Perry Hoffman
OTTAWA – Bell Canada says it’s patently wrong for Rogers Communications to suggest that the CRTC can adopt a competitive bidding process for the rights to roll out broadband networks in Bell’s deferral account communities and not experience any further delays.
In its April 18 comments, Bell highlights where the delays would come from. First, if the CRTC opted for an auction now, it would have to conduct another public consultation to determine the auction framework. “Based on prior experience, this, in and of itself, would be a very lengthy exercise which would involve many parties and competing…
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TORONTO – Astral Media’s new kids network Disney XD launched across the country on Wednesday with a mix of high definition live action and animated programming.
An advertiser-supported TV network and multi-platform brand, Disney XD’s programming targets children aged 6-14, with a focus on boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, adventure and humour, while still being inclusive of girl audiences.
The network is currently available through Rogers Communications, Bell Satellite TV, Bell Fibe TV, EastLink and Delta Cable, and will join Telus’ Optik TV lineup on June 20. In addition to the on-air launch, Disney XD also debuted dedicated on-demand channels with…
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OTTAWA – Many wireless providers are telling Industry Canada that it should restrict Inukshuk Internet’s ability to fully participate in the 2500 MHz spectrum auction.
MTS Allstream, Quebecor Media Inc., Shaw Communications, Telus Corp., and EastLink all suggested in comments to the 2500 MHz licensing process that it would be unfair to allow Inukshuk unfettered bidding in the auction because it owns 98% of licensed 2500 MHz bandwidth and a considerable chunk of the overall band. Inukshuk is a joint venture between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications.
For MTS, it’s no longer a question of whether competition is…
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MONTREAL – Not surprisingly, Quebecor-owned Videotron was the first TV service provider to trumpet the arrival of the Sun News Network, also owned by Quebecor, which launched nationally Monday afternoon.
Canada’s newest all-news channel, a re-brand of the over-the-air Sun TV in Ontario and simltaneously a digital specialty channel elsewhere, “is poised to shake up the Canadian news media landscape”, according to Videotron’s news release. With a mixture of “hard news” by day and “straight talk” by night, the network features talent such as Charles Adler, Ezra Levant, Theo Caldwell, Brian Lilley, Krista Erickson, Pat Bolland, Alex Pierson and David Akin.
“The network is…
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HALIFAX – In an effort to keep pace with its competitors, EastLink has announced plans to roll out its multi-room DVR service to its markets across Canada this year. The service has so far only been available to its customers in Halifax.
For an additional $5 per month, plus $5.95 for each additional DVR receiver, EastLink Multi-Room DVR allows digital TV customers to view DVR recordings on up to four different televisions. Customers may also pause, rewind, fast forward and resume programs on up to four TVs connected to the system.
"Multi-room DVR is the next generation of video entertainment service…
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TORONTO – A multi-screen video streaming solution from SeaChange International was named as the ‘technology most likely to succeed’ on Tuesday following the annual Technology Challenge at the SCTE Canadian Summit in Toronto.
The SeaChange solution was one of five products and solutions demonstrated at the Technology Challenge, and all five were designed to expand the capabilities of cable network architectures to reach new platforms and deliver new services. The winner was selected by SCTE Canadian Summit attendees using mobile text messaging.
SeaChange showed how VOD can be expanded to serve video to multiple screens. Its demonstration featured on-demand and linear…
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“WE’RE AT SUCH A significant spectrum disadvantage, we think government should level the playing field,” says Globalive CEO Tony Lacavera about the wireless auction of 700 MHz spectrum, expected in late 2012.
So significant is that disadvantage, the federal government should set aside all of the spectrum and bar any wireless company which holds 800 MHz spectrum (each of the big incumbents, that is) from participating in the 700 auction.
“We know we’re making a pretty significant ask here, but on the other hand, the incumbents have incredible swaths of spectrum,” added Lacavera (whose wireless company operates as Wind, of course)…
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HALIFAX – The Bragg Group, parent company of EastLink, is going south.
The company announced today its first international cable/telecom expansion with the purchase of Cable and Wireless (Bermuda) Holdings. CWBH is a 121-year old Bermuda telecommunications operation with both residential and business customers, owned by the UK-based international telecom firm Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC), a company with a wide presence in the Caribbean.
(The move also expands the Canadian presence down south. Columbus Communications runs cable and telecom operations in Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada, Curacao and other countries under…
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OTTAWA – It was good to be a TV distributor in 2010.
That’s the message we see in the CRTC’s aggregate financial data recently posted on the Commission’s web site. Expenses are up (in some cases, way up), but then again, so was revenue, and profits.
• According to the data submitted to the Commission by the big cable and satellite companies for the 2010 broadcast year (ended August 31, 2010), the largest six companies (Shaw, Bell, Rogers, Videotron, Cogeco and Bragg) together earned $12.15 billion in revenue from their video, high speed internet and VOIP telephone services (the data does…
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WE JOURNALISTS JUST love our year-end lists, don’t we? They are everywhere. However, we don’t do predictions here. They only thing I have found to be certain when trying to predict the future is that nearly all the time, the predictions are wrong.
So instead, here’s our list of 10 open questions heading into 2011.
1. How much market share will the Telus and Bell Canada IPTV services take from incumbent cable companies? The user experience of the Microsoft Mediaroom-driven Optik TV and Fibe TV is just so darn good and so darn integrated (I’d switch just for the whole-home PVR…
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