NEW ORLEANS – The technical leaders of the North American cable industry gathered in room 211 at the Ernest Morial Convention Center in New Orleans today to give one of the industry’s true engineering pioneers a retirement send-off.
Rogers Communications Nick Hamilton-Piercy is officially retiring after over a half-century in cable and telecommunications, most of that with Rogers. “I was hoping just to slip off unnoticed,” he said this afternoon, visibly surprised by the planned get-together put together by NCTA staff.
Hamilton-Piercy has been one of the titans of the technical and engineering side of the cable industry, notably…
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OTTAWA – Timothy Denton, a specialist in legal and policy issues related to the Internet and communications, has been appointed as CRTC commissioner, Canadian Heritage announced Friday.
He was involved with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the governance of the domain name industry and helped introduce long-distance voice competition in Canada as counsel to the Canadian Consumers’ Association.
From 1985 to 1987, Denton was involved with the creation of the Broadcasting Act and later took part in the creation of the Telecommunications Act while working as a policy advisor to the Minister of Communications from 1985…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is going to re-examine its decision not to regulate new media, and on Thursday it asked the public to help it determine what issues it should consider at a public hearing to be held in early 2009.
The Commission indicates in a public notice that it wants to narrow the range of issues it will consider at the hearing on broadcasting in the new media environment. The regulator proposes looking at what exactly is broadcasting in new media, the creation and promotion of Canadian broadcasting content for the new media environment, and any barriers to…
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KELOWNA – “This show has grown by leaps and bounds,” Capella’s Wayne Rabey raved this morning on a crowded floor at the 2008 Canadian CommTech Show and Seminars.
Between 250 and 300 people went through the Coast Capri Hotel on Wednesday, a day after the event’s successful golf tournament on Tuesday.
While the seminars went on (we’ll have a story or two from those, too) we perused the show floor for products and this is what some of the 60-plus companies were highlighting. ************ TVC CANADA was featuring a couple of fibre-to-the-home solutions, including air-blown fibre solutions and Corning’s…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice this month dismissed a claim requiring the Inukshuk Wireless Partnership (Rogers and Bell) to return MCS spectrum to a subsidiary of Rogers.
UBS Wireless Services Inc. subsidiary Unique Broadband Systems Inc. started litigation against Allstream and Rogers subsidiary Microcell and two of its subsidiaries, including Inukshuk Internet Inc., in April 2004. UBS alleges that there were breaches of contract, confidence and fiduciary duties regarding a signed agreement involving the MCS spectrum.
After Rogers and Bell asked Industry Canada to transfer the MCS spectrum out of the companies being litigated against and…
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TORONTO – WFN: World Fishing Network HD has secured a carriage deal with U.S. satellite TV distributor DISH Network, parent company Insight Sports announced on Wednesday.
The high-definition version of the 24-hour fishing channel is available on channel 394 of the DISH Network.
“With more than 50 million sport fishing enthusiasts in North America, WFN has been enthusiastically embraced,” said WFN President Mark Rubinstein. “In just under three years, WFN has emerged as the industry leader in the world of televised fishing and lifestyle programming. The launch of WFN HD on DISH Network now enables millions of passionate anglers…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) blasts Canadian broadcasters in a media release Wednesday as they gear up to spend millions on U.S. film and television shows down south at the LA Screenings.
“Once again, Canada’s private broadcasters are in L.A. spending millions of Canadian dollars on Hollywood productions, ignoring their obligations to Canada’s culture and taxpayers. They make millions off Canada’s public airwaves thanks to the CRTC, by showing U.S. programming, while letting Canada’s film and television industry wither,” said ACTRA National Executive Director Stephen Waddell.
ACTRA notes that Canada’s over-the-air private…
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BURLINGTON – Industry veteran Joe Enright was appointed as national sales engineer at White Radio, it was announced Wednesday.
He has worked for 20 years in technical sales and distribution, including with Motorola, Lucent and Proxim Wireless. He was also an active participant in the first successful city-wide Wi-Fi network in Canada that was set-up in Fredericton, NB.
“We are excited to have a person of Joe Enright’s calibre and experience join our team,” said Jack Van Kessel, White Radio president and general manager. “We know Joe will offer a tremendous value to our client base and wish him…
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WINNIPEG – CTVglobemedia announced Monday it was making a $650,000 contribution to the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) over five years.
The money will support the NSI Totally Television training program, which was originally created as a result of the CTV-BCE Benefits package back in 2002. The latest contribution stems from the CTV-CHUM benefits package.
“CTV is committed to reinvesting in the growth and success of the Canadian television industry,” Susanne Boyce, CTV Inc. president of Creative, Content and Channels, said in a media release. “Over the years we’ve seen our support of NSI Totally Television pay huge dividends…
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TORONTO – Under its Fido brand, Rogers this week launched a Canadian first for the wireless industry with its new service, Fido UNO.
It works by connecting calls from a specially-enabled handset to a high-speed WiFi Internet connection when at home and through the Fido network when on the go – “offering simple, seamless mobility and the ultimate in converged communications convenience,” touts the press release.
Customers can now to talk as much as they want on their Fido phone while at home without using up their wireless plan minutes, as long as they have a broadband connection and…
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