WHEN JUSTIN TRUDEAU is sworn in as Prime Minister his Liberal party will face a number of key telecommunications issues in the next 12 months.
These include meeting the challenge of an increasingly digital world, innovation, privacy regulations, wireless competition, dealing with the rural-urban broadband divide and increasing access to our digital future with poor Canadians.
One of the most obvious problems with trying to read how the new government might deal with these issues is that telecom and broadcast policies didn't figure largely in the leaders' debates or their major speeches.
Still, the Liberal platform makes a few promises:
Repeal of "problematic…
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REGINA – SaskTel has successfully deployed a block of prime AWS-1 spectrum that it says will significantly increase the capacity and speed of its 4G LTE network in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current, North Battleford, Estevan and Weyburn.
The company said Monday that the new spectrum, recently purchased from Wind Mobile, will allow for an increase of 4G LTE speeds from the current maximum speed of up to 110 MB to 150 MB. Going from SaskTel’s previous 15 MHz wide LTE carrier to the current 20 MHz represents the maximum bandwidth possible on a LTE…
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NEW ORLEANS – With the Gigabit Era clearly upon us, cable operators are now fervently searching for the best way to enter that era and the best next-gen technologies to make that entry successful.
This search was very much in evidence at last week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show in New Orleans. Over the course of three days, teams of MSO technologists marched from booth to booth on the exhibit floor, hoping to uncover the right mix of equipment and software that would enable them to introduce gigabit speeds sooner rather than later (here in Canada, Rogers and Eastlink – not…
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CANNES – Canadian TV producers moving to the forefront of a rapidly expanding global industry is, of course, full of risk. And Cannes is another universe. The push for quality in scripted and unscripted TV, and the dire need to stand out in a huge crowd, is in part pursued out of fear of a content bubble likely to pop at some point.
"We’re going to have big blockbusters with mega-huge names and incredible packages, and you are going to see on the other hand the indies," Sharon Tal Yguado, head of Fox International Studios, said last week during a…
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OTTAWA – A look ahead at Canada’s broadcast industry is just one of the sessions confirmed for the upcoming Prime Time In Ottawa conference.
Shaw EVP and Shaw Media president Barbara Williams and CBC English services EVP Heather Conway will share what impact the recent changes to Canada’s TV industry have had and will continue to have on their businesses, plus detail what’s next in programming strategies for multiple broadcast and digital platforms in the session entitled ‘Broadcast – A Look Ahead’. Other confirmed sessions include ‘Digital Buyers’, ‘Accessing the Global Marketplace’, ‘Brand Funded Entertainment’ and ‘Evolution of Advertising’.
Scheduled for February 3-5, 2016…
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TORONTO – Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Bell Media executive producer accelerator lab.
The two-part program provides mid-level television producers with unique hands-on training to assist their career advancement within Canada’s television industry. The broadcaster internship trains up to six producers in a group-based curriculum during a six-week internship at Bell Media’s Toronto headquarters. Following the broadcaster internship, two participants will be selected for a specialized 8-10 month apprenticeship with a top independent Canadian production company or Bell Media In-House Productions.
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or landed immigrants over the age of 19, have a minimum of…
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QUEBEC’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY doesn’t want Canada’s broadcasting regulator to review regulations on broadcasting.
At least that’s the conclusion that one could reach through a literal reading of a motion passed unanimously in the legislature last week.
The motion, presented with less than an hour’s notice by Parti Québécois culture critic Véronique Hivon on Sept. 29, states that the Assembly “denounces the will of the CRTC to review the requirements for French-language music broadcast in Quebec” and reiterates the importance of French-language music quotas on radio stations. It passed 100-0.
The resolution comes two months after Continue Reading
TORONTO – On Monday, Rogers Communications made a commitment to 4K, ultra-high definition TV that no one else on the globe has yet made.
Beginning in 2016, the company will broadcast over 100 live sporting events (300 hours at least) in 4K, including all Toronto Blue Jays home games and at least 20 NHL games. It is also bringing to market a brand new Cisco 4K set top box for its cable customers, upon which Netflix will ride as an app, the company announced Monday.
Speaking of the global OTT video leader, Rogers has also signed a…
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OTTAWA – CTV Ottawa broadcasting icon Max Keeping passed away Thursday in Ottawa after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 73.
Born in Grand Bank, NL, Keeping began his 37-year career as an anchor with CJOH (now CTV Ottawa) in 1972, building his reputation through the years as one of the most trustworthy figures in the local news industry, reads a statement by Bell Media. A passionate community advocate and philanthropist, Keeping's tireless work on behalf of charities, service groups, neighbourhoods and schools helped raise more than $100 million. In 1995 he founded The Max Keeping Foundation, assisting…
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TORONTO – Canadians continue to have more trust in ads that appear in traditional media than in those in online media, but trust in a brand is a more significant than the type of media where the ad is carried, says the Advertising Standards Canada (ASC).
According to Consumer Perspectives on Advertising 2015, a majority of Canadians continue to feel positively about advertising and get value from the ads they read, hear and see. This online research, with a representative sample of 1,052 Canadians, put a particular spotlight on the influence of brand credibility on perceptions of the truth and…
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