OTTAWA – Two big story lines emerged from Friday's Industry Canada’s AWS-3 spectrum auction results: Rogers Communications failed to secure any additional spectrum, while Telus forked over more than $1.5 billion for 15 licences with a combined population coverage of 30 million Canadians.
The results, released Friday morning, show that Bell Mobility, Bragg Communications (Eastlink), Videotron and Wind Mobile were the other winners. Full details on the amounts paid and licences won are available here.
With Mobilicity unable to secure the financing required to compete in the auction, Wind Mobile scooped up the coveted 30 MHz set-aside licences in British…
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OTTAWA – The bidding war for AWS-3 spectrum kicked off Tuesday with Industry Minister James Moore reiterating the federal government’s commitment to “delivering more choice for consumers in the wireless market”.
"Canadians have been clear: they want their government to make decisions that will lead to more choice, lower prices and better service in the wireless sector”, Minister Moore said in a statement. “With 60 percent of the available spectrum set aside solely for bids from new competitors, this auction has been designed to support competition.”
Ten applicants qualified to bid during the AWS-3 spectrum auction: Bell Mobility, Bragg Communications (Eastlink),…
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HALIFAX – Eastlink customers may now instantly stream live TV and DVR recordings directly to any tablet or smartphone on their home WiFi network thanks to the launch of Maestro Streamer.
Available now for $5.95 per month, customers require the latest version of the ARRIS Whole Home Solution App and must ensure their device is running iOS 7+ or Android 4.0+ to use Maestro Streamer. Using the simple and intuitive guide on their tablet or smart phone, users may easily search, select, watch (including pause and rewind) live TV content, access and manage DVR recordings, and program single or full series…
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TORONTO – Competition in business television is about to get fierce.
On Thursday, Channel Zero and Bloomberg Media will officially announce a new, long-term, exclusive partnership which will see the independent Canadian broadcaster launch a new, Canadian version of the popular business news cable channel early in the second half of 2015. (Bloomberg TV, the financial news channel owned by billionaire entrepreneur and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is currently on the CRTC’s eligible satellite list and is carried by most large and many small distributors in Canada, the notable exceptions being Bell Canada and Vidéotron.)
“It’s a really…
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TORONTO – As part of a media tour in Toronto last week, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles sat down with Cartt.ca to discuss the telecom company’s most recent financial year and its upcoming projects. However, he declined to comment on this spring’s upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction, of which SaskTel is one of the applicants planning to bid on licences in Saskatchewan.
“We’re prohibited by the federal government to discuss that, while the auction is getting ready to kick off,” Styles (pictured) explained. “I can’t really comment on AWS-3 at all, otherwise I’ll be getting a call.”
As…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has directed all incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) that have support structure services to revise the definition of subscriber drop wire in their respective tariffs.
The decision comes as a result of a show cause proceeding initiated by the Commission last November that urged ILECs to be consistent with the revised definition of subscriber drop wire established for Bell Aliant in a billing dispute between that company and Eastlink over payments for service poles.
As Cartt.ca reported, the Regulator clarified in the Bell Aliant/Eastlink matter that a “service pole” is to include all poles on…
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TORONTO — Bell Media’s CraveTV subscription video on-demand streaming service will soon be available to more TV subscribers across Canada, as Bell announced it has signed up four more distributors for the service.
The four new CraveTV distributors are: Access Communications, a Saskatchewan-owned non-profit co-operative; Cable Cable, in the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ont.; Nexicom, in Peterborough, Ont.; and Northwestel, which serves customers in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, northern B.C., and High Level, Alta.
CraveTV is available now to Access Communications TV subscribers, with Cable Cable, Nexicom and Northwestel expected to launch the service in the coming weeks. CraveTV is…
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TORONTO — Following on its exclusive deal last summer to distribute WWE’s flagship programming in Canada, Rogers announced today it has reached carriage agreements for WWE Network with multiple television providers.
Rogers became the exclusive Canadian distributor of WWE Network through 2024 in a 10-year broadcast and multimedia agreement reached with WWE in August.
In addition to Rogers and Eastlink, the premium WWE Network linear TV channel will soon be available to Cogeco Cable Canada, Shaw and Shaw Direct, Telus Optik TV and Telus Satellite TV, and Vidéotron subscribers. (In a Rogers press release issued today, no word was…
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QUISPAMSIS, N.B. — The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc. (CCSA) and World Media Ministries have completed an agreement to distribute Daystar Canada’s Christian faith-based programming.
CCSA is a not-for-profit buying group representing more than 100 independent cable operators in Canada. Daystar Canada is a Christian faith-based television network airing multicultural and interdenominational programming. Daystar Canada’s TV shows include Marcus & Joni, Gospel Music Showcase, Canadian Reflections, Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer.
“This partnership means CCSA members across Canada can now offer a wide variety of interdenominational and multicultural programming to their subscribers,” said Alyson Townsend, CCSA president and CEO, in an…
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OTTAWA — The list of applicants for the upcoming AWS-3 and 2500 MHz wireless spectrum auctions, revealed yesterday by Industry Canada, is comprised mostly of national and regional incumbents, with a couple of smaller players thrown into the mix.
In total, 13 Canadian companies have submitted applications to compete in the AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions, expected to begin this spring.
Bell, Rogers, Telus, MTS, Vidéotron, Wind, Eastlink and TBayTel have all applied to take part in both the AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions. Mobilicity and SaskTel plan to bid on AWS-3 spectrum only, while Xplornet, Calgary-based CCI Wireless…
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