interactive, Earth Rangers
Treasurer – Spence McDonnell, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Secretary – Diana Cafazzo, Partner, Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP

Retiring from the board this year is:

Claude Galipeau, Senior VP Digital Media, Rogers Media
Bart Nickerson, Director of New Product Launch and Content Management, Rogers Wireless
Tony Tobias, President, Pangaea Media & Music

Tony Tobias was the last of the original founding board members. He has been a board member since January 2001.

C. D. Howe Institute [2]Toronto – In the unfolding digital world, the regulations traditionally used to foster Canadian content in the broadcasting and telecommunications sector will not be viable, according to a study released today by the C.D. Howe Institute [2]. In Scrambled Signals: Canadian Content Policies in a World of Technological Abundance [3] (PDF), authors Lawson A.W. Hunter, Edward Iacobucci and Michael J. Trebilcock assess the implications of the rapid digital revolution underway for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s regulatory tools, and point to the need for new approaches to promote and fund Canadian content.

Having undergone a transformation from an era of a few channels broadcast over the air to hundreds of channels available via cable or satellite, Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications sector is on the verge of another tectonic shift, say the authors, of which Internet Protocol (IP) TV is an example. The transition from a “push” network, where entertainment choices were limited to those available at a given time, to a “pull” network, where content is available on demand, will render many current regulatory tools obsolete, they say. Ownership regulations and exhibition and expenditure quotas that mandate Canadian ownership of media and the percentage of Canadian content broadcast or purchased will be unenforceable online and should be abolished.

Other tools that promote Canadian content may still be useful in the future, they suggest. More direct subsidies to Canadian content would ensure that there is Canadian content available for those who want it. Public broadcasting, including the CBC, could be focused as an outlet for Canadian content. The authors conclude that a review is urgently needed by an independent expert panel charged with proposing a transition roadmap.

netfirms [4]Toronto – Twitter users across the globe are embracing the latest Netfirms domain name registration feature [5]. In September 2009, Netfirms [4] became the first ICANN accredited registrar to allow domain registration using Twitter [6]. Their customers can now tweet a domain request to the Netfirms Twitter account, and have it registered securely within minutes.

This feature offers a whole new level of ease and simplicity for the savvy domain customer and Netfirms is seeing proof that their customers are recognizing the ‘anywhere anytime’ benefit of this new free service. On any given day, up to 5% of all domains registrations at Netfirms are being submitted via Twitter. Netfirms offers domain names at $7.99/year with free WHOIS privacy and toll-free 24/7 customer service.

“We want to change the status quo on domain registration. This really excites us, ”says Thomas Savundra, President and CEO. “Remarkably, the Netfirms Twitter Domain Registration service has become the preferred domain purchase method for some of our customers. It’s not just about the innovation, we’re committed to developing new technology that simplifies the lives of our customers and helps them get their ideas online. This is why we got into this business in the first place.”

For business executives, mobile registration can put them a step ahead of their competition in terms of securing a domain before someone else does. They can now quickly submit a domain idea during a meeting through their smart phones and have it secured before the meeting is over. “I love the convenience of their Twitter domain registration – it is perfect for when you are out of the office and that perfect website idea hits you,” says Aaron De Simone, founder of iheartmediainc.com [7].