OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal ruled late yesterday that a Montreal man was indeed enabling the pirating copyrighted content by making TV shows from Rogers, Bell and Quebecor available online through a website dubbed TVAddons – and that the search and seizure of evidence done in 2016 was done lawfully.
A lower court judge had originally sided with TVAddons owner Adam Lackman, but yesterday’s decision overturns that.
The appellants (Bell, Rogers and Quebecor division TVA and Vidéotron) have established “a strong prima facie case of copyright infringement for the purposes of the Anton Piller order sought, and the Judge’s…
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Phase one of “Total Business Transformation” had targeted just 650
CALGARY – Over the next 18 months, fully 25% of Shaw Communications’ current workforce will leave. Company president Jay Mehr says that’s a good thing.
Last month the company offered 6,500 employees the chance to move on with their careers outside of Shaw, enticing them to think hard about their futures with one of the most generous severance packages we’ve ever heard of – six months of full pay plus one month of pay for every year worked at Shaw. These are the types of buyouts companies normally save for executives.
When…
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THE HEADLINE WAS a typical one: “Thousands slam Bell coalition’s website blocking proposal,” said the Globe and Mail two weeks ago.
That number (4,700-plus comments from Canadians to the CRTC over the Part I proceeding begun thanks to the FairPlay Canada coalition proposal), should not matter. At all. It will of course, especially to skittish politicians, but it shouldn’t. A large count of submissions to the CRTC on this or any topic shows people are engaged, which is a good thing, but that doesn’t make them correct.
It’s the subject and the substance the arguments which are…
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Towards a Canadian strategy
OVER THE LAST two weeks, I’ve argued the Canadian strategy of supporting, and indeed actively pushing for, the vertical integration of our broadcasting system was a mistake, suggesting the vertically integrated companies – namely Bell, Shaw, Rogers and Quebecor – had not and will not become international distributors of content as it was presumed.
(Click here for part one and here for part two)
A reader pointed out it’s always easier to take the position of a critic – particularly in hindsight – so let’s look at the changes which…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC this week told consumer group Public interest Advocacy Centre that there are already ample ways for customers to lodge complaints over what they feel are unfair telco sales practices and that no new public hearing is needed.
After some 2017 CBC.ca stories levelled accusations of potentially unfair, high-pressure sales tactics against Bell Canada (the CBC in January then did a similar story about Rogers Communications), PIAC last month called on the CRTC to launch a formal inquiry into the matter.
Both Bell and Rogers have vehemently denied the claims which were made by…
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TORONTO – Longtime Toronto Blue Jays radio broadcaster Jerry Howarth is calling it a career after 36 years, Sportsnet announced Tuesday.
Citing health issues that have affected his voice in recent years, Howarth’s personal decision to retire takes effect immediately.
“I had every intention of continuing my career into the 2018 season but my health and stamina and continuing voice issues dictated otherwise,” he said in a statement. “Who knew that I would spend more than half my life in Toronto with my wife, Mary, and our two sons, Ben and Joe, doing what I love to do most, reaching out…
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TORONTO – Bell Media and Rogers Media-owned Dome Productions has been awarded the contract to provide host broadcaster services for June's Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec.
With operations based in Montreal, Toronto, Oakville, Ottawa, and Calgary, Dome Productions has provided G7 host broadcast services since 1995, producing the first high definition pictures of the leaders of the G8 Muskoka and G20 Toronto in 2010. Most recently, the company was the host broadcaster of the Invictus 2017 Toronto Games.
“With a focus on innovation, flexibility, and adaptability, we’re thrilled that Dome Productions has been selected to host broadcast services…
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The big four have not become the content exporters they were supposed to
LAST WEEK, I RESPONDED to a Scotiabank report which said the success of Netflix in gaining subscribers, along with Google and Facebook’s dominance of the Canadian advertising market, meant a merger of Bell and Corus was a logical market response to ensure we remain competitive.
I question the strategy of further vertical integration in light of its obvious failure. My core argument is VI has failed because it did not properly take into account the competitive advantages of the vertically integrated companies. As their…
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OTTAWA – Conversations around 5G in Canada may still be at nascent stages, but network providers and wireless operators told a Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association event in Ottawa on Wednesday that it’s coming faster than you think.
Several speakers throughout the day at the 5G Canada Council show (organized by the CWTA) noted that network rollouts are already happening and that by the first half of 2019 smartphones and tablets will be able to access 5G networks in certain bands.
Jaco du Plooy, chief technology officer at Ericsson Canada, explained that there will be 5G devices operating in a number…
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LONDON, UK – Led by Telus, Canada now boasts some of the fastest LTE speeds in the world, says OpenSignal in its latest State of Mobile Networks: Canada report released Wednesday.
The wireless mapping coverage company examined over 405 million measurements collected from 20,474 mobile test devices between October 1 and December 30, 2017.
“In our 4G speed tests, Telus not only established a commanding lead over its competitors, it demonstrated some truly remarkable results”, reads the report. “Our average 4G download for Telus was 44.5 Mbps, which is among the fastest individual operator results we've measured on a nationwide…
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