BROADBAND IN CANADA’S FAR NORTH got a boost earlier this fall when the federal government gave Northwestel $50 million for the deployment of a satellite backhaul network for Nunavut. The much needed investment comes from the Liberals’ Budget 2016 Connect to Innovate program, which promises $500 million over five years to address lack of high speed Internet services in rural and remote regions of the country.
Curtis Shaw, COO at Northwestel, noted at the time of the funding announcement that this new backhaul network will provide additional choices to consumers and businesses. The company will also invest $73 million…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for feedback on some proposed revisions to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations.
The Commission said Friday that the amendments aim to address concerns raised by Parliament’s Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations and include the following:
– the addition of a definition of “religious programming service” and an associated amendment to section 26(1) to ensure consistency with this definition;
– the addition of a definition of “adult programming service”; and
– various amendments to the French version of the Regulations in order to provide greater clarity and harmonize it with the English version.
Comments and interventions…
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DARTMOUTH – Newcap Radio owner Newfoundland Capital Corporation is crediting growth at its stations in Ontario and British Columbia for a third quarter lift in profits and revenues.
For the period ended September 30, 2017, revenues of $43.1 million were up 4% from the same period last year, primarily due to gains in its Ontario operations combined with the business acquisition in Kamloops, BC. Year-to-date, the Toronto and Sudbury operations achieved strong revenue growth, largely offsetting declines faced in other areas of the country, particularly at certain Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador stations.
Profit for the period of $8.2 million increased…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians continue to gorge on data, using 25% more per month on their wireless devices than they did in 2015, says part two of the CRTC’s 2017 Communications Monitoring Report.
Mobile broadband subscriptions jumped 13.3% (3 million) year-over-year, and users averaged 1.2 GB of data per month on their wireless devices. More than a quarter of those who subscribed to a monthly data plan had at least 5 GB of data.
Young people are turning to their wireless device to watch TV, with 41% of 18-34 year olds using their smartphones to watch TV online, compared to 11% of…
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Former Google exec is accelerating weather company’s transition, expansion
WHEN PELMOREX FOUNDER Pierre Morrissette trolled the executive ranks for someone new to take his place atop the company which owns and operates The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, he cast a far longer line than into the pool of TV people.
This past summer, Pelmorex surprised many by hiring Sam Sebastian away from his gig as vice-president and managing director of Google’s Canadian operations. The official announcement of his hiring, however, wasn’t a simple “welcome aboard”, but instead made it clear he will be driving an aggressive company aimed towards international expansion…
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TORONTO — It may come down to whether they operate in an urban or rural environment, but not all service providers and funders of broadband fibre networks agree that the benefits of owning one’s own facilities necessarily outweigh the costs and challenges of building and maintaining the last mile of fibre to the customer.
That much was obvious from the discussion that arose during a special panel about alternate last-mile service delivery strategies at the 2017 Canadian ISP Summit, held this week in downtown Toronto. In a two-to-one split in opinion, executives from urban fibre network providers Beanfield Metroconnect of…
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Seeking to boost donations
OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) last week sent out an email appeal saying if it doesn’t raise enough funds by the end of the year, it will have to shut down.
PIAC has long been an advocate on behalf of Canadian consumers – most notably battling Canadian cable, broadband and wireless companies over their business practices and rates, but it is also an advocate for consumers in other sectors, such as financial services and airlines – but its email appeal sent last week says it may not survive much longer.
“This crisis has been caused…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – While Canadians increasingly opt for platforms and devices connected to the Internet for their video and audio content, traditional television and radio services still play an important role, says the first part of the CRTC’s 2017 Communications Monitoring Report.
Canadians aged 18-34 years old are leading the trend with 23% watching TV exclusively online. Nationally, 13% of Anglophones watch TV exclusively online, more than three times the number of Francophones (4%). Overall, Canadians aged 18 years or older watched 3.1 hours of Internet TV per week in 2016, compared to 2.7 hours in 2015.
Although Canadians are spending…
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OTTAWA – Former Corus exec Sylvie Courtemanche is joining the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) as its new chair, replacing the retiring Andrée Noël.
Courtemanche (pictured) was most recently a senior executive at Corus for both regulatory matters and government relations. Prior to that, she was EVP policy and regulatory affairs for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, legal counsel at the CRTC for several years, plus had her own consulting practice related to broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada
“Sylvie is well known to all industry stakeholders and has over 25 years’ experience in the broadcasting industry and in the public sector”, said…
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TORONTO – Distributel has received the go-ahead from the CRTC to acquire 100% of IPTV service provider Zazeen. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The two companies have partnered for over two years on a TV service available in many English and French markets in Ontario and Quebec. Distributel also unveiled new, lower prices for its bundled Internet and TV service, pledged to offer new channel packages, and expand to new Canadian markets in the coming months.
"Distributel is once again taking a leadership role in Canadian telecommunications with this acquisition, which will allow our continued strategic investment in TV," said…
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