TORONTO – Al Masini, the founder of the largest television sales representative company in the U.S., TeleRep, will be the closing keynote speaker at this year’s Television Bureau of Canada (TVB) Sales Advisory Committee Conference in Toronto.
“Our 2008 Sales Advisory Committee Conference kicks off on February 11 with an opening keynote address from Canada’s Rock Star of Digital Marketing, Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image and concludes the next day with broadcast visionary, Al Masini, who has successfully put his ideas into action so many times over,” said Theresa Treutler, president and CEO of the Television Bureau of…
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TORONTO – The speed at which change arrives and is being forced on everyone in the media space is still so breathtaking that hard and fast answers on what we must do today, tomorrow and well beyond are still pretty elusive.
After listening to some strategy, regulatory and technical sessions at this week’s annual Canadian Broadcast Distribution Association conference (formerly the Canadian Satellite Users Association), those were my conclusions, anyway.
The last 12 months have born witness to four large mergers: CanWest now owns Alliance Atlantis; CTVglobemedia runs the former CHUM channels; Rogers has Citytv; and Telesat got together…
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A coalition of creators wants the Copyright Act to be changed so that Internet Service Providers share in the responsibility of the content that customers circulate on their networks. The coalition in a paper released earlier this week called for ISPs to share in the liability for copyright infringement when it neglects to withdraw illegal content after being advised of its presence by the copyright holder.
Specifically, the coalition wants the law changed so that ISPs aren’t allowed to sanction or encourage the public to use telecommunication services to distribute content without the appropriate compensation to creators and copyright owners….
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TORONTO – The Canadian television industry is again setting its sights on those Canadians who aren’t paying for their satellite or cable television.
As Cartt.ca first reported in October, the Coalition Against Signal Theft (formerly the Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft) has been reborn, said Chris Frank, vice-president of programming at Bell Video Group at the Canadian Broadcast Distribution Association (formerly the CSUA) annual digital broadcasting conference.
The new moniker was chosen because “more than satellite is losing money to signal theft,” said the man who is in charge of programming for Bell ExpressVu.
“Theft is a very large…
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TORONTO – Bell Canada has rallied to form a group of Canadian organizations to address a widening shortage of IT professionals. The Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow’s IT Skills plans to work together to ensure the country retains healthy IT workforce by addressing factors contributing to the shortage.
“If left uncontested, the IT skills gap will create gaps in our economic performance, gaps in our productivity, and gaps in our ability to compete globally. It is in everyone’s interest to close those gaps as quickly as possible,” said Bell Enterprise Group president Stephane Boisvert, who is the coalition spokesperson.
The…
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Michael Binder, former assistant deputy minister of spectrum, information technologies and telecommunications at Industry Canada, has been appointed as interim president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The appointment was effective January 15.
Binder has a PhD in physics from the University of Alberta and is described as a career civil servant in a media release issued by Natural Resources. The appointment comes in the wake of the government’s firing of CNSC head Linda Keen.
The Binder appointment was described in an Ottawa Citizen article by Deirdre McMurdy as “a startling choice.” Binder dealt with the spectrum…
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OTTAWA – The operating profit margin for Canada’s Internet Service Providers was 20% in 2006, up 1% from 2005, according to statistics released Monday by Statistics Canada.
Operating revenues for the industry rose 11% to $2 billion in 2006 from a year earlier, while operating expenses were up 10% to $1.6 billion, according to Statistics Canada.
Salaries, wages and benefits accounted for 29% of operating expenses, while telecommunications expenses, including leased line charges from upstream providers, accounted for 28%.
Some 77% of their operating revenues came from the provision of Internet access in 2006 – a figure unchanged from…
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TORONTO – Bell Canada today announced the availability of the 6141 High Definition (HD) satellite receiver.
"Growing consumer appetite for HDTVs is driving increased demand for HD services," said Kevin Crull, president, Bell Residential Services, in a press release. "Bell’s new 6141 receiver delivers the Full HD experience, offering consumers the perfect combination of industry leading HD picture quality and access to more than 60 HD channels, the largest selection in Canada."
The new 6141 HD digital satellite receiver delivers seamless surfing between standard and high definition channels, an enhanced electronic programming guide with options to view up to…
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KENORA – Bell Aliant will expand further west as Kenora City Council has approved the big telco’s $27 million purchase offer for the Kenora Municipal Telephone System, as reported by Cartt.ca earlier this month.
"Bell Aliant is the right choice for KMTS employees, customers and our community as a whole," said Mayor Len Compton, in a press release. "The City of Kenora has followed a very diligent process and reviewed several options in order to come to this decision. We are confident in the continued success of KMTS in Kenora."
There had been some noise up north made by…
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MISSISSAUGA – The Canadian Satellite Users Association (CSUA) will be changing its name to the Canadian Broadcast Distribution Association, effective next week.
The new name, and acronym – CBDA – better reflects the work mandate of the association over the recent years.
“The mandate has shifted from a focus solely on the satellite distribution networks to all the distribution platforms available to broadcasters to deliver their signals,” said Chris Bell, chairman of CSUA. “The expanding mandate has attracted interest from non-satellite distributors with both Rogers and Telus members of the association, “ added Gordon Lee, vice-chair.
“The annual conference…
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