A BRIDGE IS A musical term meaning a bit of a song which gets you from the verse back to the chorus. We thought the term was a good one to characterize Peter Bissonnette, an accomplished musician, as well as the outgoing president of Shaw Communications (his official last day was yesterday).
Bissonnette has worked in cable for more than 30 years, the last 25 of which for Shaw Communications. He’s been president of the company since 2000, working under company founder JR, and then both his sons, Jim and Brad Shaw – and has much prior experience working for…
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OTTAWA – Telus has bulked up on AWS-3 spectrum, paying more than $58 million for six licences (two each in the G, H, and I bands) covering Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Industry Canada’s auction of the left-over airwaves. This continues a trend for the Western-based telecommunications company, which secured the rights to 15 licences for more than $1.5 billion earlier this year when the bandwidth was first up for grabs.
With this auction now completed, Telus now has 21 AWS-3 spectrum licences covering all major regions of the country. (For more on the initial AWS-3 auction, read…
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TORONTO – Just days after Bell Media announced an overhaul, (and don’t forget, Shaw Media and Rogers Media have also made signficant changes over the past number of months), broadcaster and producer Corus Entertainment revealed Friday its new executive leadership team. Changes are not as dramatic as at the other companies, however.
"We are excited about the year ahead. With the deep bench strength of our executive leadership team, a clear vision and strong plan in place, we are focused on the successful execution of our strategic priorities as we evolve the company to meet consumers' needs in a highly-dynamic…
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OTTAWA – Broadcasters looking at the likelihood of being forced to move to new over the air channels are still quietly digesting last week’s 600 MHz spectrum decision by Industry Canada, but at least two interest groups are less than enthused about it.
Both the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) believe the ruling tilts too much towards wireless carriers — who are hungry for the digital spectrum over the air (OTA) stations have in the 600 MHz band — and not enough for broadcasters who will have to pay up…
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TORONTO – Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke told employees on Tuesday that personnel and strategy changes are just beginning and that the next 100 days will see even more alterations in the way the country's largest electronic media company is run as it pursues less expensive ways to do things.
A comprehensive memo sent out Tuesday morning laid out just who is in charge of what, given the departure of four long time executives Monday, and the hiring of former Universal Music Canada president Randy Lennox to be Turcke's second in command.
Lennox, as we reported, is Bell…
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HALIFAX – DHX Media has inked a string of broadcast deals that will take its new preschool series Twirlywoos to new channels globally, the children's TV producer said Wednesday.
DHX’s own Family Jr. will broadcast Twirlywoos in Canada beginning this fall, while international broadcasters include France’s Lagardère for its Gulli and Tiji channels, YLE in Finland, Sweden’s SVT, NRK in Norway, and Hop! in Israel.
Twirlywoos (50 x 11’) combines stop-frame animation and live action sequences set in the real world. Its laugh-out-loud child-centric humour encourages preschoolers to think for themselves, and gain confidence in their own perceptions of the world, reads the…
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TORONTO – Former Universal Music president and CEO Randy Lennox has been named to the newly created position of president, entertainment production and broadcasting at Bell Media, effective immediately.
Lennox (pictured) will oversee all of Bell Media's English independent and in-house entertainment productions for conventional, specialty, pay television, and digital media, in a move that will bring the company's production teams together under one leader, reads Tuesday morning’s announcement. He will also oversee all English and French radio and local television broadcasting and their associated digital assets.
Reporting directly to Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke, Lennox becomes a member of…
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TORONTO — A growing number of voices in the music industry are raising concerns about proposed changes to the broadcast licences for Bell Media’s Much and M3 specialty channels as well as Corus Entertainment’s Country Music Television (CMT) channel.
In both cases, Bell Media and Corus seem to be trying to get a jump on the reduced Canadian content requirements that will result from the Let’s Talk TV proceeding, but which were not expected to be fully implemented until the next licence renewal for the services (the CRTC has set a group licence renewal deadline of August 31, 2017). And…
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TORONTO – Bell Media has parted ways with four senior executives.
Phil King, Adam Ashton, Charles Benoit and Chris Gordon are no longer with the company, it was announced Monday by division president Mary Ann Turcke, who took over the top job in May and has been working hard to try and remake Bell Media into a company that is ready for the digital present, and future.
King was head of CTV Sports and Entertainment programming and had been with the company (through its Bell Globemedia, CTV Globemedia, and Netstar days) for 26 years in various positions.
Chris Gordon…
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IF THE CRTC DOESN’T step in and put a stop to a repackaging set to begin for Bell Satellite TV subscribers on September 1st, two independent broadcasters say this might be the end of the road for them.
OUTtv Network (an independent specialty aimed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities) filed a complaint with the CRTC last week saying the planned changes to its packaging on Bell TV violate section 9 of the BDU regulations, in that Bell is granting itself an undue preference for its own services by shifting OUTtv (along with some…
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