OTTAWA – Former Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association senior vice-president and general counsel, Lori Assheton-Smith has launched her own business. This week she made official the establishment of Lori D. Assheton-Smith Professional Corporation, "through which I will continue to provide legal services and advice in the areas of broadcasting, telecommunications and Internet law and regulation," she said.
Assheton-Smith (right) has been with the CCTA in various roles since 2000, culminating in her SVP role. Prior to the CCTA, she was legal counsel with the CRTC.
The CCTA ceased operations in February after the association’s second-largest member,…
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GATINEAU – The numbers mask the risks inherent in launching new TV services, but it seems the risks have paid off for a majority of Canadian cable channels.
Canadian specialty, pay, and pay-per-view TV services have seen their earnings before interests and taxes grow by 19.4% in each year between 2001 and 2005, the CRTC announced today. In that same period, revenues rose an average of 10% per year.
Things really picked up steam in 2005, when EBIT for the services swelled by 31.5%, going from $418.2 million in 2004 to $549.9 million in 2005.
Revenues reached nearly $2.2…
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WHILE THE WORD CONVERGENCE is still a four-letter word to some, Rogers Media president Tony Viner sits on the axis of convergence in the Rogers Empire.
His division, which includes the Toronto Blue Jays, radio, magazines, TV and other media is a large supplier of content to the company’s other two huge divisions: cable and wireless. While all at NAB this week fret about producing for multiple platforms, hitting all the screens has been in the Rogers plan for some time, with the media division providing the content. Rogers Media president Tony Viner (left) recently chatted with…
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TORONTO – Robert Dépatie, Michael Sabia, and Darren Entwistle have been added as keynote speakers at the upcoming Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto.
Dépatie, president and CEO of Vidéotron, will be a keynote speaker while Sabia, president and CEO of BCE, and Entwistle, president and CEO of Telus, will deliver luncheon keynote addresses.
The summit will have sessions on wide-ranging telecom issues, including NextGen telecom services and platforms such as IMS, wireless applications such as mobile new media, VoIP technologies, and illegal content on the Internet.
Already announced are appearances by new Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and CRTC Chair…
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GATINEAU – HG could soon be in HD. Alliance Atlantis Communications has applied to the CRTC for high definition licences for its specialty networks: HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, Showcase Television, History Television, Life Network, and National Geographic Channel.
The programming would be the same as the analog versions of the services.
In the application documents available on the CRTC site, Alliance Atlantis did not indicate when it hoped to begin airing HD programs. It did say that high definition licences “will be important to positioning” the channels “as the industry migrates to HD” and that the broadcaster “looks…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced it’s approved Aliant Telecom’s application for forbearance of regulation of single-line inside wire services, with some conditions.
Customers without a jack-ended demarcation device won’t have to pay for diagnosis, repair, or maintenance to their inside wires when they have technical troubles.
Aliant applied last October for forbearance from regulation of all residential and business single-line inside wire services on the customer side of the demarcation point, including installation and repair services provided by Aliant Telecom, under the CRTC’s regime allowing forbearance where there is sufficient competition. Aliant submitted that its customers in Nova…
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GATINEAU – There are dozens of languages spoken in Canada, and it seems like most of them will soon have a specialty channel catering to them.
The CRTC today approved three more Cat 2 digital channels, all from Ethnic Channels Group Limited: Bangladeshi/Bengali TV, Portuguese TV, and Bulgarian TV.
Last week the commission approved eight new third-language channels and announced it had received applications for an additional 29 category two licences, all but two of which are for ethnic services. The commission will hold a hearing into those applications starting June 19 in Edmonton.
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GATINEAU – A new FM station has been approved for Weyburn, Sask. The CRTC today announced it’s approved the application from Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. to operate at 103.5 MHz at 100,000 watts.
Golden West owns the other commercial station in Weyburn, CFSL, which plays country music. The new station will operate a rock format geared to a younger demo, the CRTC said.
Its promised at least 40% Canadian category 2 (popular) songs between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the week, higher than the minimum 35% Cancon levels required.
Golden West pledged $1,400 a year in Canadian talent development…
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GATINEAU, WINNIPEG – The CRTC today announced it is giving a one-time payment of nearly $9.9 million to MTS Allstream after the telco applied for a review of the subsidies it receives to serve remote locations.
The payment is to cover providing service in high-cost areas of Manitoba from Jan. 1, 2002 to Oct. 16, 2003.
"The CRTC has recognized that MTS Allstream has met its obligations to deliver a high quality of service to customers in high-cost and remote areas," said Chris Peirce, Chief Regulatory Officer, MTS Allstream Inc. "We are very pleased to have worked with the Commission…
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OTTAWA – With content far more available – and a little cheaper – and technology far more available – and a little cheaper – more small cable companies are getting into video on demand.
Recently, Bluewater Cable TV of Goderich, Ont. (7,000 subs), and Cape Breton Island’s Seaside Cable TV (14,000) each applied for a video on demand license from the CRTC.
If approved after the June 19 hearing (which will almost certainly happen) Bluewater and Seaside will join other independent Canadian cablecos like Compton Cable (launched SVOD) and Westman Communications (coming soon) with video on demand licenses….
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