CBC vs CTV Hockey - Kodak vs Fuji

I think it was Warren Buffet (the richest man in the world) who said this -- the moment Fuji bought the rights to become the official sponsor of the Olympics, then Fuji became a legitimate equal to Kodak.

Now, CTV has bought the rights to the theme of Hockey Night in Canada, it may have pulled a "Fuji" on CBC. The 40 years of familiarity of the Hockey theme music on CBC has now been transferred to CTV.

I am a big CBC fan. Having said that, in this case, I have to send a big congratulation to the CTV business/negotiation/sports team that got the deal done and closed so efficiently. When the opportunity presented itself, and when time is of the essence, you guys get the deal done and closed in record time.

I will try to blog a bit more when the dust is settled a little more and I am finished covering the Banff World TV Festival.

In a Dragon’s Den - Chat with Brett Wilson, chairman of FirstEnergy Capital, entrepreneur extraordinaire, CBC newest Dragon

I had thought it might take me a few weeks or a month or two to arrange an interview with Calgarian Brett Wilson, chairman of FirstEnergy Capital, entrepreneur extraordinaire, and newest CBC Dragon. So I was surprised and delighted to hear from Brett this morning (a Sunday) inviting me to have a chat with him in his home (wow, my first visit to a Dragon's home, a true Dragon's Den).

And as expected, I had a nice and insightful chat with Brett. And he was as nice in person as I have heard from others and seen from his interview with Dragons' Den host Dianne Buckner.

It will take me some time to process and upload the videos. So here are a few photos for now. Stay tune for the videos and more photos.

W. Brett Wilson - The Five Million Dollar Man

I couldn't find any public record but I suspect W. Brett Wilson, the newest CBC Dragon and chairman of FirstEnergy Capital, worths considerably more than five million dollars. (big smile) Here is what Brett told Globe and Mail Report on Business in a 2007 interview,

[Reporter:] How much money do you have to work with?
[Brett:] Enough to get by. I like a model used in some private banking circles: You have three buckets of assets. The first bucket is your lifestyle assets; the second is the assets required to protect that lifestyle; and the third is your adventure assets. I have a significant adventure assets pool. I am looking at acquiring land across Western Canada, investing in the service and the power sectors, and I'm still buying into start-up oil and gas companies.

Where do your children fit in?
When you get hit by the bus in life, you've got two places to send your money—children or charity. I'm not a big fan of this practice of opening the will to determine where Dad's money went. My kids know the vast bulk of my estate will go to charity. The issue for me is giving while living, and the best way to manage that. I'll be doing a lot of philanthropic work using both my leadership skills and my money. And the kids will be fine. None of them can live on the inheritance because, frankly, there isn't one. Both my ex-wife and I hope they will develop passion in their own right.

You see, the $5 million mentioned was one of Brett's latest charitable donations, an amount donated to help create the new Southern Alberta Institute of Urology.

Sean Wise has two interesting entries here and here about Brett (with photos). Here is a link to a very well researched and written article in Avenue magazine when Brett won the Person of the Year. (highly recommended)

P.S. Brett (his plan of having "vast bulk of my estate will go to charity" and his focus on integrity and honesty) reminds me a little bit of Warren Buffett (more on Warren here).

Richard Florida @ Google & Banff

I was really lucky to watch a CBC National video report and “discovered” Richard Florida tonight. (smile) I am going to pay attention to Rich’s ideas and I have subscribed to his blog. Check out his latest book - “Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life.”

Here is a video of Rich interviewed by George on The Hour.

The following is an hour long video of Rich speaking at Google, NYC.

And if you are really keen and have nothing better to do (smile), then check out another hour long video of Rich speaking at Google, Headquater in CA (essentially the same speech but with a different set of Q&A starting at 48:45).

P.S. On a personal note, Rich reminds me of some of the great U of Toronto professors that I had. Great job in bringing Rich to Toronto. And I am looking forward to listening to Rich live at Banff World TV Festival.

P.P.S. Here is one of Rich’s recent blog post on Jane Jacobs.

P.P.P.S. I wonder if Rich gets some money from this BMW ad? (smile) By the way, I think I actually first read about Rich here in this UT magazine article.

Canadian Stars fight Bill C-10

From CBC report (with video),

Members of Canada's film and television industry are on Parliament Hill Thursday to voice their concerns over a proposed bill that would give the government the power to deny tax credits to productions it considers offensive.

Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley, actress Wendy Crewson and Brian Anthony, CEO of the Directors Guild of Canada, are among those appearing before the Senate committee on banking, trade and commerce, asking for changes to Bill C-10, an omnibus bill proposing a host of amendments to the Income Tax Act.

"These clauses are an attack on freedom of expression and will destroy film financing in Canada," Crewson said in a news conference ahead of her presentation.

It will cause TV and film producers havoc if the tax credits can be retroactively withdrawn as financing risk will simply to too high for investors to invest and banks to make loans or interim financing available.

Canadian Girls Kick Ass

Canada's Jennifer Jones team had a great game today and beat China's Bingyu Wang team 7-4 to win the world curling championship. And I agree with Kent Gilchrist that we should "welcome global growth of curling, not fear it". I think it is too narrow-minded to stop teaching other countries and helping them to be better players. Reminded me of the Bruce Lee character in the movie Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story being scolded and disowned by other Chinese Kung Fu masters for teaching Chinese martial arts and giving away the "secrets" to foreigners. I think Canadians are more generous in our hearts and are willing to risk losing in order to see the general level of game improved.

Congratulations to team Canada skip Jennifer Jones, lead Dawn Askin, second Jill Officer, and third Cathy Overton-Clapham. I am so proud of you ladies.

For more info, see Team Jennifer Jones website.

P.S. It should be noted that the Chinese team was really good but the Canadian team was simply better on Sunday.

*******

March 31 update: CBC attracts record audience for curling final.

Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister

CBC prime time show Canada's Next Great Prime Minister was fun to watch (see their blog). And now you can download the video as a DRM-free (Digital Rights Management-free) file using bittorrent.

Quoting Michael Geist in his Toronto Star column,

The CBC notes that this marks the first time that a North American broadcaster has released a prime-time program in this manner. In doing so, it is demonstrating its willingness to experiment with alternative forms of distribution as it works to meet its statutory mandate that requires the public broadcaster to make its programming "available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means."

Money can buy you happiness - if you spend it on others: study

From CBC news with video,

People are happier when they spend money on others than when they spend it on themselves, a new study by researchers in Canada and the United States suggests.

“Our results suggest that how people spend their money is at least as important for happiness as how much they earn,” co-author Lara Aknin, a master’s student at the University of British Columbia told CBCNews.ca via e-mail. “Therefore, small alterations in your spending choices — even small amounts — can have a significant impact on your happiness level.“

Links: 2008-02-29 Conservatives bribe, End Software Patents, Avi on Al-Jazeera, Waterproof camcorder ad

1. Conservatives made million-dollar offer to MP Cadman - it is a criminal offense if a bribe was indeed offered.
2. Cadman 'bribe' furor grips Tories
3. Cadman's daughter backs up mom's bribe story - Conservatives have lots of explaining to do as this I just can't see any reason why the honourable Cadman family would tell lies like these
4. "End Software Patents" Launches With Website and Report
5. Joff Wild Responds to "End Software Patents"
   
6. Former CBC-TV host Avi Lewis begins hosting U.S. show on Al-Jazeera network (with YouTube of show)
7. Sanyo Waterproof Video Camera

Links: 2008-02-17 Keays v. Honda, Luke Arm, CBC, Olympics athlete blogs, Internet domain tasting

1. Supreme Court of Canada to Hear Keays v. Honda Canada Inc.
2. Dean Kamen’s “Luke Arm” Prosthesis Readies for Clinical Trials (with video) [via TED]
3. A new hope? - from CBC anonymous blogger Ouimet - nice intentional (?) reference to this. (smile)
4. Beijing Olympics athletes allowed to blogged - BBC - I’ve no idea that the IOC are into the business of censorship or deciding what can be published or not.
5. No More Tasting: It’s a Bad Year To Be a Internet Domain Name Registrar

Links: 2008-02-13 - Lock-in, Amnesty Ad, CBC, Buffett, Baltimore Cop, Power Dressing, Patent

1. Lock-In (iPhones, etc)
2. Amnesty International Ad
3. CBC President and Ouimet on Search Engine (14th Feb, 2008)
4. Buffett's bond insurer gambit no burst of altruism - What's wrong in making money again if both sides agree? (smile)
5. Cop roughs up teenage skateboarder on video
6. Nanowires allow 'power dressing' (self-powered nanotechnology)
7. Patent Law: Issues With Employee Assignment Agreements
   

