TORONTO and CALGARY – With Industry Canada’s review of the CRTC decision on Globalive still on-going, it’s hurry up and wait for the potential new wireless entrant.
With nothing but time on its hands, the company has sent 400 of their newly trained employees out in Calgary and the Greater Toronto Area to commit ‘random acts of kindness’ such as distributing hand sanitizer and pumping gas, or helping with charities such as the Salvation Army and local food banks.
In the meantime, incumbent telcos and even Globalive itself have been busy compiling their submissions for Industry Minister Tony Clement to aid in the review process. All…
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MONTREAL – A portion of the subscriber fees paid by BDUs to specialty TV channels must be diverted to private broadcasters if conventional television is to survive, according to Quebecor Media.
In a statement on Wednesday morning prior to its appearance at the CRTC hearings, Quebecor proposed that two conditions should be attached to the payments: the fees paid by BDUs to private television stations, networks, specialty channels and pay TV services should be negotiated on a free market basis, and, the changes in fees must have no impact on the prices paid by consumers.
"I don’t see anything outrageous in…
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GATINEAU – We could have a story here about the CBC’s plea for a skinny basic.
We could have re-analyzed its re-demands for new revenue in the form of a wholesale fee and how forcefully its executives argued it needs one, despite how detractors point out it already gets a billion dollars from taxpayers and as a public broadcaster an increase from that stream seems more appropriate.
We could have expended more words on Bell’s SD Freesat proposal and how the company re-iterated it will resist new fees to local broadcasters no matter what right to negotiate might be enshrined in…
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TORONTO – Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings today announced the appointment of Dara Altman to the company’s board of directors, replacing one of the company’s founders, Gary Parsons.
"Gary was a founder of XM Canada and a true pioneer in the satellite radio industry. His vision, expertise and insights were instrumental in establishing satellite radio and XM in Canada,” said John Bitove, executive chairman of the board. Parsons recently resigned from both the Sirius XM board and CSR’s board. “His commitment to work with us helped guide the formation of the Canadian operations and insured our success in obtaining our…
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INDUSTRY CANADA will overturn the CRTC’s ruling against Globalive, allowing the nascent wireless entrant to begin operations later this year, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The story quotes Orascom Telecom chair Naguib Sawiris at a media conference Tuesday in Cairo as saying that he believes “the ruling will be overruled”.
As reported by Cartt.ca, Industry Minister Tony Clement has asked incumbent telcos and others involved in Globalive’s review process to submit additional information as he reviews the CRTC’s decision to prevent it from entering the Canadian marketplace on the basis that is not Canadian-owned and controlled.
Click here for the full…
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IF YOU JUDGED BY the various ad campaigns, Facebook pages and Twitter streams, you’d be thinking that the hearing beginning today in Gatineau is only about whether or not conventional broadcasters should get a fee for their signal.
Well, granting the broadcasters the right to negotiate a fee for carriage of their local TV signals is a foregone conclusion. I’m convinced this will happen. The term “negotiation for value” – which has begun to replace “fee-for-carriage” in the industry lexicon – was coined by CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein himself earlier this year and while I’m not necessarily opposed to…
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TORONTO – CBC Television announced a new senior team structure on Friday which it says will allow the public broadcaster to focus on “innovative strategies for bringing new programs to Canadian audiences as well as markets outside the country,” reads the release,
"Over the last few years, CBC Television has experienced significant success with its new shows," said Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president of English services, in that release. "They have drawn bigger domestic audiences and sold well internationally.”
So, Fred Fuchs, former executive director, arts and entertainment for CBC Television, has been appointed general manager, production enterprises, with responsibility for strengthening…
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TORONTO – XM Radio’s parent company, Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings reported Friday it increased revenue by 33% to $52.5 million in fiscal year 2009, ended August 31, 2009.
Self-paying subscribers rose by 23% to 380,900, which helped reduce adjusted operating loss by 54% to $14.3 million, the company reported. (This is still well back of privately-held Sirius Canada, which reported last year it had topped 750,000 subs)
"Our disciplined focus on profitability has delivered very strong results in what was a challenging year for Canada, particularly in the automotive industry," said Michael Moskowitz, president and CEO of XM Canada, in…
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OTTAWA – We choked a little on our coffee when we read the co-signers, but a letter to Industry Minister Tony Clement – to be printed Monday in an ad in the Hill Times newspaper – urges him to respect the Telecom Act as he reviews the CRTC’s decision on Globalive’s lack of Canadian ownership.
Signed by western competitors Telus and Shaw Communications, along with the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association (which often doesn’t see eye-to-eye with carriers) and wireless newbie Public Mobile, the letter reinforces to the Minister that the CRTC was and is right to tell Globalive…
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TORONTO – While much of the industry’s attention will be focused on a plain, grey building in Gatineau on Monday (btw, anyone else see the irony that the Cable Public Affairs Channel is the only place providing full video coverage of the hearing this week on cpac.ca?), a couple of other interesting items are on the industry docket this week.
Rogers Communications is apparently still set to launch its new broadband video customer portal in a soft launch to certain customers this week.
More irony here… While the closed shop, regulated, OTA, MPEG2 and RF driven system is being debated in…
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