OTTAWA – Due to the “flawed” overall structure of last year’s advanced wireless spectrum auction, Canada’s wireless companies collectively paid over two billion dollars too much, and that is sorely needed cash which could have been put to far better use than just being handed over to car companies, says Telus.
In time for its reply comments to Industry Canada’s spectrum auction consultation which were due in yesterday, the number two wireless carrier filed a report by NERA Economic Consulting which examined at the structure of the 2008 AWS auction (comparing it to others around the world and past…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – The rumour mill had been spinning wildly over the past couple of days in Hamilton about the impending sale of Mountain Cablevision, but the buyer, announced this morning to be Shaw Communications, is a bit of a surprise.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario Mountain has approximately 41,000 cable customers and has been very successful adding services, too, with 28,000 Internet subscribers and 27,000 telephone customers.
The purchase price was not announced, but a cable company in the lucrative southern Ontario market with this many revenue generating units, expect the price to be north of about $300 million, sources have told…
Continue Reading
ABOUT A WEEK before the next Commission’s September 29th inquiry into the state of the broadcast industry, whomever the regulator dares send to the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual gathering will be sure to get an earful.
The members of the CCSA are Canada’s smaller, but fiercely independent, cable operators and when they meet on September 20-22 for Connect 2009 at the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont., you can bet any thought of paying a fee for carriage to conventional broadcasters won’t be warmly received, to say the least.
The group has worked hard to earn a small systems exemption…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CTAM Canada is seeking nominations for its 2010 board of directors.
The elections are open to marketing professionals serving the cable industry in Canada who are committed to an active participation in board activities.
There are 15 seats on the board, and ten vacancies to fill this year. Each new board member will serve a two-year term beginning with the organization’s annual planning meeting in November.
The deadline for nominations is July 31, 2009.
www.ctam.ca
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) will solicit written submissions and conduct focus groups as part of its industry consultation process to engage stakeholders in the creation of the new Canada Media Fund (CMF) program.
At a virtual town hall scheduled for August 6, 2009, the CTF will present briefing papers detailing the key policy issues, the organization said in a press release Friday. Stakeholders will be asked to provide written submissions with their input, and will also be able to review and comment on all of the input received.
Following the written submission process, the…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – In back-to-back presentations this morning, the CRTC heard from two of Canada’s largest ISPs, Telus and Cogeco Cable, one of which uses no Internet traffic management techniques (yet) and one which uses them all the time.
Each want the same thing, however: to be left alone to manage their networks how they see fit.
Telus, the big western-based telco, uses no traffic management technology right now on either its retail consumers or wholesale business clients, said senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs Michael Hennessy. But it wants the freedom to be able to deploy them, if needed, in…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Operating revenues for Canada’s TV broadcasting industry totaled $6.5 billion (current dollars) in 2008, up 5.4% from 2007 totals, according to data from Statistics Canada.
The increase was due in part to a 13.2% advance in public and non-profit television revenues, while the upturn was largely attributable to advertising revenues from the Summer Olympics and a substantial increase in grants, the report detailed.
Operating revenues for private conventional television fell 1.8% to $2.1 billion in 2008 – the second annual decline in revenues in three years for this segment – due primarily to the loss of advertising market shares to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – VisionTV received more than 270 submissions in response to its call last May for original comedy-drama series proposals.
The multi-faith and multicultural network is looking for a series of six to 13 episodes that will reflect Canada’s cultural diversity and appeal to its core demographic of female-skewing viewers aged 50-plus.
“The submissions have come from every corner of the country, from producers with decades of experience and from newcomers to the industry,” said Joan Jenkinson, director of independent production for VisionTV’s parent company S-VOX. “The volume and sheer variety of proposals have exceeded all our expectations.”
The network said that it…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and TORONTO – Not surprisingly, Monday’s CRTC’s decisions were praised by industry associations like The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC).
Noting that all players in the Canadian broadcasting system, including independent producers, have felt the impact of “these trying economic times”, CFTPA president and CEO Norm Bolen commended the CRTC for upholding broadcaster’s Cancon requirements.
“By maintaining current terms and conditions of licence, the CRTC has recognized the importance of Canadian programming and independent production in the Canadian broadcasting system”, Bolen said in a statement. “Any reduction to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The syndicated entertainment news magazine show Entertainment Tonight (ET) is the first customer to use video switching centre The Switch for transmission services to Canada.
In addition to the multi-year HD transmission service agreement ET signed with The Switch last year for service between New York and Los Angeles, ET will now use The Switch’s Inter-City on Demand (ICOD) transmission service to reach ET Canada at the Global Television studios in Toronto.
“Canada is a key market for us,” said Dan Henry, executive in charge of production for Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, in the announcement. “We are…
Continue Reading
