VANCOUVER – Fourth quarter revenue jumped 8% to $2.25 billion at Telus compared to Q4 2005, the company said today.
Thanks to strong wireless and data growth, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 20%, too, aided by the absence of expenses from the labour disruption in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Telus achieved or exceeded four of five consolidated financial 2006 targets set more than a year ago, reports the western telco. "This result was largely driven by the national wireless business and wireline data growth, which included our non-incumbent operations in central Canada. The 2006…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media has decided to pull in its horns over the funding of Canadian television productions and will resume monthly payments to the CTF, at least for now.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said late Tuesday he was encouraged by the commitment made earlier in the day by the new CRTC Chair, Konrad Von Finckenstein, to become involved in finding solutions to the issues raised by Quebecor and Shaw Communications.
Von Finckenstein said the two companies had highlighted “serious issues that need to be resolved”, and that Quebecor, with its funding proposal outlined Monday, had…
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MONTREAL – After announcing suspension of its monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), Quebecor Media now says it wants to opt out of the CTF entirely and put all money owed by its cable company, Videotron, into a fattened Fonds Quebecor, under its own control, for the support of home-grown productions destined exclusively for broadcast by its own properties.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told a press conference Monday, broadcast live on the company’s all-news channel LCN as well as on its canoe.qc.ca web site, that the proposal is the “best way to ensure the…
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BY THE MIDDLE OF this year, Canada’s largest satellite operator, Telesat, will be a much bigger company.
When Loral Space Communications and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board said in December it would pay about $3.4 billion for Bell Canada Enterprises-owned Telesat, it moved the Ottawa-based company into a larger playing field. Its seven satellites plus four from Loral and the four the companies currently have in the pipeline under construction or awaiting launch, will more than double Telesat’s size by the end of 2009, when the last bird on the drawing board right now is built.
However,…
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TORONTO – In just over a year, satellite radio company Sirius Canada has surpassed the 300,000 subscriber mark.
That gives it 75% market share in Canada, says the company, which added 100,000 new customers during the holiday shopping period.
"Sirius was the preferred choice for satellite radio this holiday season with nearly 8 out of 10 satellite radio shoppers choosing Sirius in December. Since January 2006, Sirius has led the satellite radio industry in Canada with 75 per cent market share," says the company’s press release.
Competitor XM Canada has not yet released its Christmas sales figures and had…
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VANCOUVER – CBC Television and Thunderbird Films today announced that production is underway in Vancouver on The Quality of Life – A Dominic Da Vinci Movie.
The special two-hour television movie follows the popular Dominic Da Vinci franchise (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Da Vinci City Hall) and picks up where City Hall left off. The Quality of Life will air during the fall 2007 season on CBC Television and in 2008 on Showcase.
"Dominic Da Vinci has become a true Canadian icon, and we jumped at the chance to bring him back to television audiences,” said Kirstine Layfield, executive director…
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IN THE DR SEUSS CLASSIC How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch is robbed of his revenge when the good burghers of Whoville preserve their Christmas spirit and retain their celebrations despite having been robbed of their gifts and sustenance.
In the modern Canadian retelling, the Grinch is not Jim Carrey but Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw, who started sledding off with the Canadian content money our regs say he’s obliged to pay, just before Christmas – and has since encountered fewer effective voices preserving its spirit than there are moguls on a ski run.
Instead, while Mr. Shaw…
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TORONTO – Terry Snazel, vice-president technology at Bell ExpressVu, was this year’s CSUA Outstanding Service Award winner.
In making the presentation at the association’s recent annual conference held last week in Toronto, Corus Entertainment’s Gordon Lee, vice-chair of CSUA said: “Persistent and provocative perhaps, but always inquisitive and always on the leading edge of the technical assessment of the issues. Terry has shared his experiences with his peers and we have all learned from him. Terry you have made a difference in CSUA and you have made a difference in the Canadian broadcasting industry.”
Snazel began his career in…
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TORONTO – Technology crystal-baller Don Tapscott will deliver the afternoon keynote address at lunch on March 27th during the Canadian Media Directors’ Council annual conference.
He joins an international lineup of media, advertising, marketing and communications experts speaking under the conference theme: Pay Attention! The New Age of Engagement.
Tapscott has authored or co-authored eleven widely read books on the application of technology in business. His new book, co-authored with Anthony Williams, is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.
Tapscott is chief executive of think tank New Paradigm. Founded in 1993, New Paradigm produces research on the role of…
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TORONTO – Among Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies for 2006 are three from the TV and telecom industries.
After reviewing thousands of applications from companies across the country, Halifax-based cable and telecom company EastLink, broadcaster Pelmorex Media (The Weather Network/MétéoMédia) and broadcast technology manufacturer Evertz Technologies each made the list.
The annual awards program is sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC Commercial Banking, National Post and Queen’s University School of Business.
“The 2006 Best Managed winners are an outstanding group of Canadian-owned and managed companies that have proven their remarkable ability and commitment to apply best practices to all areas of…
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