TORONTO – A 13.5% increase in self-paying subscribers contributed to XM Canada’s “sound” financial performance for fiscal 2010.
Self-paying subscribers totaled 432,200 as of August 31, 2010, up from 380,900 in the same period last year.
Average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber (ARPU) was $11.28 and $11.74 for the fourth quarters of 2010 and 2009, respectively, and $11.21 and $11.88 for fiscal 2010 and 2009, respectively. The company said that ARPU declined in the fourth quarter of 2010 and in fiscal 2010 due primarily to an increase in automotive self-paying subscribers which have a lower ARPU, an increase in subscribers committing…
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OTTAWA – Perhaps too much was expected of Industry Minister Tony Clement’s speech at the International Institute of Communications Canadian chapter conference on Monday.
Post-speech, we were asked by our tablemates for an initial headline. Our first response? “Meh”.
To be fair, there are a range of complex items on the minister’s plate that reaches into the telecom, content and digital industry, from new copyright bill C-32, to foreign ownership, to spectrum concerns, to rural broadband to the digital economy strategy launched in May that will touch every industry when it is released this spring.
The hope heading into his Monday…
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OTTAWA – Calling the wireless contracts from Rogers, Bell and Telus “anti-consumer”, Mobilicity has launched a national push for new laws that would make some of the contract terms offered by wireless carriers illegal.
Such a law already limiting wireless contracts exists in Quebec (although it’s really a larger consumer protection law that doesn’t target cell phones) and a private members’ bill on the same topic is now before the Ontario legislature.
In letters to Industry Minister Tony Clement as well as to the B.C., Alberta and Ontario provincial governments – the other provinces where Mobilicity has spectrum (consumer…
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OTTAWA – After a two month investigation, the Competition Bureau announced today it has begun legal proceedings against Rogers Communications to stop what the Bureau says is misleading advertising of Rogers’ Chatr discount wireless brand.
The company’s national campaign for new discount brand Chatr promises "fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers" and have "no worries about dropped calls”. The new wireless carriers didn’t care for the new Rogers brand, or the campaign – and they have launched various legal proceedings on their own. Wind Mobile actually filed the complaint that led to this investigation and outcome.
The…
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TORONTO – Rogers has agreed to purchase for cancellation 1,300,000 of its outstanding Class B non-voting shares for an aggregate purchase price of $44,515,380, which is at a discount to the current market price of the Class B shares.
The transaction represents approximately 0.29% of the Class B shares outstanding at October 31, 2010.
Pursuant to a private agreement between Rogers and an arm’s-length third party seller, the purchase was made under an issuer bid exemption order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission.
www.rogers.com
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JAY SWITZER IS ABOUT to find out if Canadians want to accept an invite into his new Hollywood Suite.
That’s the name Switzer, the former CHUM Ltd. CEO, and David Kines, another former CHUM executive (who was EP of the just-wrapped Gemini Awards) have given their new company, which is about to launch four new high definition movie channels: dubbed at their license approvals: Velocity, The Love Channel, Kiss, and Adventure.
The independent broadcaster will officially launch in the coming days, announcing key people, branding and programming, aiming at an April 2011 launch with Canadian carriers.
Switzer and…
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OTTAWA – Well known communications lawyer Chris Johnston died Tuesday at his home in Ottawa. Johnston, 75, was diagnosed with cancer in April this year.
Johnston was appointed as General Counsel of the CRTC in 1974. In 1980, he partnered with Robert Buchan and Charles Dalfen to found the Ottawa-based telecommunications law firm of Johnston & Buchan LLP. That firm merged with Fasken Martineau in April 2007. While he officially retired in 2007, Johnston remained as a consultant to Shaw Communications over the last few years. In addition to Shaw, Johnston also counted WIC, Cancom, TSN, BC Tel, Pelmorex and…
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OTTAWA – After a two month investigation, the Competition Bureau announced today it has begun legal proceedings against Rogers Communications to stop what the Bureau says is misleading advertising of Rogers’ Chatr discount wireless brand.
The company’s national campaign for new discount brand Chatr promises "fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers" and have "no worries about dropped calls".
The new wireless carriers didn’t care for the brand, or the campaign – and they have launched various legal proceedings on their own. Wind Mobile actually filed the complaint that led to this investigation and outcome.
The Bureau’s investigation, which…
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GATINEAU – Canada’s DTH carriers must do a far better job of carrying French-language programming in all regions of Quebec, said the Bloc Québécois, the syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC) and the CBC, who spoke in near unison at the CRTC’s Direct-to-Home policy hearing on Wednesday.
The three groups each took their turn on November 17, calling on the Commission to force the DTH companies to carry more French-language programming than they currently do. They noted that while the various regional TVA affiliates are carried by both DTH companies, the lack of Radio-Canada carriage is disconcerting.
Bloc MP Carole…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage begins its study of “the impacts of private television ownership changes and the move towards new viewing platforms,” today in Ottawa and will hear first from CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein and a group of independent Canadian broadcasters this afternoon.
Watch for the CRTC chairman (who will be joined by acting vice-chair, broadcasting, Rita Cugini and executive director, broadcasting, Scott Hutton) to speak to the recent merger announcements as well as the proceeding just called into the very same topic about which MPs will be grilling the Regulator’s representatives this afternoon.
As for…
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