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Media Beat: November 10, 2022

By David Farrell

Rogers posts strong revenue on growth in wireless, media businesses

Rogers Communications Inc on Wednesday beat quarterly revenue estimates as the wireless carrier benefited from higher roaming charges and demand for pricier plans, while its media business got a boost from a rebound in live sporting events. – Reuters


Tesla applies for telecom licenses in Canada

Tesla’s application says it will provide machine-to-machine cellular data service for in-vehicle infotainment access, internet access, and “mobile terminating SMS to wake up vehicles.” – Nida Zafar, Mobile Syrup

Canadian Heritage and CRTC at odds over user status on social platforms

Even as Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez continues to insist that user content isn’t touched by Bill C-11, the CRTC is sending a different message. In a recent article on how digital creators are contemplating leaving Canada as a result of Bill C-11’s regulation of user content, the CRTC stated:

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We strongly encourage interested parties – like TikTok users – to monitor our announcements and participate in public processes. Any decisions on who would have to register and how would only follow those processes, and people should make no assumptions about how the Commission may rule beforehand. – Michael Geist's blog

CBC’s Vassy Kapelos moves to CTV News to host political shows Power Play and Question Period

… She takes the reins from previous host Evan Solomon, who announced last month that he was leaving Power Play and Question Period for the online political news outlet Gzero Media in New York.

Kapelos makes the jump from CBC News Network’s daily series Power & Politics, which she joined in March 2018.

CTV says the seasoned broadcaster will also host a new radio program called The Vassy Kapelos Show, airing weekday afternoons on iHeartRadio Canada Talk Network stations. – The Canadian Press

YouTube Music and Premium soar to 80M paid subscribers

The combined numbers mark a 30M increase from last year, netting $B to the music industry between July 2021 and June 2022. – Jem Aswad, Variety

Meta layoff of 11,000 workers worldwide hits Canadian staff

A number of Canadian workers have been laid off by Meta Inc. as the tech giant announced plans to cut 13 percent of its workforce in a bid to become “leaner and more efficient.”

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Canadian staff in the company's communications, creative partnerships, client relations and human resources departments all posted about their layoffs on LinkedIn on Wednesday. – Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

Meta follows Twitter with mass layoffs

Mark Zuckerberg is set to pull off an Elon Musk. His company Meta is about to unleash its biggest round of layoffs in history. Thousands of Meta employees are set to be sacked. – WION

Elon Musk spins his views on cars, starships, Twitter, and Tesla at the annual Baron Investment conference on Nov. 4

Twitter in a debt trap after Musk takeover?

Why did Elon Musk cut Twitter's workforce by almost half? Reports say Musk needs to pay almost $1 billion to banks as interest - to service the debt he took on to purchase the platform.

What is Mastodon, and why is it surging amid all the chaos at Twitter?

With Twitter in disarray since the world's richest person took control of it last week, Mastodon, a decentralized, open alternative from privacy-obsessed Germany, has seen a flood of new users.

"The bird is free," tweeted Tesla mogul Elon Musk when he completed his $44-billion acquisition of Twitter. But many free-speech advocates reacted with dismay to the prospect of the world's "town square" being controlled by one person and started looking for other options.

For the most part, Mastodon looks like Twitter, with hashtags, political back-and-forth and tech banter jostling for space with cat pictures.

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But while Twitter and Facebook are controlled by one authority — a company — Mastodon is installed on thousands of computer servers, largely run by volunteer administrators who join their systems together in a federation. – Thomson Reuters

Randy Rainbow honoured at ‘making a difference awards

Making a Difference Award honoree, Randy Rainbow gives his acceptance speech at the Matthew Shepard Foundation's annual Bear to Make a Difference Gala on October 8. As usual, he’s a pretty funny guy.

Bono sits for an NPR interview about Surrender – his new memoir

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Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group Sir Lucian Charles Grainge attends Universal Music Group Hosts 2020 Grammy After Party on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group Sir Lucian Charles Grainge attends Universal Music Group Hosts 2020 Grammy After Party on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.


Record Labels

Read Lucian Grainge’s Memo on UMG-TikTok Deal: ‘Entire Music Ecosystem’ Will Benefit

The new agreement, announced in the early morning, addresses "key changes in several critical areas," Grainge said in outlining what UMG achieved in negotiations.

Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge penned a memo to staff, obtained by Billboard, about the music company’s new licensing agreement with TikTok that ended a three-month standoff between the two entities, saying the deal ended with “a decidedly positive outcome,” with TikTok agreeing “to key changes in several critical areas.”

The announcement of the new deal, which came after a high-profile dispute between the world’s largest music company and one of the current premier social media platforms in the world that first erupted in late January, was announced early this morning (May 2). The agreement will see UMG’s millions of compositions and songs, both from its recorded divisions and its publishing company, return to the platform “in due course.” The feud has been one of the biggest talking points in the music business for the better part of this year, with artists and songwriters caught in the middle of the corporate standoff and looking for alternate ways to promote and market their music beyond the parameters of TikTok.

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