Lost was missing, but that didn't stop viewers from flocking to other Thursday-night shows. The numbers were up for CSI (which filled Lost's time slot) and CTV's other scripted programming. Global's Celebrity Apprentice and Deal or No Deal numbers saw gains too. Read More

According to the latest report from Statistics Canada, advertising revenue for domestic newspapers rose to $3.98 billion in 2006, a 2.7% increase from the previous year.

Daily newspapers generated $2.85 billion in advertising revenues, while community newspapers made $1.13 billion.

Broken down geographically, Ontario experienced a 5.1% rise in operating expenses, depleting profit margins for 2006 to 10%, compared with 7.4% in 2005. In Western Canada, operating revenues rose 3.9%, which was nearly double the 2.1% increase in Ontario. In Atlantic Canada, profit margins were 12.3% and, in Quebec, 13.5%.

While growth among Canada's newspapers was short of gangbusters, it compared positively with the sector's American counterpart, where ad revenue reportedly fell 7.9% to $45.38 billion.

CBC News announced late last week that it plans to "dramatically increase resources" devoted to covering local and national television news originating in Alberta, generally in the province and especially in Calgary and Edmonton. Newsgathering resources are to be doubled with the addition of about 25 new assignments for local television journalists.

"There are important stories that need to be told throughout Canada," says CBC News publisher John Cruickshank. "Calgary and Edmonton are now among the most dynamic cities in the country [and] we want our news coverage to reflect that reality. As we said last year, our plan is to put more 'feet on the street' to maximize our television news gathering and production resources locally in these important areas."

In related news, CBC also announced that the two hours of programming for CBC Newsworld which are currently produced from Calgary will now be handled out of Toronto.

The French-language Corus Quebec station just inked an exclusive contract with the Montreal Impact. Read More

Contrary to the perception that this medium is ad-free, six minutes of advertising per hour are on offer, plus sponsorship opps to reach its 400,000+ Canadian subscribers. Read More

Yesterday, the Slice network made two announcements. One was that the results of a survey it commissioned about the romantic lives of single Canadians revealed that a whopping 67% of singles date only twice a year or less.

The net's second announcement was that it's attempting to help the dismal situation by scheduling a new series called How to Find a Husband. Debuting on April 23 at 9pm ET/PT, the 10-parter follows a 30-something TV personality who challenges herself to go on 70 dates in 50 days in search of Mr. Right.

Sally Gray, a 37-year-old television presenter, says her sojourn was "ambitious by most singleton standards, but I wanted to, and definitely did, put my heart on the line. This was a real-life experiment where I road-tested lots of different types of men with dates ranging from amazing to downright disturbing."

Cameras follow Gray as she tries everything from online and speed dating to soliciting the advice of a dating doctor and a psychic to allowing her mother to set her up.

This year's Marketing Association National Convention and Trade Show is set for May 12-14 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and will feature insights into emerging marketing trends, innovations and new cutting-edge marketing technologies.

Keynote speakers and their topics include:

▪ Author, blogger and entrepreneur Seth Godin, who will address 14 trends that are changing businesses and the organizations, brands and products that are taking this new world by storm;

▪ Leading behavioural economist Dan Ariely, who will share insights from his bestselling book Predictably Irrational;

▪ Sylvia Reynolds, CMO of Wells Fargo, who will identify the guideposts for a new marketing era;

▪ Blogger and analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik, who will explain how marketers can use Web Analytics 2.0 to their advantage; and

▪ Brian Segal, Rogers Publishing President/CEO, who will speak about engaging customers in a multi-platform world.

www.the-cma.org/convention