WHILE VARIOUS wireless executives received e-mails this week from Industry Canada officials cautioning them on speaking with the media about the 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction, both EastLink and Wind mobile confirmed Monday they will take part.
Initial deposits from any company interested in bidding on the spectrum during the auction which will kick off January 14th, are due Tuesday at noon. While speculation will likely rage on for days now, it is hoped that Industry Canada will release a public list of participants by September 25th. While it’s a lock that the likes of Rogers, Telus, Bell, Videotron, SaskTel,…
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GATINEAU – Broadcasters, distributors and special interests all took predictable stances on the CRTC's proposed framework for the distribution of national news services in interventions published this week.
The comment period for the framework, which launched from the Commission's August decision to deny mandatory distribution to Sun News Network, ended on Monday night. Last-minute submissions were posted to the CRTC site Tuesday and Wednesday. The Regulator’s proposals include rules on carriage, packaging and channel placement for national news services licensed as Category C, which would categorize all such services – new and…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media’s Global is jumping into the TV Everywhere market Thursday with an app called Global Go.
GlobaI Go will live stream the network 24/7 via web, iOS or Android platforms on smart phones, tablets and home computers anywhere in Canada, plus let viewers catch-up on entire seasons of more than 20 shows for up to 60 days after the finale (versus the 2-3 episodes which are currently available for catch-up). Those shows include the likes of Rookie Blue, NCIS, Elementary and Hawaii 5.0. It also includes a two week look-ahead schedule, and an interface with intuitive search and social…
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NEW YORK – Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told Bloomberg News on Monday that his company will not be entering the Canadian wireless marketplace after all and that it wasn’t all that interested in the first place.
He told the news organization in no uncertain terms the company is not interested in investing here and all the speculation that it might enter the Canadian market was “way overblown”. He told Bloomberg that Canada held some limited appeal for the company, but now that it announced it will pay British telco Vodafone $130 billion…
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INDUSTRY MINISTER JAMES MOORE has fair sized reservoir of stamina. After two full days of going west to east talking wireless with just about everyone who’ll ask for his time – and with three days of that still lying ahead – he sounded fresh and combative when it was our turn Tuesday afternoon to talk with him.
For readers not vacationing incommunicado for the past two months, Minister Moore has taken this week to tour the country to talk up the federal government’s wireless policies in the face of an all-out onslaught of sustained criticism from…
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QUISPAMSIS, NB – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc. (CCSA) has chosen the winners of this year's Community Channel Awards.
Selected from almost 50 submissions, Northwestel Inc. was the sports category winner for its production, Yukon Quest 30 Years. Eastlink’s Fallen Soldiers won in the public affairs category.
There was a tie in the general interest category: Haunted Hamilton’s Ghost Stories by Source Cable TV Hamilton, and CCAP’s production called Panorama Hiver. CCAP also won best billboard service for Babillard. Tbaytel won in the innovation category for its production of NextBus, Flight Status.
A…
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WHILE THE LOBBYING intensifies here as everyone awaits word on whether Verizon will venture north in advance of the 700 MHz spectrum auction, the American cellco is doing lobbying of its own, Stateside, as the industry there prepares for a spectrum auction in the 600 MHz band.
A research report which is part of the U.S. wireless industry’s lobbying efforts actually casts doubt on our own government’s assertion it is bringing more competition to the Canadian wireless market with restrictive auction rules.
Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan noted in a report to clients what could be…
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IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE all-hands on deck round of public pleading from our big wireless companies will not shake our meddlesome federal government from its wireless policy path. After all, there are no votes in it for Ottawa to alter course – and potentially big, big money in simply plowing ahead.
As everyone knows, the most recent Canadian spectrum auction in 2008 brought five new wireless companies to life in Wind Mobile, Public Mobile, Mobilicity, Videotron Wireless and EastLink Wireless. Regulatory intervention set aside some spectrum then which was purchased more cheaply than that which…
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PETERBOROUGH, ON – Capella Telecommunications recently announced it has been named the Canadian distributor for InnoTrans Communications’ products and solutions.
“Capella has a history of introducing leading edge equipment to the Canadian marketplace and is pleased to continue this history with InnoTrans. We believe the compelling technical performance offered by InnoTrans coupled with Capella’s strong technical expertise will offer great value to Canadian operators in this highly competitive time in our industry” said Capella Telecommunications president Norm Slater in a release.
InnoTrans, based in San Jose, Calif., says it has revolutionized node splitting and fiber…
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HALIFAX – Eastlink is building on its Remote DVR service with its launch today of the new TotalGuide xD iPad app powered by Rovi Corp.
The iOS app, available on the iTunes App Store free of charge for Eastlink customers, lets viewers browse TV listings, explore programs, personalize the guide, and remotely schedule recordings for viewing at a later time and date directly from their iPad tablets.
“We continuously talk to our customers about what they…
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