TORONTO – This is the last chance to register for the CTAM panel ‘Sports Television: Will the Goose Stop Laying it’s Golden Eggs’ taking place on Tuesday, May 29 at the CBC building in Toronto.
Moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien, the lively discussion will feature John Levy, chairman and CEO of The Score; Jeffrey Orridge, executive director of sports properties for CBC; David Purdy, SVP of content for Rogers Communications, and Sean Riley, SVP of Fox Networks as they share their thoughts on whether the rights to live sports and league content will continue to drive the TV business or whether…
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RICHARD STURSBERG CAN be a polarizing figure. He knows he rubs some people the wrong way (and I think he kinda likes being the thorn in some sides).
You can read that personality throughout his recent book, Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC. He admits as much on many pages, calling himself “arrogant”, “insouciant” and “insubordinate” and reading through some of what he describes about his time at the Corp., it’s hard not to disagree with his self-assessment.
Stursberg was actually my first interview when I started covering the electronic media industry in…
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BOSTON – In its younger days, the cable industry moved, for the times, at a pretty good speed on the technical front. While operators in the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s concentrated on signing up subscribers, delivering clear signals, and then launching an ever-increasing number of new channels, they were heavily reliant on just a couple of big suppliers and their engineers for their most important network systems.
General Instrument (Jerrold before that and now known as Google-owned Motorola) and Scientific-Atlanta (now Cisco) were the two dominant players for ages. There were lots of other suppliers of many other things,…
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TORONTO – Rogers says that it will be business as usual next month if some 600 of its contracted telephone and television technicians in Ontario walk off the job as their union has threatened.
As Cartt.ca reported late last week, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) said that negotiations for a collective agreement with two of the four contractors who employ the technicians have stalled. A strike deadline has been set for June 15, 2012.
When contacted by Cartt.ca, a Rogers spokesperson stressed that the company is not involved in the labour negotiations, and that these technicians are…
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OTTAWA – Lower wireless infrastructure investments could be the result of Industry Canada’s proposals to adopt indefinite roaming and eliminating the difference between in-territory and out-of-territory roaming, warn some mobile carriers.
The cautionary notes come from Bell Canada, SaskTel and Telus Corp. in comments to the department’s consultation on changes to mandated roaming and tower site sharing. They urge Industry Canada to think hard before making these changes because they could have the unintended consequence of decreasing overall wireless network investment in both urban and rural areas across the country.
SaskTel is particularly concerned that if the…
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BOSTON – Five of North America’s leading cable technologists believe that the industry must continue accelerating the pace of change and innovation to keep up with rapidly shifting consumer trends, as well as moves by rival service providers.
Speaking at the Cable Show here Monday, top tech execs from Rogers Communications, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Mediacom Communications said cable operators must keep developing new video products and apps faster and faster to stay relevant in the emerging multi-screen world. They also believe cable providers must build out their new video platforms and ecosystems quickly to attract fresh…
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BOSTON – A large contingent of Canadian cable delegates who journeyed to Boston rose to lead a standing ovation for Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind as he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Monday night.
Lind and five others, Ann Rallis Carlsen, CEO of Carlsen Resources; legendary CNN broadcaster Larry King; BET Networks chair and CEO Debra Lee; Lenfest Group president and CEO Gerry Lenfest; and Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner of InterMedia Partners (but best known as the CEO who turned around TCI and the fortunes of U.S. cable in the late 1990s leading the so-called “Summer…
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BANFF – Some of the country’s most notable media leaders will share their perspectives on the key issues facing the Canadian media industry at next month’s Banff World Media Festival.
Shaw Media president Paul Robertson, Bell Media president Kevin Crull, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley, and CBC Executive vice-president Kirstine Stewart will participate in a panel discussion on topics such as the impact of further consolidation and vertical integration within the media industry, as well as how the Canadian content industry can become more globally relevant.
Delegates at the event will have the opportunity to submit questions via Twitter (@BanffMedia) or on…
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TORONTO – Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has kicked off a new television campaign to help promote its descriptive audio service AMI-audio.
AMI-audio is the world's largest broadcast reading service whereby volunteers read and record current articles from newspapers and magazines, which are then broadcast on TV and online.
The campaign's 30 second TV spot features a blind man walking into a variety store. He sets up the story of an attempted robbery and then clicks on a television set to reveal the AMI audio channel where the announcer completes the news story. It is airing nationally in English Canada on a…
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I DARE ANYONE TO disagree with this statement: “A child without access to the Internet will find life increasingly difficult in the information age.”
National Cable and Telecommunications Association president and CEO Michael Powell said it Monday morning during his keynote speech to delegates in the standing-room-only opening general session at the 2012 Cable Show here in Boston. He was singing the praises of the U.S. industry’s Connect to Compete initiative where all of the major American cable companies have teamed up with the Federal Communications Commission and a large number of other corporations to push…
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