TORONTO – Bruce Claassen didn’t want to be the bad guy. He wanted to be the white knight who saved CKX-TV Brandon and used it as a springboard to build another national TV network.
With the market for smaller TV stations set in the $1-range (and with Shaw Communications having backed down from its much-ballyhooed calling-of-CTV’s-“bluff”) Claassen announced in July that his investment vehicle, Bluepoint Investments, would purchase the beleaguered station from owner CTVglobemedia as the start of Bluepoint’s grander plan to become a major media player.
But, after “trying everything to make it work,” Claassen said he made…
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CTAM CANANDA has scheduled its annual CTAM Summit dinner at The Cable Center in Denver on October 26, 2009.
The Cable Center chronicles the story of where cable has been, and provides the tools and knowledge to support where it’s going. The dinner will include a tour of the Cable Center’s Hall of Fame where the late Ted Rogers was inducted as an honouree in 2002. Such an honour is bestowed annually to those who have contributed significantly to the growth and development of one or more components of cable’s diverse industry and to the people, communities, organizations, and institutions it…
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GATINEAU – The fact that Globalive Wireless has altered its governance structure to mitigate CRTC concerns is just distracting everyone from the fact that its purse strings are tightly held outside of Canada.
And that means it can’t be a Canadian telecom operator, the three Canadian wireless incumbents told the Commission this morning.
During the final day into a hearing that began last week over the proposed structure of Globalive Wireless (which intends to come to market before year-end under the Wind brand name), representatives from Bell Canada, Telus and Rogers each played different verses of the same tune: Globalive…
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OTTAWA – This morning at 9 a.m., new wireless carrier Globalive will present to the CRTC its new corporate structure, governance, shareholder rights and financing arrangements.
After a two-day hearing last week into the company’s ownership and control, which was spurred on by the incumbent operators’ complaints, Globalive (which does business on the wired side under the Yak brand) has heeded the Commission’s stated fears and believes the alterations will soothe those concerns, allowing its to launch its wireless services under the Wind brand name before Christmas.
“We are confident that these changes will satisfy the CRTC,” said…
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EDMONTON – Using some of the most inflammatory language we’ve seen in a press release (invoking both a rodent and the seal hunt), supporters of pay TV service Super Channel are calling for people to boycott Rogers Cable.
The must-carry pay channel is currently operating under creditor protection and the Allard-family-owned service recently won a victory at the CRTC, where the Regulator said Rogers wasn’t marketing the new service fairly, as we reported nearly two weeks ago.
Super Channel also has a civil case pending against Rogers.
But the press release, issued Tuesday evening by “The Friends of Super Channel”…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment is pulling the plug on its Discovery Kids channel effective November 1st, the company told investors Tuesday morning.
Corus president and CEO John Cassaday said that the company will also replace diginet Sex TV with W Movies early next year, and will re-brand its Drive-In Classics movie channel. He did not provide details on a timeline or new name for Drive-In Classics.
The news comes a day after the media and entertainment company announced plans to bring the Nickelodeon brand to Canada later this year. A Corus representative told Cartt.ca that Nick will not be…
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OTTAWA – The Campaign for Competitive Broadband is setting its sites on Canadian consumers in its quest to overturn a CRTC decision that it claims will stifle competition in broadband Internet, Ethernet and other next generation communications services in Canada.
The group has launched the website www.consumersforinternetcompetition.com to educate consumers on the issue, as well as provide them with links to share their opinions with Industry Minister Tony Clement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, and their local MP.
The business-oriented site www.competitivebroadband.com, which debuted on September 10, has already generated more than 7,000 emails…
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Greg O’Brien
MONTREAL – There will be more consolidation in our industry, Corus Entertainment CEO John Cassaday told a group of investors on Wednesday at CIBC’s Annual Eastern Institutional Investor Conference.
When asked about the potential for more merger and acquisition activity, Cassaday said it’s just a matter of when. “We think there’s going to be considerably more consolidation in Canada on the distribution and programming side,” he explained.
However, this is a small market – complete with foreign ownership restrictions – that largely tie M&A moves to the funds that can (or can’t) be raised in Canada. So, the Corus CEO…
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TORONTO – Data and Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless, also known as DAVE Wireless, has signed a licensing agreement with Bell Mobility for wireless cell-site sharing.
The agreement will allow DAVE to negotiate the placement of its own wireless equipment on Bell Mobility cell sites, where space is available.
"With the upcoming launch of DAVE Wireless, our ability to gain access to valuable real estate on Bell Mobility’s existing cell sites moves us another step closer to offering competitive voice and data services to Canadians," said president Dave Dobbin, in the announcement. "By using existing infrastructure built by Bell, we can greatly…
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NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE – You come to a gathering of industry folks and, well, you hear things. Here are a couple of items of note…
**********We’ve been reporting on Rogers Communications planned broadband portal for the better part of a year now and apparently, it is about to come to fruition, with several industry programming sources reporting that November is the launch month.
**********Insight Sports’ World Fishing Network is nearing some big things, Stateside. It is just about to announce carriage on a major American MSO and it will soon open a Denver office, with their affiliate point man Sean…
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