TORONTO – Bell Canada today announced that it’s been selected by a major group of suppliers and retailers called the Supply Chain Network Project (SCN) to deploy Canada’s first end-to-end EPC/RFID (Electronic Product Code/Radio Frequency Identification) pilot.
The pilot will involve up to four suppliers, one warehouse and one STAPLES Business Depot location, and will encompass pallet, case and item level tagging using the EPCO Gen2 standard. (EPCO is the approved global product code standard to support RFID. Gen2 is the newest standard for RFID tagging.)
With this RFID enabled supply chain, the consortium of retailers and suppliers will…
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OTTAWA – Not every intervention filed with the CRTC over the four new pay TV license applicants were negative. Many were overwhelmingly supportive.
As reported previously, four groups are vying for new must-carry pay TV licenses from the Commission and will face a hearing on October 24th.
The applicants are: Spotlight TV, a bid led by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger (backed by Insight Media and now Bell ExpressVu); One from Allarco (backed by the Allard family, the former owners of WIC Broadcasting); another from a division of Quebecor Media for BOOM TV, and a unique…
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OTTAWA – The cable industry saw solid signs of an end to the erosion of its traditional customer base in 2004.
The number of cable television subscribers 7.6 million at the end of August 2004, up 0.4% from a year earlier. “This modest increase followed four consecutive years of decline during which the industry lost a total of 442,000 multi-channel video services customers," says a report on the industry issued today by Statistics Canada.
Despite the turnaround, the overall market share of cable operators continued to decline last year as the two DTH companies continued to sign up new customers,…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian cultural and broadcasting communities say that the new wireless video services now in the market from Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility and Telus are certainly a form of broadcasting and as such, should be subject to regulation under the Broadcasting Act.
Phase I and II comments were filed recently with the CRTC by all parties and while the wireless providers insist that the service falls under the CRTC’s 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, its members, and cultural groups like SOCAN, CIRPA and even the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union all say…
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IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE THE CRTC undertaking a review of the radio industry at this particular point in time.
So much technological change. So much undecided. Such an unsettled market. And really, so much still working really well, too. Do a search on www.cartt.ca for the major Canadian radio companies and you’ll mostly find a story of an industry awash in strong revenues and profits.
But, the CRTC is on record saying it wants to review Canadian radio policy beginning this fall. It’s even been suggested that Canadian content levels should rise from the current 35% to 40% with…
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MONTREAL – Toronto will host the first-ever Children, Youth & Media Conference on November 10th.
Organized by the Alliance for Children and Television (ACT), the conference is the only one of its kind to bring together Canada’s creators, producers and broadcasters of youth programming. Modeled after Média-Jeunes, a highly coveted gathering the ACT has held in Montreal on four occasions, this new event is devoted to exchange, training and professional development.
Over 200 attendees, including a number of well-known specialists, will explore programming trends and share their views on the needs and interests of young people through workshops, discussions…
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THE MUSIC INDUSTRY CLAIMS to have lost millions of dollars in revenues over the past few years due to peer-to-peer trading of songs over the Internet.
Now, television and movie producers are concerned that their industries could also be hit hard through online file-sharing of shows and movies through such software programs as BitTorrent and Videora. Just who is doing this downloading and why?
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IAN IS A 17-YEAR-OLD TORONTO high-school student who has been fixing computers since he was 12 and is acknowledged by his family and friends to be a technological whiz kid.
He spends four to…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has asked the CRTC to defer its planned review of the Canadian radio sector for at least 24 months.
The CAB is of the view that current radio policy is working well enough for now and the Commission should wait and analyze the impact of the new subscription radio services about to hit the market before embarking on a re-do of Canadian radio policy.
The Canadian broadcast industry has been waiting for a CRTC public notice announcing the much-delayed review and is now hoping it can be put off further.
“It is…
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SAINT JOHN – For $20 a month, Aliant customers can now talk as long as they like to wherever they like on their wireless phones, as long as the call is within Atlantic Canada.
Today, the eastern telco introduced the region’s first unlimited, long-distance calling on a cell phone for $20 per month as part of an Aliant Value Package. The calls have to be made and received in Aliant’s New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador territory.
"Unlimited long distance on a cell phone is an industry first. This option provides additional savings and convenience for…
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TORONTO – Chris Frank has been promoted to vice-president, programming for Bell Canada’s Video Group.
He had been senior director of regulatory and governmental affairs and took over the programming job on September 19th, he told www.cartt.ca. Based in Ottawa for the regulatory role, Frank will soon be moving to Toronto.
He replaces Alison Green, who was let go in August, as reported by www.cartt.ca.
The programming role is one Frank knows well as he held both the regulatory and programming titles for Bell ExpressVu until about three years ago, when he made regulation his full time gig….
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