IT’S BEEN A NUMBER OF months since we last tried to publicly discomfit the Canadian Internet service provider industry over its lack of action on delivering a cohesive, national, inexpensive broadband program to low income urban Canadians.
As we’ve noted, it’s happening south of the border. A program (the creation of private industry done at the urging of the Federal Communications Commission and with zero government money) called Connect 2 Compete allows qualifying low income families to get access to broadband for $9.95 a month as well as to low cost computers and tech support.
In the…
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TORONTO – Travel+Escape HD is available in approximately 1.1 million homes across Canada after launching on Rogers, Cogeco, Telus and EastLink on Tuesday.
Owned by GlassBox Television, the travel and adventure themed channel is available on free preview for the next three months. Viewers will be able to watch programs such as Lonely Planet’s Roads Less Travelled as well as Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover, Fishing Adventurer and Cottage Life, in addition to new commissioned series Destination Fear and Scam City.
“Travel+Escape HD fulfills our commitment to giving our viewers the ultimate entertainment experience,” said programming EVP Vanessa Case, in the announcement. “Being able to watch our quality travel and…
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KENTVILLE, NS – Rogers has signed a $1.2 million agreement with the Valley Community Fibre Network (VCFN) to bring its 4G HSPA+ service to customers in the Maritimes.
Built in 2008, the VCFN is managed by Halifax-based telecommunications company Internetworking Atlantic Inc. The 175-km fibre optic network is jointly owned by the towns of Berwick, Hantsport, Windsor, and Wolfville, the Municipality of the County of Kings, the Municipality of the District of West Hants, Acadia University, and the Nova Scotia Community College, and serves users from the educational, health, research, and business sectors.
According to Monday's announcement, the VCFN agreement is part…
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GATINEAU – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) and Rogers Communications have told the CRTC that they are prepared to accept an extension of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) as long as the program is only available to independent broadcasters.
In addition to excluding the vertically integrated companies and CBC/Radio-Canada, (which has campaigned hard to keep it) the CCSA said that LPIF monies should only be made available for new, incremental local programming. Despite this slight change of heart, the small BDUs would prefer a complete and immediate elimination of the fund.
According to Access Communications,…
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TORONTO – There is no shortage of people who believe, thanks to our exploding new media world, that: “Television is dead”, or some variation of that theme.
At the TV Bureau of Canada’s TV Day, held Thursday at the Carlu in Toronto, broadcasters, agencies and media buyers were given ample reasons to believe that not only is TV not dead, it has never been stronger. Of course, one would expect the TV Bureau and all the broadcasters to scream that from the rooftops because that’s their business, however, the numbers and the work being done, seem to back the notion…
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Perry Hoffman
GATINEAU – Telcos Telus and MTS Allstream are urging the CRTC to remove vertically integrated broadcasters/distributors from eligibility under the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF).
While Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor all want the LPIF program eliminated, Bell Media Inc. is neither for or against continuing the program. However, each have local stations who are collectively getting millions from the LPIF fund.
Ann Mainville-Neeson, director of broadcast regulation at Telus, noted during her opening remarks, that of the large vertically integrated providers, only Bell is clinging to LPIF despite the fact that it could save more than $1 million if the…
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OTTAWA – This Sunday’s Earth Day 2012 is the perfect opportunity for Canadians to give their old cell phones the send-off they deserve, and ensure they don’t end up in landfills, via Canada’s free cell phone recycling program.
Run by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) in conjunction with cell phone carriers and handset manufacturers, ‘Recycle My Cell’ makes it easy for Canadians to find out how and where to safely and responsibly dispose of their used cell phones, smart phones, pagers, wireless air cards, batteries, chargers, headsets and other accessories. Additionally, a donation to participating charities is made for…
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OTTAWA – Lawyers for the broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) told the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday that the CRTC’s regulations can’t trump retransmission provisions within the Copyright Act.
Jay Kerr-Wilson, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP who was representing Rogers Communications, said the CRTC stepped into copyright law when it established its value-for-signal (VFS) regime (also known as fee-for-carriage) and argued that the CRTC doesn’t have the authority to set new copyright, since only Parliament has that right.
“The CRTC cannot have the jurisdiction to do what it proposed since its proposed scheme creates a new copyright in television…
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GATINEAU – Bell Canada is now prepared to allow the Canadian Broadcast Corp. to receive money from the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) as long as the pubcaster is the sole provider of local TV services in a particular small market.
The media and communications giant had argued in comments that since the CBC receives approximately $1 billion from the federal government it shouldn’t qualify for funds from LPIF. But during opening remarks, Mirko Bibic, executive VP and chief legal and regulatory officer at BCE, said private local TV remains in a difficult financial situation and could see station closures,…
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LAS VEGAS – Through Dejero’s portable LIVE+ solutions broadcasters can now instantly transmit broadcast-quality live video through cellular networks without the cost or complexity of satellite/microwave trucks or the effort of implementing dedicated towers.
With this software developed by the Waterloo-based company (its CTO Bogdan Frusina was one of the first 100 original RIM employees), the company is gaining notoriety among most broadcasters on the NAB show floor, with its products featured at the Panasonic and Harris booths, thanks to partnerships with both.
Three of Canada’s large broadcasters, Bell Media, CBC and Rogers, have all deployed Dejero, which gives its newsgathering…
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