Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman Schellenberger and members of the committee. My name is Gary Maavara. I am executive vice-president and general counsel of Corus Entertainment. With me today is Sylvie Courtemanche, who is vice-president of government relations.
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, Corus very much appreciates the opportunity to take part in this proceeding. We believe it is important for us to outline our perspective on digital interactive media markets in Canada and abroad. As you know, Corus is one of Canada's leading media and entertainment companies. We have extensive radio holdings across Canada that serve the ridings of almost all of the members of this committee. We have several national specialty and paid television services and three over-the-air television stations serving the communities of Peterborough, Kingston, and Oshawa.
We employ people across Canada, from Quebec to B.C. We also own Nelvana, one of the world's premier producers of children's animation programming. Our program library currently comprises some 3,300 half-hour episodes of Canadian-produced and co-produced content.
Kids Can Press is Canada's largest publisher of materials intended for children. Some of our brands in that book company include the popular Scaredy Squirrel and Franklin the Turtle, and the iconic Babar, who is everyone's favourite elephant.
Over the past several years we have been exploring new and innovative ways to capitalize on new technology-driven markets. To accomplish this we have been continually upgrading our physical plants and training our employees so that we can remain relevant to Canadians. For example, we are two days away from moving into Corus Quay, which will become part of the rebirth of the east end of Toronto's waterfront. The mega-million-dollar investment will establish one of the world's most sophisticated media centres.
We are making this investment in recognition of the fact that we need to be able to compete with the best that the world has to offer. We are competing with the world, and the world competes with us right here in Canada.
Corus provides Nelvana-owned Canadian content to multi-platform channels such as KidsCo in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and qubo in the United States.
We also have a direct-to-consumer digital download strategy. The result of all this is that today, our productions are available in more than 160 countries worldwide in more than 40 different languages.
Why are we talking about foreign markets, you ask? Of course because that is where the market is that will allow us to expand our Canadian presence. New technologies are not just about threats; they provide us all with opportunities. But we must be thoughtful, nimble, and strategic to succeed.