THE FOOD INDUSTRY WAS never this exciting, says Videotron president and CEO Robert Dépatie.
In the 1990s, he was in charge of the Planters brand in Quebec and prior to that, held positions with Heinz. The sheer volume of food processing technology was nothing then as compared to what his cable company faces today. The acronyms are endless: VOIP, VOD, HDTV, iTV, IPTV, DOCSIS and so on.
Last week, the MSO launched its own branded wireless service, riding on the Rogers Wireless backbone, giving it a fourth valuable service option and allowing a family’s entire telecom bill, beginning to…
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QUEBEC – Videotron Wireless hit the Quebec City market today as the fourth leg in the Quebecor division’s video, data and telecom stool.
As reported on Monday, the company officially launched its wireless phone service today with a number of different handsets and service plans. The one that might get the most attention is its $94.95 a month bundle of wireless phone, wireline phone, digital TV and Internet service.
Videotron Wireless, which is running on the Rogers Wireless network, will be available to the rest of its cable territories by the end of the calendar year. It will offer…
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DARTMOUTH, N.S. – Thanks to its growing operations (acquisitions and new license launches), Newfoundland Capital Corporation reported a very strong second quarter of 2006.
Revenue growth was 17% in the second quarter, ended June 30th, climbing to $24.5 million in the quarter and 18% to $43.1 million year-to-date; a result of the incremental growth from acquisitions and new station launches, said the company.
Assets acquired in 2005 that are now contributing to the bottom line in 2006 include the company’s acquisition of three radio stations and two TV outlets in Lloydminster, Alberta, an FM radio licence in Thunder Bay,…
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IF YOU WANT TO LUMP 21-year-old BroadView Software in with other "tech" companies, it would be a greybeard.
Like greybeards, however, it has the experience and perspective gained from evolving from an all-analog, all-tape broadcast environment to a fully digital, Windows-based, IT-powered world.
President Michael Atkin remains at the head of the company he founded right out of Ryerson University whose first customer was First Choice Canada and has seen the changes in the broadcast world from the inside as a key software vendor.
For those unfamiliar with the Toronto-based company, BroadView makes specialized, flexible, broadcast information-management software that…
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TORONTO – Women in Film and Television – Toronto and CBC Television, have launched the 2006 CBC Canadian Reflections Award and are calling for applications.
The national competitive award will give one emerging Canadian female filmmaker "the opportunity to receive creative support from CBC Television to develop a concept project to showcase the diversity of Canada," says the press release.
The winner will receive $7,500 to go towards production costs of a program of up to 30 minutes in length, as well as consultation with a CBC drama executive. The winner will be announced at the 2006 Crystal Awards Gala…
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TORONTO – James Sherry has been appointed executive managing director of Alliance Atlantis’ Motion Picture Distribution company,
He will oversee all Motion Picture Distribution operations in English Canada.
Sherry "brings a wealth of experience to this new position, most recently as president, Canadian Theatrical Distribution," says the press release.
He has almost twenty years of experience in the motion picture distribution industry. He joined New Line in 1987 where he held various management positions over a seven-year term. In 1994 he moved to Miramax as vice-president and general sales manager; a position he held until 1997. In 1998 he…
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Ted spins things cable’s way During his conference call this week with financial analysts to present the company’s very strong second quarter results, Rogers Communications founder and CEO Ted Rogers lit into Bell (again) for daring to complain about regulation. During the call Rogers grumbled that the distribution rules between cable and satellite are still different – and more favorable to DTH companies when compared to cable.
While a case can be made for that, one can’t be made for what he said next when he insisted that Canadian satellite companies have used those rules to take cable customers…
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DELTA, B.C. – One of the original British Columbia cable systems, Delta Cable, is changing hands.
Persona Communications agreed to purchase the 38,500-customer cable company based in Delta, B.C. (including its Coast Cable operation) late Wednesday. President and CEO of Delta, John Thomas, the son of late company founder Stan Thomas, is said to be retiring.
Financial terms were not released and the deal is pending CRTC approval.
Stan Thomas, one of the industry’s true pioneers, founded the cable company in 1954 and was one of the creators of the Canadian Cable Television Association, which first met in 1957….
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MONTREAL – Canadian communication policy has shifted. New media are no longer new. Convergence has come and gone and even come again. Policy makers are chipping away at facet after facet of the emerging networked mediascape.
But what role should Canadian communication researchers play in this policy environment? How can their work inform, influence, and shift the agendas of policymakers in Canadian jurisdictions? Should it at all? And just whose work is at issue, as a new generation of communications researchers, activists, and decision-makers begins to take its place in Canadian institutions?
Questions like these are a growing part…
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TORONTO – A query about shifting CRTC regulations got Rogers Communications founder Ted Rogers to take a few swings at government and his telco competition this morning.
During the company’s second quarter conference call with financial analysts, one asked about the potential for changing CRTC regs and what that might do to Rogers’ business plan. While no one mentioned the VOIP decision (and the Cabinet demand that the CRTC reconsider it) or the local forbearance decision (and the appeal filed by the traditional telcos, plus Industry Canada’s demand the CRTC let market forces rule),…
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