OTTAWA – Globalive Communications Corp., the Yak-led consortium, which had boasted of becoming Canada’s fourth national carrier, appears to have a gaping hole in the province of Quebec as bidding activity peters out in Canada’s auction for advanced wireless services in the 2 GHz range.
“Globalive has as close to a national license as anyone, but Quebec is a hole for them,’’ says Evan Kelly, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s national communications industry leader. “They’ve backed off. Quebec is one of the regions where there are no multiple parties going after licences anymore, so it seems to have settled.’’
With 135 rounds…
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PHILADELPHIA – The talking about reclaiming analog and shifting channels to digital is about to end – and the heavy-lifting is about to begin.
Comcast COO Steve Burke says cable desperately needs more room for digital channels like more high definition and additional ethnic channels, as well as DOCSIS 3.0. In the States DirecTV claims over 100 HD channels and is the clear leader here. “(Second), is not a place we want to stay forever,” said Burke during the opening general session.
“You can’t stop consumer trends,” added Charter CEO Neil Smit, about the growing numbers of high definition…
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Patrick Pichette, former president of operations at Bell Canada, was named Wednesday as senior vice-president and CFO of Google.
He starts at Google on August 1 and will assume responsibility for the Google’s financial operations and become CFO on August 12. He will report to Google Chair and CEO Eric Schmidt. He replaces George Reyes.
“Patrick brings the expertise and track record of a successful CFO, along with the hands-on business experience of a seasoned operations executive,” said Schmidt. “This strong combination of skills and experience will be an important addition to Google’s executive management…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ordered Bell Canada to publicly disclose information about the level of congestion on its network in conjunction with a dispute with ISPs over the company’s traffic throttling practices.
The commission is giving Bell until June 23 to release the data, which it provided to the regulator in a May 29 filing but wanted to keep confidential for competitive reasons.
“…Commission staff has determined, based on all the material before it, that no specific direct harm would likely result from disclosure, or that the public interest in disclosure outweighs any specific direct harm that might…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s highest court ruled on Friday that the planned $52-billion leveraged acquisition of BCE can go ahead.
The Supreme Court of Canada decision was made public at 4:30 p.m. ET, but without any reasons given. They will be released within six months.
Some disgruntled Bell bondholders were trying to block the deal, and had successfully convinced a Quebec Court of Appeal to rule in their favour. But the Supreme Court overturned the Appeal Court’s decision and paved the way for a consortium, including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, to acquire Bell Canada’s parent company.
As requested by BCE, the…
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OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday reserved judgement on an appeal of the $53-million takeover of BCE Inc. by a consortium, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
BCE took the case to the Supreme Court after some investors in Bell Canada successfully convinced a Quebec Court of Appeal that the acquisition did not adequately consider the impact on Bell bondholders. The Quebec Court of Appeal rendered its decision in favour of the bondholders on May 21.
BCE subsidiary Bell Canada is guaranteeing the $34 billion needed to finance the deal, but the bondholders contend that Bell…
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CTS 2008: A new way to do TV shows?
By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – If he’d known then what he knows now, the mega-popular TV franchise Canadian Idol might have been brought to market with an entirely different business plan, said John Brunton, president and CEO of Insight Production, the company that makes the program for CTV.
Given the way the media market has grown and fragmented, perhaps the reality show could have first or also been sold to a telco or an ISP, he said, during a panel discussion on entertainment on broadband.
Noting that Rogers’ portal agreement…
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TORONTO – While the concept of network neutrality is a hot button issue among some web denizens, for Rogers Communications senior vice-president, regulatory, Ken Engelhart, it’s basically a fake issue.
This was right after he called the Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) “a bit of a waste of money.” (Ed note: We love RCI’s regulatory chief. We can always count on him to speak his mind.) Engelhart was speaking on the “regulatory blockbuster” panel at the 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit Tuesday at the Toronto Congress Centre.
Engelhart pointed to myriad other “nonsense” issues over the years that…
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TORONTO – Graham Moysey has moved from Bell Sympatico to the position of senior vice-president and general manager of Digital Media at Canwest Publishing.
Previously, he was vice-president of sales and business development at Bell Sympatico.
“We are thrilled to have Graham join our senior executive team and bring his breadth of experience and passion for digital media to Canwest,” said Dennis Skulsky, Canwest Publishing president and CEO. “As our business continues to evolve from that of a traditional newspaper business into a multi-media publishing entity, Graham’s leadership will provide strategic direction for our online entities and lead the…
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BANFF – Former CHUM president and CEO Jay Switzer and former Standard Broadcasting president and CEO Gary Slaight are among a group of Canadian broadcast executives who have invested $5 million in GlassBOX Television, which runs digital specialty service Bite TV.
Other executives contributing the new venture and strategic capital to GlassBOX are former Alliance Atlantis Communications executive managing director of international television Ted Riley, former XM Radio Canada president and COO Stephen Tapp, and former QuickPlay executive Raja Khanna.
Khanna was named co-CEO of GlassBOX. Tapp, who also headed Chum Television, will be an advisor to the company…
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