The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 107

THE VANCOUVER SUN. SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 20. 2004 Gil BUSINESS CRTC allows Quebecor to buy Toronto 1 TV EA pushing video games for high-definition television cialty channels. Both transactions are now expected to close Dec.l.

"We can't grow in Quebec so either we can stay here and do nothing or bring our experience elsewhere," Serge Gouin, chief executive of Quebecor Media, said in a recent interview. "I think we're credible. "And we have deep pockets, although we don't intend to go very deep in them. But we've got staying power, which is what the previous owner didn't have." Montreal Gazette Toronto 1. The regulator also endorsed the takeover of Calgary-based Craig Media by CHUM Ltd.

The ruling gives CHUM, controlled by its founding Waters family, broadcast access to 85 per cent of English-speakers coast to coast. And it gives Quebecor, a media and commercial printing company controlled by the powerful Peladeau family, a k.e-hold in Toronto Canada's richest advertising market. CHUM's $265-million purchase last spring of Craig Media triggered the Toronto 1 transaction. CHUM owned Toronto's Citytv and committed to sell off Craig-owned Toronto 1 to win regulatory approval. Quebecor and CHUM officials said they were pleased the CRTC made its ruling so quickly.

It had been expected to decide early next year. CHUM's Craig Media purchases included "A Channel" TV stations in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, a CBC affiliate in Brandon, and the MTV, MTV2 and TV Land digital spe BY NICOLAS VAN PRAET MONTREAL Canada's broadcast regulator has cleared Quebecor expansion into the Toronto television market, the first step in the company's ambitions to export its celebrity-making power outside Quebec. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled Friday that Quebecor's TVA Group and Sun Media subsidiaries can go ahead with their $46-million purchase of From Gl day as British Columbia's Exporter of the Year, even if it isn't in the business of making prefabricated homes or hydraulic power units. "We're on par with the majority of studios that are in Hollywood," said Don Mattrick, EA's president of Worldwide btudios, on hand to accept the big prize at the 2004 B.C. Export Awards.

"It's a pretty amazing accomplishment when you think about $1 billion of anything annually coming from a local business. Switching to the more comfortable bank can be this easy. Mattrick said another EA export, not calculable in dollars, is the influence it has on the California-based company that owns it and for which it generates a third of the $3 billion in annual revenue. "We've actually been able to develop some of the best practices for our company and export those too," said Mattrick. "The people here from our management team influence our global busi ness.

"People like Paul Lee, the COO of our Worldwide Studios, and Bruce McMil lan, who is executive vice-president and has the majority of our studio heads reporting to him. Added Mattrick: "It's an atypical way of thinking about it, but the product we're creating is sold globally and the management influence that our team has is exported globally as well. Mattrick said that the Vancouver oper Better bank. 1 yy ation will continue to expand it grew from 600 people just over four years ago to the 1,200 it has now with the almost doubling of studio space in Burnaby over the next few years to about 387,000 square feet. "That will put us in a position to grow our full-time staff count to north of 2,000 people, probably 2,200 full-time people," said Mattrick.

The big question facing EA in the next few years, he said, is how to take it from being a $3-billion-a-year business to a $10-bilhon-a-year business. "Our household penetration is approximately 40 per cent," said Mattrick. "And we think that most consumer markets a more natural penetration level would be in the mid 80s. So there's a potential for growth just in our current markets." One of the growth factors will come, said Mattrick, from new gaming devices and platforms, such as the new Sony Playstation portable that will launch in Japan Dec. 12 and make its way to North America by March.

"It's just kind of an amazing device and I think when people see it they'll be coveting it and using the products that are created for it." Another EA push, already underway in its research and development labs, are games designed for use on high-definition TV screens. "The resolution we create will take a six-fold leap forward in fidelity," said Mattrick. "It's just stunning. You not only start to be able to experience a character in an environment and a story Lne and premise, but you also get an emotional connection to what's going on. You don't have to use your imagination to fill in the detail." Mattrick said one of his biggest hopes for Vancouver is that the master's-degree program in interactive entertainment Old bank.

that EA sponsors at the University of Southern California where Mattrick sits on a board with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can be adapted to B.C.'s educational institutions. "I'd like to see that graduate program develop, and the undergraduate program, and then be able to work with local universities and academic institutions to see that here in Vancouver," said Mattrick. "I think that would be great for me and it would be a wonderful legacy to be able to help people to go on to realize their own dreams, to create their own teams and their own products." networfcipng.canwcst.com With EasySwitch, moving your bank account to TD Canada Trust has never been easier. If you'd like to switch to better banking, And when you come over to now's the time. With EasySwitch, you TD Canada Trust, you're well taken care of.

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Manufactured products. IMW Industries: Chilliwack Designs, manufactures and supports a range of roll-forming products and compressor systems. Primary products Resources: Canpar Industries: Vancouver, Grand Forks Manufactures an engineered wood product used in door fabrication. Professional and services: ETraffic Solutions: Victoria An international provider of online learning content. New Exporter International Play Company: Langley A supplier of children's indoor and outdoor play equipment.

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