ENGLEWOOD, Colo – Former Bell ExpressVu and Bell Mobility chief Michael Neuman today was named president and chief operating officer of EchoStar Communications.
Neuman was president of Bell Mobility until earlier this year when he was forced out after the wireless unit endured a series of billing blunders which saw customers either over-billed or un-billed, among other issues.
Neuman fills a post with EchoStar that had been vacant for more than a year. Prior to his stint with Bell Mobility, he served as president of Bell ExpressVu, WorldLinx Telecommunications and Cerberus Canada.
As president of ExpressVu, Neuman had an…
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TORONTO – The subscription radio decision should have said something about signal security, and it didn’t do enough for Cancon, says the Canadian recording industry.
Calling the CRTC decision on subscription radio “short-sighted” the Canadian Recording Industry Association said in a press release, “Canada’s broadcast regulator failed to recognize the opportunity to hold the line on music piracy – threatening emerging online music businesses – and undervalued Canadian musical talent,” in the pay radio decision.
“CRIA’s members invest in excess of $50 million annually in the careers of Canadian artists and in the creation, production and distribution of their music,”…
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SAN ANTONIO – There were no official numbers at press time but boy, it sure seems real crowded here at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo – a good thing for the vendors, who filled every open space this year.
Here’s a bit of what www.cartt.ca heard and saw today. ************** This morning’s CTO session was interesting on a number of levels. The panelists were Tony Werner, senior vice-president and CTO Liberty Media, (and also a former Rogers CTO), Mike Hayashi, senior v-p advance engineering and subscriber technology at Time Warner Cable, Paul Woidke, vice-president technology for Comcast Spotlight, and…
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SAN ANTONIO – Can broadcasters pay heed to what a cable guy has to say about advertising?
Why not, given the cable guy, Paul Woidke, v-p technology for Comcast Spotlight, Comcast Cable’s cable ad sales group, which earned US$1.2 billion in ad revenue in 2004, selling local ad avail time to clients who buy time on the likes of CNN, A&E, ESPN and The Golf Channel, among others.
He oversees the technology running the ad insertion portion of the business and has intimate, first-hand knowledge of how the American advertising business is changing. When there’s new digital ad technology…
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OTTAWA – The future of one of three subscription radio services licensed Thursday by the CRTC is up in the air as the applicant considers whether it’s worth competing against the others when it feels the conditions of licence are unfair.
CHUM, with minority partner Astral, proposed to launch a terrestrial pay radio service in major Canadian cities with 50 homegrown channels. But the commission is requiring the two satellite services, SIRIUS Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio Inc. (CSR), to launch with a minimum of eight Canadian channels, with a ratio of at least one Canadian channel to every…
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OTTAWA – Radio-Canada TV president Daniel Gourd has announced he will retire when he=is contract is up this November.
"When Daniel Gourd accepted the position of executive vice-president of Télévision de Radio-Canada, he indicated to me that it was unlikely he would be seeking a second term," said CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch. "Although I was expecting this, it is still a major loss to the organization. Daniel is a visionary leader and staunch defender of the role of public television.
“The impact he has had since being promoted to executive vice-president nearly three years ago is nothing…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has licensed all three applications for pay radio services in Canada, opening the industry to unprecedented competition and consumer choice.
However, the services will be heavily regulated, unlike their progenitors in the United States. The commission imposed what could be seen as onerous Cancon requirements on the two satellite services: SIRIUS Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio Inc. (CSR). The terrestrial-based service owned by CHUM and Astral Inc. was approved as filed and will have to follow existing regulations for conventional radio (such as having at least 35% Cancon for popular music).
The Commission is requiring CSR and…
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TORONTO – Like the rest of the industry, more than 20,000 Canadian artists, represented by Indie Pool, are anxiously awaiting Thursday’s CRTC decision on bringing satellite radio to Canada.
Independent artists from across the country have long supported the satellite radio applicants’ bid as an opportunity to champion and promote Canadian artists both at home and abroad,” says the organization in a release.
“We have been waiting for this decision for a very long time," said Gregg Terrence, president of Indie Pool, which represents more than 20,000 independent artists across Canada. "Satellite radio technology has the potential to finally…
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BANFF – Critically-acclaimed television director Jeremy Podeswa was honoured last night with the 2005 CTV Fellowship Prize at the Banff World Television Festival.
This award is presented to a CTV Fellowship alumnus whose professional achievements exemplify the goals of the Fellowship program.
"The CTV Fellowship was an important encouragement to me at a key point in my development as a director, writer and producer," said Podeswa. "It provided a very generous welcome into the world of Canadian television and gave me an opportunity to meet and connect with many important figures in the industry."
"The year, the CTV Fellowship…
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TORONTO – So what’s it like going from one side to another, is what people often want to know from Janet Yale.
She spent four years as president and CEO of the CCTA (Canadian Cable Television Association ) before bolting to Telus in late summer 2003 and is now executive vice-president, corporate affairs. Yale (right) tries not to see her move from one side to another, and draws similarities between cable and telecom.
However, while each are facilities-based providers, cable and telecom are clearly at each others’ throats right…
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