MONTREAL – The two months heading into Christmas are the “make or break” days for anyone selling anything to consumers and today Bell Canada marked the start of the telecom industry’s busiest and most competitive period today with the launch of its "Share the Joy" holiday marketing campaign
"The fourth quarter of the year, and particularly the holiday period, is the most competitive time in what is already an intensely competitive telecommunications marketplace. Bell is ready to step to the forefront this season with a Share the Joy campaign highlighting an incredible array of new products and services from…
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MONTREAL – With the CRTC having indicated in its upcoming review of broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty services that it is prepared to let market forces begin to dictate how the TV industry works here, a group of artist and cultural business groups are demanding something different.
They have asked Canadian Heritage, Josée Verner, “to use her power to issue policy direction to the CRTC so that the Commission gives primary consideration to social and cultural factors, as required by the Broadcasting Act, in all its decisions to do with the broadcasting sector,” says a press release.
The release…
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MONTREAL – Telesat Canada is now a private company. Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Telesat Canada for C$3.25 billion – combining substantially all of the assets of Loral Skynet to the new, expanded Telesat.
Telesat is now the fourth-largest fixed satellite services provider in the world, and will continue to operate under the name of Telesat and be headquartered in Ottawa. As a result of this acquisition, Telesat now has a global fleet of 12 satellites, three additional satellites under construction, and a global teleport and fibre infrastructure….
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WITH THE GROWING PROLIFERATION of so-called “free-to-air” satellite receivers – and the outright theft of both Bell ExpressVu and Dish Network signals with those falsely-named decoders – the Canadian video distribution industry is looking to re-launch the Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft.
Representatives from Rogers Cable, Bell and others held a meeting this week to discuss reforming the group or something like it. However, no decision has been made yet to move forward, a source told Cartt.ca.
The hope is that if the legitimate Canadian video distributors can organize, the issue can be pushed back onto the federal government’s…
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TORONTO – Score Media (owners of sports channel The Score) announced the launch of ScoreMobile 2.0 today.
As the two-dot-oh would suggest, this is the next stage of the company’s mobile app and is currently available across Canada on Telus, with other carriers coming “in the near future,” says the press release.
"With nearly 20,000 registrants to date, ScoreMobile 1.0 has been the most successful mobile application of its kind in Canada," said Benjamin Levy, senior vice-president, Score Media Ventures, in a press release. "Now with ScoreMobile 2.0, we are going to give those hardcore sports fans more of what…
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WITH THE CLOSING OF the Persona purchase by Bragg Communications (owners of EastLink) last last month, the Canadian cable industry lost one of its leading champions – and true characters.
Dean MacDonald worked his way up through the industry beginning at Avalon Cable in Newfoundland 25 years ago, evenutally rising to president of Danny Williams’ Cable Atlantic. The exploits of Dean and Danny are part of industry lore and this reporter once published a photo of the both of them dressed as Carmen Miranda, giant fruity headresses and all.
When Cable Atlantic was sold to Rogers Cable in 1999…
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TORONTO – The newest technical trial from Rogers Wireless will certainly put a dent in the debate on whether or not the cutting edge in telecom can be found in Canada.
Following the successful expansion of its high-speed HSPA network to 25 Canadian markets earlier this month, Rogers today announced it has begun field trials of its 7.2 Mbps wireless data service.
The Brampton and Montreal trials utilize 3.5 generation wireless HSPA/UMTS technology (High Speed Packet Access/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), enabling a peak download speed of 7.2 Mbps, by far the fastest in the country, or anywhere.
Rogers, which…
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MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada is launching its 2006-2007 annual report this week as part of its 40th anniversary.
“Telefilm has played an important role in the growth and success of the film, television and new media industries,” said Wayne Clarkson, executive director, in a press release.
“We continue to support Canadian talent who create Canadian content that engages Canadian audiences and the world. The 2006-2007 annual report identifies the major issues we face today: adapt to the multiplatform environment and encourage the industry to build on new business opportunities, increase the leverage of our investments and activities, identify, train…
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TORONTO – From now on, the award for best television news information program presented annually by RTNDA Canada – the Association of Electronic Journalists – will be named after Canadian industry legend Trina McQueen.
“To call Trina McQueen a trailblazer is an understatement,” says the RTNDA press release. “She was the first female reporter for CFTO News in Toronto, co-host of W5, the first female on-air reporter for The National, the first woman named executive producer of The National, at just 33.
“In 1992, McQueen became vice president of English television news and current affairs at CBC and CBC…
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GATINEAU – An airing of Radio-Canada’s "Fric show" which examined the porn industry – complete the nudity and frank language – at 7:30 p.m. was a poor decision, the CRTC told CBC this week.
In a decision released Tuesday, the Commission found that by airing the program on April 26 2007 before 9 p.m., the CBC did not meet the Canadian broadcasting policy objective set out in the Broadcasting Act that programming should be of high standard.
The Fric show is produced by the CBC and hosted by Marc Labrèche. It’s not a public affairs or news program but rather…
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