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Interactive 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.

Vancouver – Rainmaker 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. “And 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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Award Honors QuickPlay for its Work on Rogers Vision, a Market-Leading, Fully-Integrated Mobile Video and Radio Service

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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Toronto – IDC 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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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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Waterloo – Research in Motion has announced an agreement to acquire Chalk Media Corp. (TSXV:CKM) for $23.1 million in cash. RIM also said Thursday it is lending the Vancouver-based mobile-media software maker $2.2 million to provide working capital until the deal is completed. Chalk Media developed Mobile Chalkboard, which creates and deploys media-rich content delivery to RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones. The technology has been “embraced by large corporate and government organizations that have deployed the BlackBerry platform and will provide a powerful addition to RIM’s portfolio of products and services for enterprise customers,” Research In Motion stated.

RIM is offering 14.2 cents per share for Chalk Media, which last traded at 4.5 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange, with a 52-week range between 24.5 cents and two cents. RIM, whose latest quarterly balance sheet included a cash hoard of US$1.1 billion, said the takeover offer has been accepted by Chalk Media insiders owning 20.9 per cent of the company.
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Halifax – Leading kids and family entertainment specialist DECODE Entertainment, a production subsidiary of DHX Media, is bringing two new series with its Singapore partner, Scrawl
Studios, to the Asia Television Forum. Launching to buyers at the ATF is Clang Invasion. The (26×22’ or 52×11’) animated series is a fast-paced sci-fi comedy about the adventures of a dysfunctional crew of alien robots who crash-land in the backyard of siblings Daisy and Robin.

The series has been developed by Scrawl Studios and in co-production with DECODE Entertainment, YTV, Hong Kong’s Agogo Entertainment Ltd. and the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA). Making its debut at the ATF is a new animated series in development, RPG High (working title), the second Canadian-Singapore collaboration between the two companies. Aimed at 8-12 year olds, RPG High (52×11’) is a new action comedy series with a visual style inspired by video gaming. The show is about high school life for video game characters and centres on the growing pains of four friends as they try to be the greatest game characters ever.

Beth Stevenson, Executive Producer at DECODE Entertainment said, “We are excited to be working with these renowned companies for a second series. We think RPG High’s mix of action and comedy partnered with the universal appeal of video game characters will resonate with all audiences.”
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Vancouver – Movisphere, a virtual world games arcade developed by students of the Masters of Digital Media (MDM) Program in collaboration with Telefonica, won top honours in the “Best New Business Opportunity” Category at Telefonica’s Second Annual Research Fair, held in November. More than 60 entries were received from Telefonica’s Research and Development Centres around the world.

Movisphere earned the award for its multiplatform virtual world arcade. Based on a microtransactional model, the platform will enable third party developers to upload multi-player games to an environment where users can play them on either PC or mobile device.

Based in Spain, Telefonica is a leading telecommunications provider with more than 245 million customers in 25 countries. Telefonica actively encourages and supports innovation through initiatives such as the Research Fair where the best new ideas in Internet, mobile technology, videoconferencing, P2P, TV, 3D Visualization, e-Health and other technologies are presented and judged. More than 800 of its top executives, directors and senior managers participated in this year’s event.
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Toronto – Are you an Innovator? Profile your innovative technology-based product or service with key companies, investors and other market participants at CIX – The Canadian Innovation Exchange.

CIX 2009 returns March 3 & 4, 2009 in Toronto. Entrepreneurs, innovators, investors from Canada and the US, strategists and key market participants will come together to help innovation and entrepreneurship thrive, and to propel the economy into its next growth cycle.

20 carefully selected finalists will deliver a presentation live at CIX and receive feedback and guidance from recognized experts.The winning company will be awarded the prestigious CIX Award for “Canadian Innovation Leader”. Registration for CIX opens in January 2009. Deadline for submission applications is February 4th 2009.

Schedule:

TUESDAY, MARCH 3rd 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Pre-Event Cocktail Reception & Networking – Join us as we set the backdrop for the opening of CIX 2009. Investors, entrepreneurs and strategics come together for an evening of drinks, and discussion on the forces that will shape the industry in the turbulent year to come.
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Halifax – DHX Media Ltd, a leading independent international producer and distributor of television programming and interactive content is pleased to announce several significant international sales of its television series’.
DECODE Enterprises, DHX Media’s distribution subsidiary, has announced that Martha Speaks, a 40 x 1/2 hrs children’s animated series produced by Vancouver’s Studio B Productions, a DHX Media company, and WGBH Boston, has been licensed to the BBC’s children’s channel, CBBC. DECODE has also announced several sales of the hit preschool series Animal Mechanicals, and the recent licensing of Bo on the GO! to the largest commercial broadcaster in the UK, ITV Network.

Animal Mechanics

Animal Mechanicals and Bo on the GO! are produced by DHX subsidiary, Halifax Film. Neil Court, President of DECODE Enterprises said: “We believe that Martha Speaks will be an ideal fit for CBBC’s roster and are delighted to have concluded this major broadcast deal for the series following a strong
international sales launch this fall.”
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