TORONTO and OTTAWA – Globalive could launch its Wind-branded mobile service as early as next week, chairman Anthony Lacavera said Friday after learning that Industry Canada had overturned the CRTC’s decision barring his company from entering the Canadian wireless market.
Amid cheers from staff, Lacavera thanked the government for its decision which he called “testament that this country needs (wireless) competition.”
Industry Canada declared Globalive a Canadian company that meets the Canadian ownership and control requirements under the Telecommunications Act early on Friday morning, contrary to the CRTC’s decision in the Fall which determined that the company was not sufficiently Canadian-owned…
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EXTON, PA – Rogers Cable’s Dermot O’Carroll has been named to the standing committees of the SCTE board of directors.
He will assume the position of chair of the planning committee for the 2009–2010 term.
www.scte.org
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TORONTO – Is the advertising market on the rebound? Astral Media thinks so.
Speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Toronto Wednesday, president and CEO Ian Greenberg said that he believes that the ad industry has already hit its rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up.
“What we’ve seen, from the point of view of activity, is clients and ad agencies calling us (again), instead of us having to go to them all the time, and looking for presentations on campaigns”, Greenberg said to the media after the presentation. “We’re certainly getting a better feeling as we go…
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QUIETLY POSTED TUESDAY on the CRTC’s web site were the 2009 aggregate financial data of the large Canadian broadcasters and BDUs. And, as we all knew, the BDUs are doing pretty well. The broadcasters, not so much.
CTV EVP Paul Sparkes tried to quickly introduce some of the data during its Q&A session Tuesday during the ongoing hearing into a broadcaster compensation regime because of the dramatically different bottom line numbers for his company compared to the big carriers. However, he was interrupted by Commission chair Konrad von Finckenstein before he could spit out the admittedly huge profit before…
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GATINEAU – For those of us who have been to a few of these CRTC get-togethers, Marjorie Lemieux will likely stick in our minds for a while.
Dressed in a bright purple sweatshirt, the Rogers Cable customer was on the first consumer panel of the day (a group pulled together from submissions via the “Stop the TV Tax” campaign) for hearing 2009-614, the one called by the CRTC in response to cabinet’s call for a report on the implications of paying a fee for conventional TV.
“My name is Marjorie and I want to stop the TV tax,” she began, adding…
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GATINEAU – With a light dusting of snow outside and a grey beginning to yet another week of talking about paying for conventional television signals, you’ll hopefully forgive us for feeling just a little like this.
This is the fourth hearing inside of two years (and the second one in the past month!) whose focus is on compensating local TV broadcasters for their signals). This one, as CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein pointed out right at the start, will not set policy, but instead will inform a report to be filed in the new year with Canadian Heritage Minister…
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OTTAWA – The CEOs from three of Canada’s biggest broadcasters have thrown their support behind the skinny basic concept, calling it a “consumer-first solution”.
In a press release issued after their appearance at the CRTC hearing Tuesday, CBC, CTV and Global said that a pared down basic television programming package will provide “affordable, accessible, and sustainable TV services for all Canadians.”
"Canadian consumers and TV viewers deserve a choice, and a new affordable bundle of basic TV channels is a start," said CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, in the release. "With a regulated capped rate, Canadians will be protected from fee hikes with…
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OTTAWA – In what could be a first for a Canadian BDU, Rogers Cable has asked the CRTC if it may carry the digital multicast signals of a U.S. broadcaster.
In its application, Rogers requested that the Commission amend its Class 1 and 2 regional broadcasting licences in Ontario, and its Class 1, 2 and 3 regional broadcasting licences for its terrestrial BDUs in New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Specifically, Rogers has asked for the addition of the following condition of licence:The licensee is authorized to distribute, at its option and on a digital basis, the multicast service ThinkBright and Well Television…
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TORONTO – Nickelodeon in Canada will offer over eight million households a chance to sample its kid friendly programming over the holidays thanks to a month long free preview.
From December 15 through January 18, the newly launched channel will be available on Rogers (channel 231), Shaw Direct (channel 182), Shaw (channel 135), Cogeco (channel 142) and Bell TV (channel 559).
Nickelodeon in Canada is a licensing agreement between MTV Networks International and Corus Entertainment.
www.nickcanada.com
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MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada will finance 17 English-language feature films this year under the Canada Feature Film Fund.
Five regional projects will proceed, as well as six projects under the organization’s low budget independent feature film assistance program.
The national projects include Beat the World, Hockey: The Musical, and The Whistleblower from the Ontario and Nunavut region; The Kate Logan Affair from the Quebec region, plus Wrecked and Fubar II from the Western region.
In related news, Telefilm Canada and the Rogers Group of Funds announced that nine feature-length documentary projects will receive funding support under the Theatrical documentary program in 2009-2010….
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