REGINA – Provincial Crown Corporation SaskTel this week reported 2005 net income of $64.4 million, about $30 million less than 2004.
Overall operating revenues were $982 million and the profit hit came due to shortfalls at subsidiary Navigata Communications and a $23 million charge due to an early retirement program. SaskTel also announced that Navigata will be integrated into SaskTel to address the rapid changes in the competitive communications market and to more cost effectively serve its customers.
Navigata, SaskTel’s operations unit outside the province of Saskatchewan, has lost money since it was purchased in 2001.
“Despite operating in an…
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TORONTO – Committed to showcasing Canadian stories and fostering homegrown talent, Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund marked its 20th anniversary Tuesday.
Over its two decades, the fund has contributed over $39 million to the development and production of more than 2,000 Canadian English-language film and television projects.
Astral Media was the first Canadian broadcaster to establish a national, non-profit private fund to support the development of film and made-for-pay-television productions in 1986. With Astral Media’s creation of Le Fonds Harold Greenberg in 1996, an equivalent French Language Program which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this September, The…
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WHAT IS EVERYONE TALKING about at the National Show in Atlanta?
Same thing as last year, switched digital video, only now, it’s being deployed. A number of U.S. systems have begun rolling it out and Canadian companies – led by Rogers – are looking towards 2007 for its rollout.
So, if switched digital is in deployment mode, it loses its status as the next big thing. So what is the next big thing? Channel bonding developments sure seem to be
In the meantime, here are a few things we saw on the floor of the show: It’s…
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WHERE DO YOU START when talking about someone who has more years in the business than I have on this earth? Simple. Quit yammering and let the man talk. What follows is an edited transcript of a conversation between Cartt.ca’s editor and publisher Greg O’Brien and CHUM’s vice-president, industry affairs and digital radio operations, Duff Roman (right), to mark his entry into his sixth decade in broadcasting.
Greg O’Brien: Let’s talk about your 50 years in broadcast.
Duff Roman: Most of the time it doesn’t feel like 50 years.
GOB: What does it feel like then?…
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TORONTO – Covering all segments of the Canadian telecommunications and IT industry, The Canadian Telecom Summit brings together the leaders of all industry sectors – service providers, manufacturers, applications providers, policy makers and regulators.
With two major pronouncements from different government bodies regarding the state of competitiveness of Canada’s telecommunications industry – the Telecom Policy Report and the CRTC’s local forbearance decision, which in some clauses appear to contradict each other – it will be very interesting to see how the new Minister of Industry, Maxime Bernier, juggles the interests of all industry players, consumers and the business sector.
He…
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TORONTO – Telus announced today it has purchased Assurent Secure Technologies for an undisclosed purchase price.
Assurent is a Toronto-based provider of information technology security services and products.
Assurent’s 55 employees will become a part of Telus Business Resiliency Services, a part of the Telus Business Solutions business unit. This acquisition is consistent with Telus’ approach to make "tuck-under" acquisitions which augment capabilities related to the strategic growth areas of data, wireless and IP, says today’s press release.
"Information security is an increasingly critical issue for all businesses," said Joe Natale, president, Telus Business Solutions. "Security threats continue to proliferate…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – A local market won’t be considered competitive until one-quarter of the households in it get their home phone from a newcomer, the CRTC said Thursday.
The 44,000-word decision made the newcomers like cable and third party VOIP providers very happy but angered the incumbent telcos, who erupted with anger and say they won’t stand for the decision.
“Aliant fully intends to appeal this decision,” said Heather Tulk, vice-president of residential markets at Aliant, the company whose application for deregulation launched the review.
There are three main aspects to the decision. 1) Competitors must gain 25% market…
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I FIND CARTT.CA AN EXCELLENT source of timely information about the exciting communications industry in Canada and occasionally we subscribers are treated to one of your humorous diversions, or at least that is what Thursday’s Commentary seems to be. It focuses on what can only be described as the old saying “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” Global style.
Last November I learned through your service that the CEO of Global, Mr. Leonard Asper announced, among other things, that “There is a battle coming.” He was also quoted as saying “We know the Commission has some sympathy…
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OTTAWA – Governor-General Michaelle Jean mentioned the Environmental Protection Act, the Federal Accountability Act, the Canada Health Act, the Bank Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Despite much recent rumblings and grumblings on the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act, the short Federal Government Throne Speech on Tuesday didn’t mention either one – or even allude to the industry at all.
For ACTRA, the performers union, this was too much to bear. "We were pleased to hear in the throne speech acknowledgement of the importance of creative expression in a democratic society, but we were hoping that the government would signal…
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SHOULD BROADCASTERS RECEIVE a wholesale fee for their signals from BDUs?
That will be one of the key questions for the industry and the Commission to answer in the coming months because while the CRTC’s radio review is well under way – with public hearings in May – we can likely expect a TV policy review to begin late this year with hearings in 2007, sources told www.cartt.ca this week.
The desire by broadcasters to be paid a fee for carriage, or for retransmission, is about as old as the cable industry itself. In the 1950s, broadcasters called nascent…
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