CALGARY – While it’s still falls below the norm, Shaw Communications today dramatically increased the amount of money it plans to spend on tangible benefits once its acquisition of Canwest Global is approved.
Company executives appeared before the CRTC Thursday morning in Calgary in their final oral reply to the week’s interveners and announced $72 million had been added to the company’s original package of benefits proposed coming into the hearing.
When broadcasting companies change hands, the Commission normally requires that 10% of the purchase value (in this case $2.047 billion) be set aside to spend on projects that are deemed…
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CALGARY – If the Shaw-Canwest $200-million tangible benefits package has to be altered or improved – as many, including the CRTC chair on Tuesday morning, have suggested – the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance tabled an idea to take advantage of that potentially rebuilt benefits package it says will help its members survive.
The CCSA represents more than a hundred independent, mostly rural, cable operators across Canada, many of whom must rely on one of the two Canadian satellite relay distribution undertakings (Shaw Direct and Bell TV) for their Canadian specialty channels. They are just too far away to be able…
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WE’RE NOT USED TO what we saw Tuesday. When Shaw Communications appears before the CRTC, we more often than not witness quarrelsome company executives facing off against sometimes testy commissioners.
We just have to point to a couple of pieces of evidence. There’s more, but these will give you a sense of what we mean (we’re partial to the one where Shaw said last fall they weren’t going to buy broadcasters…)
But today? Compared to past Shaw-involved hearings, “this was super-fun-time-happy-hour,” is how wish-I-hadn’t-but-did put it to Global TV reporter David Boushy.
Tuesday morning we had a panel of…
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SYDNEY, NS – Seaside Communications owner Irving Schwartz died Saturday in Sydney. He was 81.
Widely known as an entrepreneur, humanitarian, and community leader, the New Waterford native had battled cancer and Parkinson’s disease for the past two years. He was laid to rest Monday morning at the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre in Sydney.
Schwartz, (pictured), was president of the Seaside Group of companies, with operations in cable TV, wireless Internet, software development, and clinical research. He was also chairman of Schwartz and Company, which includes the Atlantic Canada furniture and appliance store bearing his name, and president of Vulcan Holdings, a real estate company.
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ONLY ONE MORE week until independent cable operators from across Canada, suppliers, and other industry delegates (including Cartt.ca, of course) gather for the annual CCSA conference.
The ‘Connect 2010’ summit, which this year is sponsored by Turner Networks, is scheduled from September 26 – 28 at the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.
Over 250 attendees will take in an expanded trade show, sessions on innovative technologies, and speakers such as renowned British author, Dr. Donald Sull (The Upside of Turbulence). The CCSA will also announce its Member and Supplier of the Year winners.
One of the sessions will feature Gord Hendren, president of…
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As the dust begins to settle after Tuesday’s deferral accounts decision, opinions from industry stakeholders run the gamut from “disappointing” to "harmful" to “reasonable”.
Barrett Xplore Inc., Canada’s largest provider of rural broadband services, described the decision as anti-competitive and an ineffective use of monies.
“We’re obviously disappointed that the CRTC chose to proceed as they did, using technology that is not the least-cost solution for rural Canada”, its chief legal officer, C.J. Prudham, told Cartt.ca. “We’re also disappointed that they did not take in to consideration the expansion by other companies, including us, into those areas. Essentially they’re…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Most stakeholders agree that the CRTC’s new community TV policy did little to lessen cable’s firm grip on the country’s community channels. But even some of the country’s biggest cable companies appear to have some concerns.
“The closed captioning component is going to be a challenge”, said Colette Watson, VP of Rogers TV, in an interview with Cartt.ca. “As of December 31st, the funding is frozen to the levels we’re at now for four years. That’s fine, we’ll make that work. The issue then becomes, if in that same time frame we have to caption 100%…
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FEW FEEL THE turmoil in our industry like independent communications companies.
They lack the resources of the national cable, satellite and telco carriers and are quite small by comparison, of course – but their customers expect similar options (prices, services, broadband speeds, etc) that they see advertised by those big companies. Those independents also have to deal with the same regulatory and legislative change, negotiate contracts with programmers and others, and keep on top of the latest tech trends and new business opportunities, too.
Which is the reason why the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance exists and thrives. Working collectively, the…
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QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – With change swirling all around, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance has hit on a very apropos keynote speaker for its September annual conference: Donald Sull, author of The Upside of Turbulence.
As financial markets gyrate, commodity prices zigzag, new technologies disrupt long-standing businesses and entire industries, we live in a world beset by turbulence.
But throughout history, that turbulence has also created untold possibilities to create economic value, notes Sull’s book, and companies that seize the opportunities arising out of seething markets will become tomorrow’s champions, he believes.
Sull is professor of strategy and the faculty director of…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – Reaction to this week’s new draft copyright legislation was swift and predictably varied.
A coalition of Canada’s telecommunications, retail, Internet and technology companies and organizations, known as the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, largely supported the bill. But some parts of the legislation unfairly restrict consumer freedom and need to be revised before being passed by Parliament, such as the inability to circumvent digital locks for private use, the organization said in a statement.
The group includes the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, Bell Canada, Cogeco Cable, Rogers, Telus, Google, the CCSA and the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, among others.
The…
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