GATINEAU – Back in August, when the CRTC and researcher Ipsos launched a survey on what Canadians think of the sales practices of Canadian telecom companies, much private (and some public) hue and cry arose from the carriers across the country.
The tight timeline for Ipsos to finish the survey and the weak overall structure and wording of the questions could only lead to negative answers, they said. They were right. The results came back substantially negative, but does that mean they have a point? Does the survey’s supposedly skewed queries mean the results should be tossed out?
Consumers and consumer…
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ATLANTA – It's safe to say U.S. cable tech executives don’t seem to be overly impressed with the oft-promoted prospects of the forthcoming 5G wireless technology.
Speaking at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show here earlier this week, three top cable industry officials downplayed 5G's supposed promise, dismissing the rival wireless technology as largely full of hype. The three executives – NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell, CableLabs president and CEO Phil McKinney and Cox Communications CTO Kevin Hart – also (unsurprisingly) pronounced 5G to be far inferior to cable's emerging Full Duplex DOCSIS standard, which is the latest in…
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GATINEAU – "I'm doing this for everyone."
So said Tony Wacheski to Cartt.ca as he headed into the hearing room for his individual presentation to the CRTC on day one of its hearing into telecom sales practices. He was one of several individual Canadians to face the Commission either in person, on the phone or Skype on Monday, including Ryan Adams, pictured at right.
(You, too, can be part of the public record, at least via Twitter, if you hashtag your tweets #CRTCforum)
We happened to sit down with him at lunch as he tapped on his tablet to fine-tune his…
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BURLINGTON, ON – Hamilton-area community television channel Cable 14 has completed its upgrade to the DreamCatcher (DC-ONE) replay system and live production suite offered by Evertz Technologies.
DC-ONE provides the advanced production tools needed for any demanding live production, including zooming, splitscreens, ganged inputs and transcoding in a streamlined, easy to use platform that is fully upgradable, reads the news release.
Noting that its replay system operators come from a variety of backgrounds, including college and high-school interns, Cable 14 said that the DC-ONE platform’s intuitive interface enabled operators to rapidly adapt to live production workflows. In addition, DC-ONE’s feature…
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Telecom Act takes precedence when it comes to rights of way, siting, etc.
CALGARY – The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta told the city of Calgary in no uncertain terms that it has no right to regulate where, when, why and how telecom infrastructure can be installed in the city.
In January Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Telus Corp. filed a motion to strike down a bylaw passed by the city to regulate the process for, access and use of municipal rights of way for telecommunications providers.
In a decision released Friday, the court agreed with the four large…
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TORONTO – Led by gains in its wireless and cable division, Rogers Communications saw third quarter profits jump 17%, the company said Friday.
Rogers posted net income of $594 million for the three months ended September 30, up from $508 million in the same period a year ago. The Toronto-based company said that net income and adjusted net income increased this quarter by 17% and 13%, respectively, as a result of higher adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by the higher associated income tax expense and higher depreciation and amortization.
Total revenue increased 3% to $3.77 billion this quarter, largely driven by Wireless…
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Ontario launch set for this year, national rollout by 2020
TORONTO – Rogers is launching a national LTE-M (Long Term Evolution for Machines) to help businesses connect and track their assets in real time.
A new network technology designed to support IoT devices, LTE-M provides wireless network connectivity to devices like sensors and monitors that don’t require a lot of bandwidth, allowing them to carry information over long distances, with longer battery life and better network coverage in hard to reach areas. The technology can also power consumer IoT applications such as wearables, monitoring and tracking solutions.
The national rollout of LTE-M…
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TORONTO – Iristel has taken its fight with Telus to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice claiming Telus has breached its wholesale contract and is seeking damages of $135 million.
In the statement of claim filed October 2nd, Iristel and ICE Wireless claim Telus has been not living up to its end of their contract by failing to connect calls to ICE Wireless customers or pay its bill to Iristel. In the filing Iristel says it is owed over $156,000 by Telus, but is claiming damages far higher to that because it is undermining Iristel’s standing in the telecom business…
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TORONTO – A number of Canada’s commercial television broadcasters are banding together to end a practice known as gross-net invoicing by the end of next year.
Instead, they will implement net billing in an effort to improve TV trading, says an announcement by marketing and research association thinktv.
thinktv president and CEO Catherine MacLeod said that its member companies, which include Bell Media, CBC/Radio-Canada, IndieNet, Corus Entertainment, Quebecor Media Group, and Rogers Media, were fully aligned on the initiative, adding that “thinktv works to help advertisers and agencies get the best out of television on all its platforms – and…
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OTTAWA – Despite having more than 100 film and television credits to his name, in addition to stage appearances across North America, ACTRA president David Sparrow knows the struggles of an artist’s life all too well.
“That comparatively successful career does not necessarily make me a household name, or financially stable. This is a tough business,” Sparrow said Tuesday morning to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which gathered again in Ottawa to further discuss remuneration models for Canadian artists in the Canadian Copyright Act. Among those presenting were representatives from the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists…
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