ANYONE WHO HAS spent longer than five minutes in this industry knows that the lead question Canadian viewers most often have for us is: “Why can’t I get HBO here?” (Actually, it’s very often “why the he** can’t I get HBO?!!)
Finally, we can tell them, “we do have HBO in Canada.” It’s not the exact HBO Americans get because it does have a 30% Cancon requirement, but it’s a lot closer than the way the dominant American pay channel’s programming has historically been available here.
As reported by Cartt.ca Monday morning, Astral Media (owners of The Movie…
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MONT TREMBLANT – Attendees were very pleased with the new trade show format at the 2008 Canadian Cable Systems Alliance.
The group tweaked its annual general meeting, renaming it Connect 2008 – The Summit for Independent Communications, rescheduling some of the traditional events and re-formatting the trade show. Feedback was very positive on Monday from some of the 250-plus attendees we talked to here at the Fairmont Hotel.
Here are a few of the things we saw and heard on Sunday and Monday.
************ Rogers Communications is now a member of the CCSA. Both the Alliance and the largest…
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TORONTO – Count CBC and The Score in the camp that doesn’t mind if Rogers ever carries TSN2.
The two broadcasters say TSN doesn’t have the regulatory authority to launch the new channel in the way it has been pitched and launched. (While the early launch was a struggle over money and channel placement, the larger carriers are bringing TSN2 aboard.)
TSN2 launched earlier this month – a re-named and bulked up version of the TSN Alternate feed, as Cartt.ca has reported. While TSN Alternate was fired up only when the sports service had conflicts with live…
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IN THE SPACE OF a few days last week, I had the chance to listen to a pair of conventional broadcasters expound on the future of their industry and what they must do to adapt.
From what I heard, the points of view of the two men were pretty dissimilar and boiled down to two questions: 1. Do we try some new things? Or, 2. Do we keep plugging away at more of the same?
The first was outgoing Rogers Broadcasting president Rael Merson, the subject of this week’s Tuesday Interview.
The future of broadcasting, he said, is…
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TORONTO – In seven years, newcomers to the wireless game in Canada will have about 8.2 million Canadian wireless subscribers (about 24% of the market), says a new report published Tuesday by Toronto’s Convergence Consulting Group.
And just about all of those subs will be tied to three big new wireless players, Globalive, Shaw Communications and Videotron.
At the end of 2015, those three companies “will each have a 7% share,” says the report.
Approximately 75% of new entrant subscribers will be consumer postpaid. Those customers currently comprise 53% of all Canadian wireless subscribers, but the company estimates that…
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CALGARY – While we can’t say for sure if the green and gold fans of the Edmonton Eskimos played a part, Shaw Communications announced today it will add TSN2 in HD and SD to the channel lineups of Shaw Cable and Star Choice on September 19.
"As TSN expands its service, we are excited to bring its new sports offering to our Shaw customers," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in a release.
As Cartt.ca had reported, Shaw was one of the big four MSOs/DTH operators which hadn’t added the sports channel right at its launch. But, with…
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THERE’S NOTHING MYSTERIOUS about Rael Merson’s upcoming departure from his post as president of Rogers Broadcasting.
It goes like this: He’s been at the company for over 20 years, recently turned 50 and wants to give something else a shot. “I felt like, we’re empty nesters and I turned 50, I’m here 20 years, I wanted to do something a little different,” he told Cartt.ca in a recent interview.
He’s not retiring, however. While he has a non-compete agreement in place that will keep him out of the industry for a little while, he does have something entrepreneurial in…
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OTTAWA – Wireless incumbents Rogers Communications and Telus have asked Industry Canada to hold a public proceeding into wireless newcomer Globalive’s Canuck bona fides.
Globalive, a Canadian VOIP operator and long-distance re-seller, backed by Egypt-based wireless supplier Orascom, bid over $440 million for wireless spectrum during the summer’s advanced wireless spectrum auction. But both Telus and Rogers say the new wireless company’s ownership structure violates the Canadian legislation which says telecom companies must be majority-owned by Canadians.
Last month, Telus requested Industry Canada hold an open public proceeding to review the eligibility of new holders of wireless spectrum to…
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TORONTO – While Bell TV announced on the weekend it has added TSN2 to its channel roster, watch for more pressure to come on a couple of other Canadian carriers from their local football fans later this week.
Bell TV (formerly ExpressVu) is the first of the “big four” carriers (Shaw/Star Choice, Rogers and Videotron being the others) to begin carrying TSN’s secondary channel. TSN2 will air live games when the main network has something of a higher priority scheduled, as well as some taped shows and tape-delayed games.
As reported earlier this week by Cartt.ca, TSN has been…
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TORONTO – Dave Caporicci has been appointed director of program marketing and brand partnerships for Much MTV Group.
Caporicci joined MuchMusic in October 1996 and helped drive the Much portfolio from one to seven channels when it was owned by CHUM Limited. Since the fall of 2008 Caporicci has worked alongside Darryl Coburn, director of ad sales, running the newly-minted Much MTV Group Sales department under the CTVglobemedia umbrella.
This partnership will continue, with Caporicci now overseeing the staff of the Much MTV Group brand partnerships department.
The Much MTV Group represents ad sales for eight broadcast channels, three…
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