WINNIPEG, TORONTO, MONTREAL, CALGARY – As residents of Calgary and other communities in southern Alberta struggle to clean up in the wake of last week’s extreme flooding, several national and regional broadcasters and telecoms have donated resources to help residents and flood response efforts.
MTS Allstream today announced that it will be supporting disaster relief efforts with a $25,000 to the Canadian Red Cross. The national communications provider is also sending one of its Toronto-based employees, Ella West, to help lead the relief effort in the role of director of relief operations for the Red Cross.
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TORONTO – Rogers is celebrating Canada Day with a new one-hour television special that represents a cross-promotion of its Maclean’s magazine brand on its City television property.
Premiering July 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on City, Maclean’s Great Canadian Countdown brings content to the screen from the national weekly current affairs magazine’s annual Book of Lists, a special edition issue of Macleans currently on newsstands.
Hosted by Canadian funnyman Adam Korson (who stars in another original program commissioned by Rogers featured on City called Seed) the program features entertaining trivia about all things Canadian based…
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TORONTO – The realities of the wireless market in Canada and globally continue to tell most people that no matter what the federal government tries or what anyone says, chances are slim that a fourth viable wireless player in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario will find success.
Add BMO Capital Markets telecom, cable and media analyst Tim Casey to the chorus of those who believe the federal government has muddled and mishandled the wireless file and that there doesn’t seem to be a way forward to its stated political goals. Noting that Industry Minister Christian Paradis has been on record several…
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MONCTON, NB – Fido marked the launch of five kiosk locations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Friday with a special $100,000 donation to local SPCAs in the region through its FidoCares program.
Karen Hudson, executive director of the Moncton SPCA (left) and Heather Robinson, Fido’s communications manager, hold seven-year-old terrier mix named Squirt and two-year-old shepherd mix named Tundra. Fido made a $100,000 contribution to five SPCAs in the Maritime region as part of…
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TORONTO – RTDNA Canada, The Association of Electronic Journalists, announced on Saturday the winners of its national and network awards which recognize the very best in programming, stations and newsgathering organizations in radio, television and on digital platforms.
“As we enter our 51st year as an association I am thrilled with the exceptionally high standard of all the entries this year,” said RTDNA Canada president Ian Koenigsfest in a release. “The innovators and pioneers in the Canadian news profession who launched this association would be proud of the quality of electronic and digital journalism that continues…
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NETWORK EXPANSION NEWS
Launches this week:
Rogers-MTS agreement allows Rogers LTE Max expansion in Manitoba
TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced Thursday it will bring Rogers LTE Max to customers in Manitoba through a province-wide network sharing agreement with MTS Inc.
Starting Monday, Rogers will roll out LTE Max, an LTE network deployment that enables speeds of up to 150 Mbps, to customers in Winnipeg, Brandon, Victoria Beach, and Grand Beach. Rogers will continue to expand LTE Max coverage to additional markets in 2013, including Portage la Prairie, Selkirk, Steinbach, and Ste. Anne, with plans…
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite the launches of dozens of TV Everywhere offerings in recent years in the U.S. and Canada, few consumers appear to know about these offerings yet.
In the latest study conducted by Parks Associates, just 26% of U.S. consumers said they knew that their pay TV provider offered multi-screen video service. Although this figure is up from 18% a year earlier, almost three-quarters of consumers are still not aware that they can access video content on multiple devices.
Brett Sappington, director of research for Parks Associates, blamed the low consumer awareness mainly on a lack of marketing by…
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BANFF – Industry reps from the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Production Association presented highlights to attendees at the Banff World Media Festival being held this week on a new national promotion strategy and new branding to promote Canadian content.
CMF president and CEO Valerie Creighton, Telefilm Canada executive director Carolle Brabant, and CMPA president and CEO Michael Hennessy are part of a working group focussing on increasing awareness and interest in Canadian content and on developing partnerships with various industry leaders. The project, initially dubbed “Watch Canada,” evolved from a symposium…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications now has 100% ownership of specialty channel TVtropolis after the CRTC approved its application in a decision Tuesday to acquire Rogers’ 33% interest in the Category A service for a reported $59 million.
The acquisition of Rogers’ remaining interest in TVtropolis is part of a number of transactions between Shaw and Rogers announced in January. At that time Rogers said it would acquire Shaw’s cable system in Hamilton, Ont. and secure an option to purchase Shaw’s Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum holdings in 2014. Rogers said it would also enter into…
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TORONTO – Spectrum hoarders need to “use it, lose it, or pay” was the message from wireless broadband services providers who spoke Wednesday afternoon during the closing session of the 2013 Canadian Telecom Summit.
“Our challenge is there are people out there who hoard spectrum and don’t make it readily available for people who need it,” said Michael Stephens, vice-president of marketing for TeraGo Networks, a provider of business broadband and cellular backhaul services during the panel discussion about the next generation of wireless.
Stephens said TeraGo would like to see the enforcement of spectrum implementation. “As long as people are…
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