MONT TREMBLANT – Wandering around (and around) the small, but sold-out trade show floor at the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance on Monday yielded many tales of growth and development, some of which are new, others a bit better-known.
Then in the evening, the Alliance handed out its annual supplier of the year and member of the year awards and honoured a couple of others as well. The CCSA’s 2011 member of the year, a company which “stood above the crowd,” said CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend is Co-operative de Cablodistribution de l’Arriere Pays (which serves the Charlesbourg and Lac-Saint-Charles region north of Quebec City). CCAP’s Stephane Arseneault (and conference co-chair) accepted the award. www.ccapcable.com
The CCSA supplier of the year is the CBC since, after many years, CBC’s specialty channels and the independent communications’ alliance were able to complete a contract. “We spent 16 years looking for a deal,” said Townsend “and we think we have come up with a blueprint for a future partnership.” The CBC’s Janice Ward was on hand to accept.
Townsend also acknowledged Cable Cable’s Mike Fiorini, who, with other members of Team Steffie, rode bicycles to Mont Tremblant from Lindsay, Ont. as a fundraiser, as Cartt.ca has reported. The CCSA also adopted Fiorini’s charity as the Alliance’s charity of choice. As well, she also paid tribute to the industry accomplishments of former Mountain Cable owner Owen Boris and long-time Cancom, Astral and Super Channel executive Darrell Atherley, both of whom passed away within the last year.
Check out some snapshots of the award-winners and a few others from a very busy Monday, below the rest of our blurbs.
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Rogers Media is pushing the launch of its newest channels, CityNews Channel and FX Canada. Following on the heels of the company’s summer launch of OLN HD will be the company’s all-Toronto-news channel October 3rd. Twenty-eight days later, on Halloween Day, FX Canada will make its debut. No word on carriage agreements at this point but we figure Rogers Cable will probably be carrying FX that day… www.rogers.com
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Canadian technology vendor Incospec is going to Qatar. Actually, it’s going back to Qatar. The Montreal-based company has signed an agreement with Qatar Telecom to build a new digital video network for the country’s Emir and Prime Ministerial residences and offices. Incospec built an analog system, 13 years ago and was invited in to bid again and won the contract, reports company president Mario Sebastiani. www.incospec.com
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Toronto-based Adara Technologies is having some success on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border with its cloud-based, hosted and managed advanced video solutions that lets mid-to-small sized service providers to affordably implement advanced video services. Baldwin Telecom (Wisconsin) recently announced it will use Adara for its switched digital video upgrade. Adara’s hosted and managed video solution will work with any legacy digital video headend, CAS and associated set-top boxes. The solution incorporates Cisco’s Switched Digital Video (SDV) technology to deliver even hundreds of incremental HD services and it also combines Cisco’s advanced, web-connected set-top boxes with an advanced, next generation UI for interactive web applications, widgets and delivery of provider-controlled over-the-top (OTT) content. www.adara-tech.com
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CBC will launch a new French-language specialty channel in early 2012, CCSA delegates were told. The logo and programming are not finalized yet, but the channel will be named Explora. It will launch with 80% high definition content and the genre it will hit – shows will be focused on nature, the environment and climate – sounds a bit like a French-language Discovery, which is not a bad target. www.cbc.ca
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TVC Canada used the trade show to pump its latest product signing, JDSU test and measurement products, as we noted here last week. www.tvccanada.com
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CTAM Canada is looking for a bunch of new board members. The Canadian cable marketing chapter has done a ton of good work in providing networking and learning experiences for its nationwide membership and will vote on a new slate of 10 new board members this fall. Drop board member Gary Pelletier from Stingray Digital a line with questions, or to nominate someone. gpelletier@stingraydigital.comwww.ctam.ca
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Turner Networks’ Peachtree TV will launch its HD channel into the Canadian market on December 5th, the company announced. www.peachtreetv.com
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Southwestern Ontario independent triple play provider Hay Communications is celebrating its 100th year in operation this year. www.hay.net
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Pirate Radio and Television’s Terry O’Reilly, a marketing maven who also hosts the radio program “The Age of Persuasion” on CBC Radio (and has a book by the same name) provided a very entertaining look at marketing campaigns that aim to outsmart, not outspend in his Monday afternoon talk. He cited several companies, such as an Orkin flypaper ad which gradually revealed itself over time as flies were caught in the flypaper of the pest control company’s outdoor ads – in the shape of the Orkin logo.
Then there was the Netherlands Fitness First chain of fitness centres whose bus shelter ad doubled as a scale for the person sitting on the bench – a not-so-subtle encouragement to join that gym. Frontline flea and tick spray unveiled a surprising ad in a mall which, up close, was just a gigantic photo of a dog and the company’s logo. But when viewed from above, the poor pooch was covered in shoppers – who appeared like fleas all over this pup.
And what did they all have in common? These ads all received a ton more attention than their budget would have dictated. “They didn’t outspend, they outsmarted… You have to make people feel the issue,” said O’Reilly.
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Stephane Arseneault of Co-operative de Cablodistribution de l’Arriere Pays accepts the Member of the Year award from the CCSA’s Alyson Townsend.
Janice Ward from Supplier of the Year Award winner CBC with Townsend.
Joe Di Geso and two pals… at the Gentek booth.
It was busy at the Adara booth.
Corus Entertainment’s Gord Lee mans the CTAM Canada table.
Rogers Media’s Sandy Katz was pitching FX Canada and the new CityNews Channel.
