OTTAWA – Late Thursday, Bell Canada applied to the Federal Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the CRTC’s recently announced Wholesale Code of conduct which it established for the TV industry as part of its Let’s Talk TV policy review process.
The Commission released the Code September 24th.
The CRTC has overstepped its jurisdiction with this Code, says the Bell application to the court. “The purpose of the Wholesale Code is to govern the commercial relationships between Programming and Distribution Undertakings. In doing so, the Wholesale Code conflicts with the Copyright Act and exceeds the CRTC’s…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications saw fourth quarter profits jump by nearly 44% thanks in part to the sales of wireless spectrum to Rogers earlier this year.
For the three month period ended August 31, 2015, Shaw said that net income was $276 million, while consolidated revenues grew 6.3% to $1.34 billion year-over-year, primarily attributable to the operations of ViaWest, organic customer growth in Business Network Services as well as Consumer division rate increases introduced earlier this year.
Total operating income before restructuring costs and amortization for the quarter of $573 million improved 9.1% primarily due to the acquisition of ViaWest and…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications credited the Toronto Blue Jays’ winning ways for helping to drive up third quarter profits by 40%.
Rogers said Thursday that operating revenue for the period ended September 30, 2015 totalled $3.38 billion, up 4% from $3.25 billion year-over-year, while net income was $464 million, up from $332 million. On an adjusted basis, net income rose 17% from $405 million in the third quarter of 2014 to $472 million.
Consolidated revenue increased 4% this quarter, reflecting revenue growth of 5% in Wireless, 1% in Cable, and 8% in Media. Wireless revenue increased on greater smartphone sales and…
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NEW ORLEANS – The cable industry's long-awaited transition to all-IP video world is finally becoming a solid reality after years of brave talk.
At the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show in New Orleans last week, Comcast CTO and EVP Tony Werner said North America's largest MSO has firmly put its stake in the IP video future. Speaking in the show's opening general session, Werner boasted Comcast will have all of its linear and VOD services available over IP by the end of the next March.
In fact, Werner revealed that 95% of Comcast's vast U.S. cable footprint already has all of its…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada has been awarded the Canadian broadcast rights for the the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the 2024 Olympic Games, making it the official broadcaster for the next five Olympic Games including Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, and Tokyo 2020.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As lead broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada said it will be working once again with its primary Olympic broadcast partner Bell Media along with Rogers Media.
CBC/Radio-Canada will also be a broadcast partner, from 2016 until at least 2023, for the International Olympic Committee’s new global digital Olympic Channel. The public broadcaster will provide…
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WHEN JUSTIN TRUDEAU is sworn in as Prime Minister his Liberal party will face a number of key telecommunications issues in the next 12 months.
These include meeting the challenge of an increasingly digital world, innovation, privacy regulations, wireless competition, dealing with the rural-urban broadband divide and increasing access to our digital future with poor Canadians.
One of the most obvious problems with trying to read how the new government might deal with these issues is that telecom and broadcast policies didn't figure largely in the leaders' debates or their major speeches.
Still, the Liberal platform makes a few promises:
Repeal of "problematic…
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GATINEAU – New digital media offerings certainly have problems fitting into the various interpretations of the well-worn Acts and Regulations which the CRTC must attempt to apply to emerging new services and their packaging plans.
The latest target is Videotron’s Unlimited Music service. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s complaint about the service which launched in August by the Quebecor-owned cable and wireless company has found a number of supporters. Rogers Communications is standing alongside its media arm and other radio broadcasters in calling the streaming music service anti-competitive.
Rogers and its allies argue…
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NEW ORLEANS – With the Gigabit Era clearly upon us, cable operators are now fervently searching for the best way to enter that era and the best next-gen technologies to make that entry successful.
This search was very much in evidence at last week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show in New Orleans. Over the course of three days, teams of MSO technologists marched from booth to booth on the exhibit floor, hoping to uncover the right mix of equipment and software that would enable them to introduce gigabit speeds sooner rather than later (here in Canada, Rogers and Eastlink – not…
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CANNES – You know those many reports of the death of Canadian TV you've been hearing about? Ignore them. Canadian TV is alive and well, as evidenced by last week's Canuck contingent in Cannes for the annual MIPCOM TV bazaar.
The dark clouds that hang over Canadian TV were nowhere to be seen on the Rue de Croisette, next to the beach in Cannes, where radiant sunshine reigned after deadly flooding that had turned roads into rivers on the eve of the world's largest TV market.
Canadian heavy-hitters were among the thousands of buyers and sellers streaming to and from the…
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OTTAWA – The Recycle My Cell Student Challenge is back for a sixth year, so c’mon kids and gather up those old mobile devices.
As the national sponsor of the 2015 Waste Reduction Week in Canada, Recycle My Cell will kick off the Student Challenge on October 19. The Challenge, running until November 18, strives to keep old wireless devices out of landfills, and aims to engage young Canadians in raising awareness about e-waste management.
The school in each province and territory that collects the most cell phones (based on school population) will be awarded $500 to be used towards a school…
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