OTTAWA–GATINEAU – With wireless service networks now accessible to 99% of the population, more and more Canadian households are dropping their landlines, according to the 2014 edition of the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report.
The report, released Thursday, provides an overview of the Canadian communication industry for the year ended August 31, 2013. This year, the CRTC is releasing the report in three parts. The first, about the country’s broadcasting sector, was released earlier this month, and the third part will be released in October with data on international comparisons, the National Do Not Call List and consumer spending on…
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BANFF – Three days of great weather, stunning scenery, clean mountain air and a ton of networking and learning made for another super CCSA CONNECT conference, where much of the talk surrounded the lengthy and somewhat contentious TV Policy Review hearing.
After CRTC vice-chairman broadcasting Tom Pentefountas opened the conference Monday morning with his speech (one which pretty much stayed away from the hearing), one of the conference’s sponsors AMC’s Lesley Fields, showed she’d been listening to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV hearing when she noted she felt nervous following Pentefountas saying: “I feel the need…
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TORONTO – Rogers and Shaw’s nascent subscription video-on-demand service shomi is adding some impressive new content to its library after finalizing agreements with FX, FXX, and Fox.
The deals include exclusive access to past seasons of FX and FXX originals, including Sons of Anarchy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, The Americans, Wilfred, American Horror Story and Louie. Come 2015, shomi customers will also gain access to past seasons of recently released dramas Tyrant and The Strain and comedies Married and You're The Worst.
Fox programming includes New Girl, Sleepy Hollow, Bob's Burgers, 24: Live Another Day, and Modern Family. Also available non-exclusively are episodes of Homeland, Glee, American Dad, and Family Guy.
"The titles offered on shomi are hand-picked by our team of…
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GATINEAU – Being exempted from regulation, CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in 2013, is still a form of regulation. So, one shouldn’t get the sense that just because Netflix on Monday refused the Commission’s order to provide data about its Canadian users, the chairman feels he has no arrows left in his quiver.
In May 2013, during the third day of the hearing analyzing Bell Media’s second attempt to acquire Astral Media, CRTC chairman Blais said this: “I never talk about regulated and unregulated. I always talk about licensed and unlicensed for the very fact that one couldn't have exempted…
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NEW YORK – PC Mag said that it has awarded a tie to Bell and Rogers for the title of fastest mobile network in Canada.
Its second annual test of Canadian wireless service, published Monday, the on-line magazine said that both companies “could really teach U.S. carriers how to build urban LTE networks”. With a focus on speed and reliability and its results weighted for population, the test found that Rogers' LTE network had blazing download speeds for large files, and Bell's network had superior upload speeds and often better webpage download times.
While noting that Telus appeared to have some…
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BANFF – It’s not easy being a small fish in an ocean filled with predators new and old – and with unpredictable tides – but the strong, well-organized school of independent CCSA members consistently show they have advantages which can allow them to survive and thrive.
That’s the message CRTC vice-chair broadcasting Tom Pentefountas carried with him this morning to open the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual Connect conference at the Banff Springs Hotel.
He recognized that the transitions being made by the large companies in the media, cable and telecom spaces are exceedingly difficult and have certainly not been easy…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Rogers and Bell are among the last wireless services companies that have yet to fully comply with the CRTC’s wireless code.
On Thursday, the Commission issued a report card assessing the implementation of the wireless code by the country’s 33 wireless services providers. That code, which turns one in December, was designed to make it easier for Canadians to understand their contracts for cellphones and other mobile devices, plus outline their basic rights.
Noting that verification of the code’s implementation is the first step in assessing compliance, the CRTC asked the wireless companies to submit reports…
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TORONTO – Tony Lacavera found the investors he needed.
Back in June, the chairman and CEO of Wind spent considerable time in public campaigning almost like a politician, singing the growing wireless company’s praises (including at the Canadian Telecom Summit, pictured), noting if he had some finances behind him and if the federal government made a few changes, he just might be able to make a go of being a fourth national wireless company after all.
Since then, Lacavera has been pounding the pavement in search of that capital and today the company…
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MARKHAM – Deals TV is now available to the more than 1.75 million homes served by Rogers Digital Cable on channels 201 and 299 in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, the new channel announced today.
Programming on the new 24/7 teleshopping channel will promote a variety of products, services and ideas to consumers in a wide range of retail sectors including finance, automotive, real estate and travel, according to the press release.
“We’re incredibly excited about the upcoming launch of DealsTV and the opportunity to provide viewers 24/7 access to high quality product and service information,” says Lawrie Yakabuski –…
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GATINEAU – Of all the interveners appearing so far at the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, the CBC’s might be the most contentious – and its executives endured a good grilling by the commissioners Friday morning on the fifth day of the Commission’s TV Policy Review.
The Crown Corp, which has had a rough past 24 months as most know, has come to the CRTC asking for a number of new things, but three aspects are drawing the most attention. It wants: to be able to shut off its transmitters and charge subscription TV providers a wholesale fee; for the Commission…
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