Links: 2008-02-12 - Grand Challenges, Unlocking Access, CBC captions, Lynne Russell, Law@iTunesU

1. Grand engineering challenges for the 21st century
2. Michael Geist Unlocking Access at University of Melbourne (full video of speech)
3. CBC Captions - An easy win for Hubie the Love Bug
4. Is there anything Lynne Russell can’t do?
5. Law Courses at iTunesU

Re: New CBC president discouraged by attacks on Teamakers’ blog

I am going to blog some more because I think this is very important to my beloved CBC. Here is my comment to the entry “New CBC president discouraged by attacks on Teamakers’ blog” at the official CBC blog “Inside the CBC“.

Note: Here is the official press release of the appointment of Mr. Hubert T. Lacroix as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)/ Radio-Canada.

*******

Hi Hubert,

I am glad I waited for a few days before I comment because I take issues with the tone of your first comment but your latest comment sounds a lot better.

A few quick points before I take some time to blog more later in my own blog,

1) It is important you responded to the Teamakers’ blog entry as open and transparent dialogue is key to understanding

2) I accept your apology in writing your comment like a [legal] memo. Just please promise to not “heretofore” or “hitherto” us in your comment. (smile)

Note: My better half and a few friends are lawyers, so I tell unfunny lawyer jokes sometimes. (smile)

3) May I suggest you start your own blog and leave the comment sections open for people to comment at your blog ?

On this final and very serious point #3 of suggesting you to start blogging and allowing comments. You may appreciate the significance of the following more as you were a lawyer. I recently interviewed my blog friend, Mike Dillon, a lawyer for 23 years and currently General Counsel of Sun Microsystems (a Fortune 500 and publicly listed company). (note: I will be posting that podcast/audio interview later.)

When Mike started blogging in August 2006 at http://blogs.sun.com/dillon/ , he decided to open his comment section against advice of a colleague. Since then Mike has been really happy with his initial decision and he thinks a more open dialogue has been achieved. It will be my pleasure to try to connect you with Mike. (Incidentally, when CBC tried to establish its Blogging Policy (which reads like a legal-cover-your-behind-document) for employees some months ago, I thought CBC might learn a few things from Sun’s clean one page easy-to-read policy but that idea and my and Mike’s offer for help was sadly ignored.)

Again, I comment and blog about CBC stuff because I love CBC. Also, I have blogged and commented with my real name because I think I have pissed off enough CBC senior executives with my often idiotic comments that I know I have a better chance in winning a Lotto than working for CBC. (big smile)

In the world of Blogs and open communications, it is nice to read “I’m reading everyone’s comments with interest and will continue to do so for the next five years …” from you.

Keep reading, you may be surprised what you learn from people who work for you (in all levels).

Best Regards,
Kempton

Links: 2008-02-03 MacBook Air, NYT Deathwatch, Yahoo, CBC dumbed down, Wonderbra, e-ink phone

1. Taking apart the new MacBook Air - Cool Pix and notes (Wow, just 19 screws to remove the battery. And a total of 88 screws to hold things together. (smile))
2. Inaugurating the New York Times Deathwatch - by Marc Andreessen - kinda funny in a bad way
3. Yahoo! and the future of the Internet - Google Official Blog
4. CBC ‘dumbed down,’ broadcast act architect says by Marke Andrews - Vancouver Sun
5. Wonderbra Rebranding
6. Polymer Vision’s Readius e-ink phone coming mid-2008 to Italy

CBC News: The National - Where are the videos?

As a news junkie, I try to watch CBC News: The National every night and then CTV National News with Lloyd Robertson if I have time to get a broader perspective. But deep in my heart, I am a CBC guy. (smile)

So here is my main beef with CBC News: The National - the powers to be should put all the individual segments as linkable chunks with video for people or bloggers to link to!

The most expensive part of the program/content creation is in the news reporting and the news production, etc, once those are done, every single minute of The National should be posted as linkable chunks with video up on the internet.

For example, this piece has video

Dion calls for firing of minister in spat with nuclear watchdog

where as this one doesn’t have the video that was used in The National tonight,

PM stands behind minister in isotope case

I see no good justification to not include videos in all news items that videos have already been created. Disk storage space and bandwidth are CHEAP! If these video clips are so useless/worthless and have no value to CBC, well, then upload them onto YouTube so these orphaned clips can find good homes to be used and loved.

CBC, are you listening?