CALGARY – When Shaw Communications completes the purchase of Canwest Global, the vertically integrated entity will be so large and influential that some safeguards have to be attached as new conditions of license, a number of interveners told the CRTC Wednesday during its hearing into the deal.
Two of them, Telus and Pelmorex (owner of The Weather Network and Météomédia) brought lists of what those safeguards should be. Another, the Canadian Media Production Association, asked the Regulator to ensure the new company (controlled by the Shaw family) negotiates Terms of Trade in good faith – and doesn’t get cozy with…
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CALGARY – “Put yourself into my shoes,” CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein asked Shaw Cable’s executives.
The chair made the plea during an exchange Monday morning at the Airport Four Points Sheraton in Calgary during the day-long hearing into the western cableco’s applications to renew most of its cable licenses.
Due to a number of regulatory transgressions and questions over the years, (especially concerning advertising messages on some of its community channels that were contrary to the regulations, and treatment of some specialty channels), Shaw was granted only a short term license renewal by the CRTC back in 2008…
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OTTAWA – The big players in Canada’s wireless broadband space have told Industry Canada that it should avoid adopting the U.S. plan for the 2500 MHz band and instead opt for the international band plan. They say the economics resulting from such a decision are much better for the Canadian wireless sector.
“Harmonization of the Canadian band plan with the globally adopted band plan will be essential if Canadians are to benefit from the global ecosystem for wireless network technology and consumer devices that are already developing for the band,” Inukshuk Internet tells Industry Canada in comments filed…
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TORONTO – While more and more Canadians opt for smart phones like BlackBerry’s, iPhones and Android-powered devices, increased competition in the market is going to hurt the incumbent wireless operators’ bottom lines, says a new report.
Toronto’s Convergence Consulting forecasts a Canadian wireless service ARPU decline of 1% for 2010 (ARPU saw a 3% decline in 2009), driven by a 7% drop in voice ARPU (2009 saw a 9% voice ARPU drop). While data service ARPU will grow by 26% in 2010, the company estimates, that will not be enough to counter overall ARPU decline according to its report ‘Canadian Wireless 2008-2014:…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications executives told the CRTC today that it has no plans to hoard all of its content when it gains control of Canwest Global – and that when it comes to the digital transition, it would rather upgrade all of its transmitters, not just the ones in mandatory markets.
Commissioners were happily caught off-guard by the some of the commitments the big MSO/ISP/home phone/future wireless provider made this morning in Calgary.
When asked by CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein what the company planned to do in the unregulated spaces of mobile and broadband and how much content it…
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TORONTO – As the CRTC considers Shaw’s proposed purchase of Canwest Global’s TV assets, one industry analyst specualted on the implications of content providers making their content proprietary.
In a note to investors on Tuesday, Dvai Ghose, the managing director and head of Canadian research for Canaccord Genuity, said that companies like BCE and Rogers “see content ownership as an essential bargaining chip when negotiating content deals”, which, he continued, could make it difficult for companies who do not own content, naming TELUS and MTS as examples, to compete in the broadband, TV, and wireless segments.
“This does not seem to be in the interest…
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OTTAWA – Former Telus and CCTA executive Janet Yale is the new executive commissioner and chief executive of Scouts Canada.
After trying her hand in politics last summer, Yale assumes the new role on Monday with the goal of doubling the organization’s numbers from 75,000 children and 25,000 adult volunteers to 200,000 overall.
While the organization began including girls in 1998, its membership has reportedly been in a steady decline for some years.
“They have shaken themselves up, and they need a leader who can help them get to where they are going,” Yale said in a report. “They knew they…
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PART OF THE RATIONALE behind Bell Canada’s purchase of CTV is that the mobile and broadband spaces are unregulated – and that content exclusives will be part of the game when attracting and retaining subscribers who want to see their video content on their iPads, BlackBerrys or PCs, as well as their TVs.
Bell CEO George Cope told us as much when we asked him about it during the press conference announcing the deal last week.
However, to paraphrase what Telus has been saying for a while now: “Not so fast, consolidators.”
The Bell/CTV deal was excellent timing for the…
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CALGARY – When the CRTC dives into the proposed purchase of Canwest Global’s TV assets by Shaw Communications next week, many industry stakeholders are asking for asking for safeguards and urging the Commission to be prudent.
(Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien will be in Calgary next week covering the hearing. For live updates, follow him on Twitter via @gregobr and surf back to Cartt.ca regularly.)
The $2 billion deal, which would make Shaw the largest vertically integrated media company in Canada, for now, appears to have the cautious support of many, as long as certain conditions – often described as “competitive safeguards” – are attached.
Shaw’s primary…
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CANADIAN WIRELESS CUSTOMERS ARE hungry for a deal. According to brand new research, they are seeing the big ad campaigns and know they can shop around more than they ever have – and they’ll take their business to the best rate.
While all the wireless providers, new or incumbent, talk a great game about providing the best customer service, the highest speeds, the greatest apps and handsets, and the strongest, most reliable network – all lovely marketing bullet points – they only work to a degree.
Exclusive research from Toronto’s Solutions Research Group and Cartt.ca shows that when it comes to…
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