MELBOURNE, Fla. – Broadcast equipment maker Harris Corporation (which bought Leitch Technologies in 2005) has agreed to purchase Aastra Digital Video, which develops and markets video networking, encoding, decoding, and multiplexing technologies used by television broadcasters, telecommunications providers and satellite networks.
The heart of Aastra is its VideoRunner multi-service video networking system. The company has been a supplier to Harris of video networking products for the past eight years, sold under the Flexicoder and NetVX brand names.
Aastra Digital Video is based in Bridgewater, NJ, with approximately 35 employees and its customers include Turner Broadcasting, the National Football League,…
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THERE’S LITTLE DISPUTING the fact Canada is a resource-based economy.
As oil and gas and mineral stocks go – so goes the Toronto Stock Exchange. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians work oil rigs, underground drills, huge chain saws and on fishing boats.
The question is: Do Canadians want a television channel reflecting that? Ivor Barr thinks so and has launched IDNR-TV to prove it. The company holds a pair of category two digital channels for The Mining Channel and for Natural Resources TV.
Barr is generally unhappy with the way the mainstream media covers the resource industry, swooping…
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TORONTO – CTV has signed a deal with an American distribution company to find spots for its heralded Canadian sitcom, Corner Gas, in the United States.
CTV has announced it signed Arthur Hasson’s Multi-Platform Distribution Company (MPDC) to market the hit Canadian comedy series south of the border. Since it was launched in January, 2004, Corner Gas has outperformed all U.S. sitcoms in Canada and is the only Canadian scripted series on Canada’s Top 20 list of programs, says CTV. MPDC will begin shopping Corner Gas immediately to broadcasters and potentially other platforms.
Corner Gas is an ensemble comedy…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s much anticipated decision on which, if any, of the 2005 pay television applicants will receive a license will be announced this morning, www.cartt.ca has learned.
Early in 2005, an application by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger for a new pay television license kicked off the whole proceeding. The Commission called for other applications and received three others from Quebecor Media’s Archambault Group, an all-Canadian bid from Channel Zero (Movieola, Silver Screen Classics) and one from former WIC owners, the Allard family.
Burger’s Spotlight TV application is backed by Lawrence Tanenbaum’s Insight Sports,…
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TORONTO – Wireless technology customers are ready to move beyond voice and text messaging applications to an increasingly more sophisticated mobile user experience. That was a key message delivered by several speakers at the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) “Work.Live.Play.” conference, held this week in Toronto.
Whereas text messaging was viewed as the lowest common denominator, from a technology perspective, to attract mobile consumers two to three years ago, today’s wireless customers desire a much richer user experience, said Dean Tseretopoulos, vice-president of interactive mobile solutions at MyThum Interactive during a panel discussion.
Toronto-based MyThum Interactive…
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TORONTO – Andre Tremblay believes Canada lags significantly behind global wireless markets – and that the recent recommendations from the Telecom Policy Review Panel (TPRP), which he helped author, will enable Canada to develop a more efficient and vibrant wireless industry.
During a keynote address at the Canadian Wireless Telecom Association’s “Work.Live.Play.” wireless conference held this week in Toronto, the Telecom Policy Review Panel’s main recommendations for reforming Canada’s Telecommunications Act – in light of 21st-century telecom market realities – were outlined by TPRP member Tremblay, who is the former president and CEO of Microcell Telecom. The TPRP Continue Reading
LOS ANGELES – The U.S. recording industry has brought a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against XM Satellite Radio in the States.
Numerous reports in the States followed up on the original in Billboard Radio Monitor which said the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brought the suit in response to XM’s Inno device, which is part satellite receiver, part digital recorder. The MP3 recording capabilities steps around copyright and is an unlicensed digital download service, says the recording industry,
"Here they go again," said Consumer Electronics Association vice-president of government affairs Michael Petricone. "The record industry is returning to the courts…
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OTTAWA – Striking while the reconsideration iron is hot, Canada’s incumbent telcos have asked the federal cabinet to refer another telecom decision back to the CRTC for a re-think.
As they said they would, Aliant, Telus, SaskTel and Bell Canada today launched their appeal of the Commission’s April 6th local forbearance decision, "and to do so in light of the recommendations of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, which filed its report in March.
The companies filed the petition on May 12th, a year to the day that the CRTC’s 2005 decision on VOIP came out – which…
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VANCOUVER – Independent cable companies Cable TV of Camrose (Alta.) and Pemberton Cable (B.C.) both recently launched local telephony in their communities.
Since launch, says Camrose’s operations manager Brian McNary in a press release, "we’ve seen many new customers come to us for VOIP services. We’ve bundled premium cable, high speed Internet and digital phone service into our new ‘triple play’ package, all for $99.95/month. They love it!”
Richard Hazell, general manager of Pemberton’s owner, Coast Mountain Communications, says cable companies like his are in a unique position to compete directly with the local ILEC. “We are already offering…
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QUEBEC – Genex Communications, owners of Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM, once considered a synonym for trash radio, has found a potentially profitable way out of its battle royal with the CRTC.
It has reached an agreement with Radio Nord Communications, a growing player in the Quebec radio and TV market, to sell the station for an undisclosed price.
The one obstacle in their path, however, is that the CRTC must give its approval to a licence transfer, and that’s by no means a sure thing.
As Genex President Patrice Demers acknowledged, CHOI has no operating licence. The CRTC…
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