HAMILTON – After half a century in cable, Owen Boris decided this year, at the age of 77, it was finally time to retire.
In July of 1959, Boris launched Mountain Cable in a brand new Hamilton subdivision where aerial utilities (phone and power) weren’t allowed, meaning his system was one of the first, if not the first, to go underground.
Just prior to the launch of the cable company, Boris had been a member of the engineering team who helped create the famous, and infamous, Avro Arrow jet. When that project was killed, Boris needed something to do. He had…
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TORONTO – In a note to clients, BMO Nesbitt Burns media and cable analyst Tim Casey notes the Shaw Communications purchase price of Mountain Cablevision may be as high as $300 million (a whopping $7,300 per sub).
While saying the impact of the purchase is “slightly negative” for Shaw, Casey notes that industry contacts “have speculated a price in the $300mm range, implying roughly 12x EBITDA,” he wrote.
“The transaction is a surprise given Shaw’s Ontario assets are in Sault Ste. Marie, Kenora and Thunder Bay. We expect operating synergies will be limited.
“Given Shaw’s industry-leading track record regarding capital allocation, we…
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WINNIPEG – Aboriginal Peoples Television Network has launched its high definition channel APTNHD on Rogers’ HD line-up in Ontario.
APTNHD, which initially launched April 8, 2008, airs much of the same programming as the network’s SD channel, is available in approximately 10 million Canadian households and broadcasts programming with 56% offered in English, 16% in French and 28% in Aboriginal languages.
“APTN is excited for the Rogers HDTV launch of our high definition channel,” said Sky Bridges, director of marketing, in the announcement. “Being able to deliver the programming APTN viewers have come to know and enjoy in this new high…
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GATINEAU – According to the Campaign for Democratic Media, the CRTC’s hearing into network traffic management is about nothing less than “who will determine the way we use the Internet,” David Fewer, acting director of CIPPIC told commissioners Thursday morning.
Leaving network management practices up to the discretion of the networks owners can only invite disaster and make Canada “a backwater of online innovation,” he added. “The Canadian Internet is not simply the private property of Canadian ISPs.” (CIPPIC is the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and a member of the CDM.)
While that may be true…
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TORONTO – Rogers has rolled out mobile Internet ready netbooks from HP, the first 3.5G embedded laptops in Canada.
The HP Mini 110 netbooks include embedded mobile broadband technology featuring download speeds up to 7.2 Mbps, and connect to the Web over Rogers 3.5G wireless network, eliminating the need to search for WiFi or wired access.
"Just as voice communications have long expanded beyond finding a pay phone or waiting until you get home to make a call, as the Internet evolves from a source of information to an enabler of communication, mobile Internet ready netbooks are the perfect…
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GATINEAU – In back-to-back presentations this morning, the CRTC heard from two of Canada’s largest ISPs, Telus and Cogeco Cable, one of which uses no Internet traffic management techniques (yet) and one which uses them all the time.
Each want the same thing, however: to be left alone to manage their networks how they see fit.
Telus, the big western-based telco, uses no traffic management technology right now on either its retail consumers or wholesale business clients, said senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs Michael Hennessy. But it wants the freedom to be able to deploy them, if needed, in…
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MONTREAL – French sports network RDS HD is now available to Rogers Cable subscribers in New Brunswick and Ontario, the companies announced today.
The channel is now available in free preview, ending October 1st, to all Rogers HDTV customers with an HD box.
"Le Réseau des sports is pleased to announce that French-speaking sports fans from Ontario and New Brunswick can now benefit from the HD experience, as Rogers Cable has added RDS HD to its programming line-up" said Gerry Frappier, RDS’s president and general manager, in a press release.
In order to continue to receive RDS HD following…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable has launched a wireless home networking device called the ‘N gateway’, making it the first cable Internet provider in North America to offer a DOCSIS 3.0 N gateway wireless home networking specifically designed for optimal usage on its high-speed network.
The enhanced gateway combines the modem and wireless router into one device, designed to minimize clutter and make it easier for customers to manage their wireless home network. Consumers are also able to extend their wireless connection further, and will have less signal quality issues, according to the press release.
"We continuously invest in our…
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TORONTO – Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster, Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN), will launch three new Chinese channels and six new South Asian channels on Rogers Cable this Fall.
The addition of the movie, news and entertainment services from China and India will bring the number of services ATN operates to 23, and will mark its first offering to Mandarin-speaking audiences.
"These nine channels carry world class content that will attract large audiences among the South Asian diaspora and Chinese communities in Canada”, said president and CEO Shan Chandrasekar, in the announcement. “We are extremely pleased with the signed distribution…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications says the CRTC has “betrayed Canadians’ trust” with Monday’s announcement of two new taxes on TV consumers.
"It is difficult to believe the CRTC is mandating these tax transfers – money from the pockets of ten million Canadians to three Canadian broadcasters", said president Peter Bissonnette in a statement released Wednesday.
Like its cable brethren Rogers, Shaw has vowed to fight the new fees “aggressively”, noting that broadcasters have not commited to spending more on local programming with the additional funds.
"Our customers are already heavily subsidizing the broadcasters with a CRTC ordered tax of…
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