OTTAWA and TORONTO – A pared-down basic programming package, with its content and pricing determined by the CRTC, could be the solution to affordability if fee-for-carriage is implemented, the CBC said.
In a submission to the Commission on Monday, the public broadcaster recommended that BDUs adopt an all-Canadian basic package which includes only the “essentials”, such as local television stations, plus “a very limited number” of other licensed programming services.
Calling it a “win-win-win scenario”, CBC said that its proposal would benefit BDUs, consumers, and broadcasters alike.
“It’s a win for cable companies because they’ll have all the flexibility that…
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TORONTO – On the same day as its biggest competitor rolled out its new HSPA network, Rogers beefed up its smart phone lineup to underscore its “network superiority”.
Just in time for the holiday season, Rogers said that it will offer the Nokia N86 smart phone which features an 8 megapixel camera and 8 GB of on-board memory to store music, movies and photos. The N86 will join the just-launched Rogers-exclusive LG Eve and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 as part of five smart phones now available for under $100 on a three-year voice and data plan.
"Rogers customers can…
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DENVER – On its 40th anniversary, SCTE announced that the networks they have built across North America are becoming obsolete…Well, they didn’t put it that way.
Those in charge did, however, admit that the future of television, data, and voice transmission will occur via IP technology, not RF. For cable MSOs, there are many steps to complete before this transition can take place. So, while this year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo delivered the latest and greatest technologies to the cable industry but it started with the acknowledgment that the RF world we live in, is in transition.
DOCSIS 3.0 has been at…
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OTTAWA – Videotron founder André Chagnon and one of the engineers who helped wire much of Canada with co-axial cable, Israel (Sruki) Switzer, are two of the five members of the 2009 class of inductees into the Canadian Telecom Hall of Fame and will be honoured Wednesday in Gatineau at the Canadian Museum of Civlization.
Chagnon will be inducted as a “business visionary and builder,” while Switzer (whose wife Phyllis was one of the founders of Citytv, and son Jay helmed CHUM Ltd. for many years) will go in as a cable technology pioneer and advocate. The other…
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DENVER–IPTV, multi-screen video, and converged services have emerged as the biggest themes here at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2009 as the three subjects have dominated the discussions in the Colorado Convention Center, along with the driving snowstorm outside.
In the opening general sessions, as Cartt.ca reported, cable executives spent much time focusing on the prospects for, and problems of, delivering video signals over an IP infrastructure. They debated the best ways to migrate the industry’s current RF-based, MPEG-2 delivery system to an all-IP architecture. But, in a sea change for a major cable industry event, they all agreed that all-IP…
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DENVER – William Lim, senior technical consultant, OSS BroadNet, gave Thursday’s attendees of SCTE’s 2009 Cable-Tec Expo insight on how to monitor cable UPS backup batteries in order to predict the length of stand-by time in real-time.
Operators use battery factory specs, string configurations, and cable plant AC load to determine an appropriate stand-by time during power outages. However, there are a number of factors that can significantly reduce that time such as battery capacity, temperature, age and condition. While periodic on-site testing may expose bad batteries, continuous monitoring of select characteristics minimizes customer impact.
There are two ways to use…
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DENVER – As cable guys filled hotels and the enormous Colorado Convention Center became cluttered with cable gadgets; it only seems fitting that the never-ending snowfall has caused some TV screens connected to satellite dishes to go black…
(I’d like to thank Greg O’Brien and Cartt.ca, together with the Ontario Chapter of SCTE, for providing me with this great opportunity. It has already been an incredible learning experience and it has only just begun.)
Third-party trainingA common theme during the presentations this morning was the need for collaboration. SCTE wants to work globally as successfully as it has in North…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications will offer $1 billion worth of debt securities which it says will be used for general corporate purposes, including funding shareholder returns.
The senior unsecured multi-maturity notes issue, (comprised of $500 million of 10-year notes and $500 million of 30 year notes), will generate approximately $993 million. The offer is expected to close by November 4, 2009.
Moody’s Investors Service assigned a Baa2 rating to Rogers in response to the announcement, the same rating level as the company’s existing senior unsecured indebtedness. The company’s ratings outlook remained stable.
www.rogers.comwww.moodys.com
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications and Bragg Communications are in discussions on potential system swaps, Cartt.ca has learned.
A source with direct knowledge of the talks said late Wednesday on condition of anonymity that the two companies are negotiating a deal in which the primary assets exchanged would be Bragg’s Delta Cable and Coast Cable systems in southern B.C. (and potentially some of EastLink’s other operations in Western Canada, too) in exchange for Rogers’ systems in St. John’s, Corner Brook and Gander, Nfld.
The deal would certainly make sense for Bragg’s EastLink cableco since it owns many small systems throughout Newfoundland &…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Association of Broadcasters annual general meeting and awards luncheon honoured former Global Television and Rogers Radio, president and CEO, Jim Sward.
The Ontario Association of Broadcasters’ Community Service Awards are presented annually to member stations for their outstanding contributions of airtime and staffing to worthwhile organizations in their respective communities, says the OAB release.
The gathering Wednesday at Toronto’s Boulevard Club featured a longer networking reception and a new feature, a panel discussion, where industry leaders discussed the impact of new technology on radio revenue, according to the OAB press release.
Laura Gaggi, president of Gaggi Media moderated…
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