Village Gamer

Manitoba’s new media industry has received a huge development injection with an announcement yesterday by The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, who revealed that the province will receive federal funding of $433,000 to help its new media industry grow and become more globally competitive.

“Our Government’s investment in New Media Manitoba will provide enormous benefits for Manitoba’s vibrant and growing digital economy, the economy of tomorrow,” said Minister Yelich. “This project will help our digital media sector to capitalize on global opportunities, while also meeting the evolving needs of local industries.”

Since 2006, Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) has invested close to $28 million in new media projects across the west to purchase and upgrade new media technology, improve its access for businesses, universities and Canadians, and to create more jobs for the industry.

New Media Manitoba (NMM) will use the funding from WD to help Manitoba’s digital media sector adapt its products, services and business processes to succeed in global markets, as this vibrant sector hits the world stage.

“We are thrilled with this announcement,” said Kevin Hnatiuk, Executive Director of New Media Manitoba. “The planned initiatives will support new media producers looking to grow their business, and create new prospects for graduates from digital media programs at the Universities and Colleges. Manitoba New Media Companies will now have new support and guidance to make a significant economic impact for themselves and their industry partners.”

The non-profit agency will work with its members to facilitate training opportunities, commercialize their products and services, improve business models and practices, identify new markets and become export-ready. NMM will also help to further the awareness and knowledge of the industry, while developing business relationships to support the growth of Manitoba’s digital media companies.

Canadian multimedia production and distribution company Distribution Access has launched their Business and Education Apps on the Apple iTunes Store. The apps are initially for the business and education markets with two pay-per-use apps, and one free app for the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

The apps enable delivery of a selected group of video content from the extensive Distribution Access library of over 15,000 educational and learning titles and provides significant value for both education and business training.

“We are pleased to provide yet another way to access our award-winning educational content. Creating new channels for teachers, business professionals and consumers to access our large library of content is key to our strategy for this year” said Doug Connolly, President of Distribution Access.

The new apps were developed in partnership with MoboVivo, a leading Canadian company that develops ‘Video and TV Everywhere solutions’ with adaptive streaming, ‘download guard’ and screen shifting for set-top boxes, Smart TVs, mobile, PC, and tablet delivery.

“The demand for video as a tool of education and business is large and growing,” said MoboVivo founder and CEO, Trevor Doerksen. “MoboVivo’s myScreens platform, which powers these apps, leverages video and social media to engage users in rich relationships.”

Since 1997, Distribution Access has been providing schools, libraries, businesses, community organizations and life-long learners with award-winning multi-platform productions on a wide variety of subjects. The company operates from offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Saint John, with over 50 agents and representatives worldwide.