TORONTO – Rogers and Shaw have named David Asch as senior vice president and general manager of their jointly owned streaming service shomi, effective immediately.
Asch, (pictured), comes to shomi with extensive expertise in content licensing, acquisition and development; and a proven track record of negotiating and implementing content agreements with movie studios, television networks, sports leagues, event promoters, and music distributors for television, DVD, and digital platform distribution, reads Tuesday’s announcement. His most recent role was SVP content, at Redbox Automated Retail, where he led all content, development, licensing, and acquisition activities for the U.S. renter of DVD content….
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IT'S NOT A HUGE SHOCK that the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) rechristened the Cable Show as the Internet & Television Expo (INTX) this year. That's because the North American cable industry is now focusing much of its time, energy and money on new video equipment, web-based video products, cloud-based video services and super-fast broadband speeds.
All the way with 4K
Take Comcast, for instance. The continent's largest MSO used the cable industry's annual spring gathering, in Chicago this year, to unveil plans for a new ultra high-definition cable set-top and a 4K UHD programming service for its X1 IP video…
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TORONTO – IPTV provider VMedia Inc. has received CRTC approval for four regional broadcasting licences, allowing it to offer television services on a national basis.
The Commission said Friday that 2251723 Ontario, wholly owned by VMedia Inc., may operate terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings to serve various locations in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia; Quebec; Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; and British Columbia. The Toronto-based company was previously only able to market its television service in Ontario. It also offers high-speed internet and home phone services.
"We are very grateful to the Commission for its decisions," said CEO Alexei Tchernobrivets,…
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MONTREAL – La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are among a group of international institutional investors acquiring 33% of combined Three UK and O2 UK for a total consideration of £3.1 Billion.
The other investors are GIC of Singapore, Limpart Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and BTG Pactual of Brazil. The investments are conditional on and will occur concurrently with completion by Three of the acquisition of O2 UK from Telefonica and its combination with Three's businesses, which is in turn subject to…
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MONTREAL – The various interventions carried out by the federal government to encourage the establishment of a fourth wireless player will hurt consumers by undermining innovation in this industry, according to a new report released this morning by the Montreal Economic Institute.
“This is all the more worrisome given that important technological revolutions are in the works that will require billions of dollars of investments from the country’s telecommunications companies,” reads the MEI’s press release touting the 2015 edition of The State of Competition in Canada’s Telecommunications Industry.
“In telecommunications, true competition, which allows consumers to enjoy better services at a…
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CHICAGO – Although there is a lot of buzz about skinnier programming packages here at this U.S. show, the Federal Communications Commission has not mandated this change yet, like the CRTC has for the Canadian BDUs.
From an outsider looking in, it appears they are just going to keep talking about what works best for everyone, so the consumer gets what they want – eventually. We have to wonder when they will walk the walk. No one stated they had any clear plans on what they may do and with the American cable channels are not budging yet (that we…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance’s Jennifer Salmon is headed to Harvard in June as this year’s recipient of the CTAM Canada Fellowship Award, also known as CTAM U.
Salmon, pictured, is VP of contracts at the CCSA where she leads a team responsible for the negotiation and administration of all master programming affiliation agreements. She also provides strategic direction and insight to the CCSA board and member companies and is actively involved in industry regulatory proceedings. Prior to joining CCSA, Salmon held various positions at Shaw Communications, most recently as general manager of programming and satellite services, where she was…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada is cutting the regulatory fees for satellite companies that provide rural and remote communities with services including Internet, wireless mobile and broadcasting.
Tuesday’s announcement said the changes will make Canada a more competitive jurisdiction, attracting new investments from companies that want to expand into the Canadian marketplace and from companies that want to improve existing services.
The new reduced fee structure is expected to come into effect by April 1, 2016, putting Canada's satellite licensing fees on par with those in other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the announcement continued. The move is…
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OTTAWA – Linda Vennard has been appointed as the CRTC’s Regional Commissioner for Alberta and the Northwest Territories, and Christopher MacDonald as Regional Commissioner for the Atlantic Region and Nunavut.
They have been appointed for five-year terms, according to an announcement by CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais on Tuesday.
Vennard, who will begin in her new role on May 11, joins the CRTC from the University of Calgary and has 15 years of experience in research focused mainly on broadband and community engagement, science, technology and society, as well as national security and advanced technologies. She holds PhD from the University of Calgary.
MacDonald…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada will stage its third wireless spectrum auction of the year in August to sell off the remaining spectrum licences from the recent 700 MHz and AWS-3 auctions.
One 700 MHz licence serving Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut was unallocated after the auction in January 2014, while three licences, serving the northern territories, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, were unallocated after the AWS-3 auction in March 2015.
The government said late Friday that it is proposing to divide that spectrum into 18 new licences: a 700 MHz licence for each of Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut; three 10 MHz…
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