GATINEAU – If the CCTA was still around, it wouldn’t have been able to find consensus among its members for the CRTC’s TV Policy Review either.
While the schisms among the Canadian Association of Broadcasters members meant that association was unable to come up with a submission containing any consensus among its members, some of whom want large carriage fees for broadcasters, some who want small ones and some who oppose them altogether, fractures of opinion exist in the distributor world, too.
Two of the former Canadian Cable Television Association‘s largest members faced the Commission yesterday with diametrically…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The idea that Canada’s signal distributors should pay conventional broadcasters fees to carry their signals is “trash” according to Rogers Communications CEO Ted Rogers.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday following his company’s appearance before the CRTC on day three of its over-the-air TV review hearings, Rogers countered the many broadcaster arguments in favour of such charges, known as fee-for-carriage (FFC), made over the hearing’s first two days. He said broadcasters should look to new technologies – not new regulations – for new revenues. “These guys should get back to high def and keep up with the new stuff.”…
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OTTAWA – Satellite radio has another distribution platform, if they want it.
A Commission decision today that will surely be copied by other broadcast distribution undertakings said that Rogers Cable can add satellite radio stations to their cable channel lineups.
Bell ExpressVu recently asked the Commission for permission to add the satellite radio signals to its service offering but were refused, as the CRTC told the DTH company it needed a license amendment, which is what was granted to Rogers today. Cogeco Cable has also submitted a similar request for a license amendment.
There are conditions to the rule,…
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FEE-FOR-CARRIAGE will happen.
There. I said it. I don’t like it and sure don’t want to pay it, but I’ve come to believe – thanks to my talks and travels this year with folks from all sides of the issue – that in some form, the CRTC is going to grant the conventional broadcasters’ demand for more money from Canadians as additional compensation for the content they deliver.
"On the face of it, it’s a bizarre idea," Rogers vice-chairman Phil Lind told me recently. "(Consumers) get nothing extra, they just have to pay five dollars more."
True enough, but…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has told its customers that HDNet is coming December 13th, and that as of December 1st, it is changing how it prices high definition channels.
The company will no longer offer the HD Theme Pack as a stand-alone package for $6.99 a month or as a theme pack option for its Digital Select customers and will instead charge a new HD system access fee of $5.99 per month.
Customers who pay the monthly HD access fee will be able to see all of the HD versions of every standard definition channel available to them. And…
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RIMOUSKI – Télévision Quatre-Saisons (TQS) viewers in eastern Quebec will get their own regional news bulletin, if licence proposals submitted by TQS and Télévision MBS are accepted by the CRTC.
Under the proposals, a two-person bureau based in Rimouski would produce a three-and-a-half minute news segment, five days a week. Another three minutes daily would offer community notices and public service announcements.
The new service would supplement existing TQS news bulletins produced in Rivière-du-Loup and Montreal, and would serve Rimouski, Mont-Joli, Matane, and the Matapedia Valley, a population basin of about 100,000 people.
Cogeco Inc.-controlled TQS has asked the…
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APPROXIMATELY FIFTY SUPPLIERS from the U.S. and Canada are expected in Kelowna at the 2007 Canadian Communications & Technology Trade Show & Seminars.
This annual two-day event will take place at the Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna, B.C. on May 30-31, 2007.
Vendor and sponsorship packages are now available plus the call for technical papers for seminar speakers.
Cable companies, telcos, sub-contractors, telecommunications providers, and utilities will be invited to attend the seminars and trade show. Attendee information will be distributed in January once the seminar topics are in place. By offering a low attendee fee, companies are able…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable announced Tuesday the launch of Anime Network On Demand, a new subscription video on-demand service offering a line-up of new creations and classics.
Launched in North America in late 2002, Anime reaches more than 40 million households with what it describes as “an entire animé library at your fingertips, from brand new shows to old school classics, giant robots to magical girls and even dubbed and subtitled programming”.
Included in the line-up is the original series Gatchaman, the show that started some of the favourites, such as Battle of the Planets and G-Force, says a…
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KELOWNA – Building on a successful first year, organizers say the 2007 CommTech Trade Show is already expected to be a sellout.
Over 300 attendees visited the 2006 show in May, including buyers, operations management, sub-contractors, inside and outside plant technicians, planners and educators from cable companies, telcos, CN Rail, universities and utilities.
The 2007 CommTech Trade Show and Seminars is scheduled for May 30 and 31 at the Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna.
Click on the corresponding links for the vendor brochure, registration form and event program advertisement information.
Organizers are looking for seminar presenters…
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MONTREAL – Today, Cogeco Cable’s Quebec HD customers have access to 11 high definition television channels, eight of which are in French, as the company added to its HD lineup.
“The growing popularity of large TV screens confirms it: our customers are constantly looking for exceptional image and sound quality when they watch television,” said Ron Perrotta, vice-president, marketing, Cogeco Cable. “We are putting all our efforts towards providing the best HD offering possible. Only two months after launching five new HD channels in Ontario, we are proud to provide our customers with the most complete French HD offering available…
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