For me, one of the highlights of last week’s Banff World Media Festival was getting to chat with Brampton’s own Russell Peters. The comedian was awarded the Sir Peter Ustinov Award for comedy at the Rockie Awards and quickly admitted he’d never seen a Ustinov film. “He did make films, didn’t he?” Peters asked the
The Toronto Star has jumped out front on a story many of us have been keeping an eye on for weeks–George Stroumboulopoulos’ future with Hockey Night in Canada. A few weeks ago when I spoke with Sportsnet president Scott Moore at the Rogers upfront, he seemed to duck around the Strombo question. HNiC’s ratings were
BANFF, Alta. — One of the joys of Banff for me this year was getting to know Don Carmody. I had the good fortune to interview him on Day Three of the World Media Festival. Making that job much easier was sitting beside him for several hours the night before at a grand dinner at
Banff, Alta– The second panel I moderated at Banff was “Broadcasting the 4K Way.” The panelists were Mary Ellen Carlyle, SVP & GM of Dome Productions, Scott Moore, President of Sportsnet and head of all things NHL at Rogers and my cousin Ken MacDonald, GM & VP of Discovery Canada. MacDonald, who I’ve been interviewing
BANFF, Alta.–There should be a law against blogging at Banff. It is just too damn beautiful outside. Everywhere you look is a picture postcard. So let’s run through Monday’s Banff World Media Festival experience as quickly as possible. I moderated two sessions. The first was called, “The Future of Canadian Content” and the Alberta room
BANFF, Alta.– “We can work together to create risks,” says Heritage Minister Melanie Joly. “Yes–a politician talking to you about risks.” Joly was speaking to a room full of nervous television industry stakeholders as the keynote speaker Sunday at the Banff World Media Festival. The Minister got a lot of her talking points from the Canadian
I only had one encounter with the great Gordie Howe and while it was indirect, it was a beaut. “Mr. Hockey” died Friday at 88. In June of ’93, Mike Norris, then the sportswriter at TV Guide Canada, invited me along to join him at the opening of the newly relocated Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
Thursday in Toronto Corus hosted the third leg of the Canadian private network Triple Crown. Front and centre at Thursday’s Corus upfront was EVP and COO Barb Williams. The savvy network executive has had a Tartikoff-like ride in the TV game, making tons of money for her company although never exactly the poster child for Canadian TV