CALGARY and TORONTO – Shaw Communications announced late Wednesday it has agreed to purchase Wind Mobile.
After spending a number of years contemplating wireless, buying spectrum and then starting to build, then stopping and finally divesting its spectrum earlier this year (which it will now re-take ownership of with this deal), Shaw Communications will be the seventh Canadian communications carrier offering a quad-play of TV, internet, home phone and wireless (in its larger Alberta and B.C. centres, that is).
(Officially, Shaw has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in Mid-Bowline Group Corp. and…
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TORONTO – The popularity of TV content and applications funded by the Canada Media Fund (CMF) is just one indication of how the Fund is meeting the needs of Canadians, according to an evaluation report by the Department of Canadian Heritage.
The report, released last month but made public Monday, covers the first four years of the CMF, from 2010-2011 to 2013-2014. Its objective was to provide Canadian Heritage with comprehensive and reliable evidence to support its decision-making.
Based on an array of evaluation methods, including a literature review, key informant reviews, case studies and an expert panel, the report covers a wide…
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GATINEAU – A number of Canada’s Internet service providers are telling the CRTC that Bell Canada’s appeal for more restricted access to disaggregated wholesale fibre Internet access services is self-serving and in fact would lead to less competition in the market.
Bell is asking the Commission to review and vary certain provisions related to disaggregated broadband service (DBS) in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326. The company has also filed an appeal of the decision to cabinet, as Cartt.ca first reported in October.
In its R&V, Bell argues that the Commission needs to add three conditions for granting access…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) has added a number of new speakers to the line-up for Prime Time in Ottawa 2016, scheduled for February 3 – 5 at The Westin in Ottawa. From Canadian media leaders and co-production experts, innovators in digital platforms and storytelling, to international marketplace trailblazers and specialists of brand-funded entertainment, Prime Time’s speaker roster now includes heavyweights like Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke, Shaftesbury/Smokebomb chairman and CEO Christina Jennings, DHX Media president and COO Steve DeNure, Vimeo’s Sam Toles and ComScore president Brent Bernie, among many others.
“Innovation, entrepreneurship, new…
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VANCOUVER – Moods, moments, sentiments, likes and trending. These may be words more commonly associated with social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, but they are increasingly becoming the new jargon when talking about finding video content in the new consumer-centric broadcast world. The first of two Discoverability Summits co-hosted by the CRTC and National Film Board explored this during an event in Vancouver on Tuesday.
As Jean-Pierre Blais, chair of the CRTC, explained in his opening remarks to En Route to Discoverability: Content in the Age of Abundance, the much-talked about concept of disintermediation of…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications has rolled out two new connectivity solutions for small and medium businesses called SmartWiFi and SmartSecurity.
According to the news release, SmartSecurity enables companies with limited IT resources to enjoy industry-leading network security with an easy-to-use system. SmartSecurity, scheduled to launch in the spring, will also have tiered pricing and feature packages to meet the specific needs of Canadian businesses.
SmartWiFi provides small businesses with solutions that help employees stay connected, including seamless integration between wireless and wired networks, uninterrupted access to shared printers and servers, and access to built-in analytics provide monitoring and insights so business owners…
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TORONTO – While live viewing commands a significant share of total television viewing in Canada, Numeris is now measuring on-demand viewing, which is says delivers “bonus audiences” for programs.
Its first on-demand report viewing report offers some general insights into how Canadians interact with time-shifted television content. The broadcast audience measurement company defined on-demand (OD) viewing as watching video content available through set-top box VOD services or broadcaster websites.
According to the report, all 415 episodes in the study were viewed and some episodes had as many as 300,000 people watching during an average minute. Most episodes were watched close to…
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HALIFAX – DHX Media co-founder and executive chairman Michael Donovan was named Canada's 2015 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year at a gala event in Toronto earlier this week.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is a global award celebrating those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in 50 countries.
This award follows Donovan's win in October of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award for Canada's Atlantic region. He will now compete with more than 50 other country winners for EY's World Entrepreneur Of…
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TORONTO — Canadians still love their TV, love their cable packages, but they’re hungry for change, for flexibility, for a lower price, delegates of CTAM Canada’s packed Broadcaster Forum held last week in Toronto were told.
The TV industry folks in attendance were no doubt relieved to hear TV subscription value packs will continue to be relevant in a pick-and-pay world, especially as everyone gears up for the mandated introduction of skinny basic and pick-and-pay in 2016.
In fact, according to a recent study conducted by Charlton Strategic Research for CTAM, the majority of Canadian TV subscribers (57%) still…
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TORONTO – Bell Media’s move to lock up HBO content and squeeze Corus out of the pay-TV market in Canada is being described as a win-win for both companies by at least two industry analysts.
In a note to clients early Friday morning, Canaccord Genuity’s Aravinda Galappatthige described the move as positive for Corus, as it exits what he labelled a “declining business”.
“We have always had a negative view of the PayTV business, which was showing significant stress with heightened competition from OTT platforms like Netflix”, he wrote. “We also worried about the upcoming expiry of the HBO license…
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