TORONTO – Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club found Mark Breslin was unveiled today as the programming director of Canadian Satellite Radio’s proposed Laugh Canada channel.
Pending CRTC licensing, which is said to be coming in the spring, CSR plans to broadcast Canada’s “undiscovered comic talent as well as our rich comedic heritage to a North America-wide audience on the Laugh Canada channel – the first-ever dedicated radio comedy outlet in Canadian broadcast history,” says the release.
"Mark has been the industry leader in Canada’s comedy scene since its inception – it seems fitting for him to take the leading role…
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TORONTO – While the CRTC has only just gathered opinions on how digital migration of specialty services might happen, Rogers Communications and six other programmers have already hammered out their own framework.
The new deal, called “historic” last week by RCI CEO Ted Rogers, outlines how the country’s largest cable company and the six biggest broadcasters will handle the migration of analog specialty services to digital. It was submitted to the CRTC under its call for proposals for a digital migration framework, PN 2005-1.
RCI vice-chairman Phil Lind, along with Rogers, first met with the chief executives of Alliance…
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TORONTO – Call-Net Enterprises Inc., otherwise known as Sprint Canada, reported revenue and EBITDA increases during the first quarter, ended March 31, 2005.
Revenue same in at $216 million, a 7% increase over Q1 2004 and EBITDA of $36 million was a 35% increase over Q1 2004. However, Call-Net recorded a net loss in the quarter of $13 million, compared with a net loss of almost $30 million in the first quarter of 2004.
“We delivered very positive results during the first quarter, both as a results of the Bell/360 acquisition and reductions in carrier costs driven by regulatory…
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DARTMOUTH, N.S. – Radio and TV broadcaster Newfoundland Capital Corporation recorded across the board increases during the first quarter of 2005, ended March 31st.
And happily, notes CEO Rob Steele, the company has noticed an increasing demand for radio advertising. Significant increases in revenue were experienced in nearly all of its markets. Most notably, Ottawa’s revenue (Hot 89.9 FM) increased dramatically over the same period last year as a result of the station becoming more mature in the market. Other markets experiencing substantial revenue increases included Edmonton (96X, KRock), Halifax (780 KIXX, Q104 and KOOL 96.5) and Moncton (C103,…
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OTTAWA – Broadcast, cable and telecom initiatives currently before cabinet, committees and other Parliament Hill panels (like the repeatedly delayed amendments to the Radiocommunication Act) again face death or delay if another federal election is called.
We chatted with a few Ottawa-based broadcast, cable and telecom folks last week and at that point, all were guessing an election was in the offing this spring thanks to the Adscam inquiry. “Most Tories are saying, ‘let’s go now, don’t give them a chance,” said one Ottawa broadcasting insider. “Liberals are just hoping for the best.”
(These insiders most often like to…
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CALGARY – Prodded by analysts to peer into their regulatory crystal ball, Shaw Communications’ chief executives Jim Shaw and Peter Bissonnette said they envision an easier regulatory environment in the not-too-distant future.
During the company’s second quarter conference call on April 15, after fielding questions on going to all-digital and offering more channels on a pick-and-pay basis, CEO Shaw predicted policy changes on the horizon for Canadian television channels.
“We think the protectionist nature of programming now in Canada is going to change in that services will have to stand on their own merits,” he said, referring to the…
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