BOSTON – In its younger days, the cable industry moved, for the times, at a pretty good speed on the technical front. While operators in the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s concentrated on signing up subscribers, delivering clear signals, and then launching an ever-increasing number of new channels, they were heavily reliant on just a couple of big suppliers and their engineers for their most important network systems.
General Instrument (Jerrold before that and now known as Google-owned Motorola) and Scientific-Atlanta (now Cisco) were the two dominant players for ages. There were lots of other suppliers of many other things,…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has created a special committee to address the predicted telephone number shortage for areas of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island served by area code 902.
According to the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA), which administers the distribution of phone numbers in Canada on behalf of the CRTC, the region is expected to run out of telephone numbers by April 2015.
The Commission said Thursday that it will set up a relief planning committee to evaluate various options and make recommendations. As some options could require customers to change their telephone numbers, members of the public and the telecommunications…
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OLD BRIDGE, NJ – Blonder Tongue continues to strengthen its Canadian presence through a new distribution agreement with Capella Telecommunications.
New Jersey-based Blonder Tongue Laboratories designs, manufactures, sells and supports an equipment portfolio of standard and high definition digital video solutions, plus core analog video and high speed data solutions for distribution over coaxial cable, fibre and IP networks. In March, the company announced plans to buy electronic communication equipment maker R.L. Drake, including its Canadian sales and service centre Drake Canada.
Capella, an existing Drake distributor, provides the cable, telco, broadcast, utility, and unified communications industries with video, voice…
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REGINA – Add the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) to the list of stakeholders opposed to the Saskatchewan government’s decision to drop the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit in favour of a non-refundable tax credit program.
The two organizations sent letters this week to provincial premier Brad Wall stressing the importance of provincial tax credits in supporting the domestic film and television production industry.
“The WGC was disappointed to learn of the decision of the government of Saskatchewan to rescind the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit because we know that this will…
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OTTAWA – Lower wireless infrastructure investments could be the result of Industry Canada’s proposals to adopt indefinite roaming and eliminating the difference between in-territory and out-of-territory roaming, warn some mobile carriers.
The cautionary notes come from Bell Canada, SaskTel and Telus Corp. in comments to the department’s consultation on changes to mandated roaming and tower site sharing. They urge Industry Canada to think hard before making these changes because they could have the unintended consequence of decreasing overall wireless network investment in both urban and rural areas across the country.
SaskTel is particularly concerned that if the…
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BOSTON – A large contingent of Canadian cable delegates who journeyed to Boston rose to lead a standing ovation for Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind as he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Monday night.
Lind and five others, Ann Rallis Carlsen, CEO of Carlsen Resources; legendary CNN broadcaster Larry King; BET Networks chair and CEO Debra Lee; Lenfest Group president and CEO Gerry Lenfest; and Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner of InterMedia Partners (but best known as the CEO who turned around TCI and the fortunes of U.S. cable in the late 1990s leading the so-called “Summer…
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BANFF – Some of the country’s most notable media leaders will share their perspectives on the key issues facing the Canadian media industry at next month’s Banff World Media Festival.
Shaw Media president Paul Robertson, Bell Media president Kevin Crull, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley, and CBC Executive vice-president Kirstine Stewart will participate in a panel discussion on topics such as the impact of further consolidation and vertical integration within the media industry, as well as how the Canadian content industry can become more globally relevant.
Delegates at the event will have the opportunity to submit questions via Twitter (@BanffMedia) or on…
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I DARE ANYONE TO disagree with this statement: “A child without access to the Internet will find life increasingly difficult in the information age.”
National Cable and Telecommunications Association president and CEO Michael Powell said it Monday morning during his keynote speech to delegates in the standing-room-only opening general session at the 2012 Cable Show here in Boston. He was singing the praises of the U.S. industry’s Connect to Compete initiative where all of the major American cable companies have teamed up with the Federal Communications Commission and a large number of other corporations to push…
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WHEN PERSONA COMMUNICATIONS was first sold back in 2003-04, I remember attending one of the then-public company’s annual general meetings of shareholders. I don’t recall, but it may have been the final one before its sale. What I do remember are many angry investors wondering just what the heck this Canadian cable company was doing wasting resources in the Caribbean.
The company had purchased Cable Bahamas in 2002 and some investors thought they were being taken for a ride while the company’s senior executives looked for some nice white sand upon which to land and retire. The company’s biggest shareholder…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has launched a new measurement tool to help classify its projects and measure their performance using various key performance indicators.
The Digital Media Performance Measurement Framework is applicable to all digital media components funded through the Convergent Stream, (excluding TV and VOD), and all projects funded through the Experimental Stream. In addition, producers of funded projects will have access to an online reporting form to report on audience and consumption data for funded projects.
“This is a solid first step in establishing a unified approach to digital media performance measurement,” said president and CEO Valerie…
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