TORONTO – Ted Rogers said today that he and fellow Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum have an agreement to pursue a National Football League team together, should they ever decide to go down that road.
Tanenbaum is chairman of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (and is the man primarily in charge of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and NBA’s Toronto Raptors). Rogers Communications, of course, owns the Rogers Centre and its primary tenant, the Toronto Blue Jays.
The difference with the NFL, however, is that the league does not let corporations own its teams, so any new team couldn’t be…
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WINNIPEG – Manitoba Telecom Services posted a 13.2% increase in “growth services” revenues and a 17.7% increase in EPS from continuing operations in its third quarter report issued today.
Growth services are considered to be wireless, broadband and MTS TV. The company’s traditional land line service continues to see decline.
"MTS continued to build strong and sustainable momentum in the third quarter," said Pierre Blouin, CEO, in the press release. "Results are in line with our business plan at all levels as we continue to capitalize on strong customer relationships and our ability to bring innovative new services to…
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WITH THE GROWING PROLIFERATION of so-called “free-to-air” satellite receivers – and the outright theft of both Bell ExpressVu and Dish Network signals with those falsely-named decoders – the Canadian video distribution industry is looking to re-launch the Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft.
Representatives from Rogers Cable, Bell and others held a meeting this week to discuss reforming the group or something like it. However, no decision has been made yet to move forward, a source told Cartt.ca.
The hope is that if the legitimate Canadian video distributors can organize, the issue can be pushed back onto the federal government’s…
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WITH THE CLOSING OF the Persona purchase by Bragg Communications (owners of EastLink) last last month, the Canadian cable industry lost one of its leading champions – and true characters.
Dean MacDonald worked his way up through the industry beginning at Avalon Cable in Newfoundland 25 years ago, evenutally rising to president of Danny Williams’ Cable Atlantic. The exploits of Dean and Danny are part of industry lore and this reporter once published a photo of the both of them dressed as Carmen Miranda, giant fruity headresses and all.
When Cable Atlantic was sold to Rogers Cable in 1999…
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OTTAWA – The 81st annual Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention kicks off this Sunday in Ottawa and runs through Tuesday, November 6th.
(Cartt.ca, which is a media sponsor, will be there with a team of reporters covering the sessions – and will also produce a printed show daily on-site.)
The 2007 convention theme, Broadcasting, Redefined, “targets issues of fundamental importance to the broadcasting and distribution industries: new technologies and platforms, new business models and partnerships, and new policies and regulations that will allow Canada’s private broadcasters to thrive in an increasingly complex global business environment,“ says the CAB.
There…
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GATINEAU – Canadian sports fans will soon be able to get a far greater dose of American college games as the CRTC today approved the addition of College Sports Television to the eligible satellite list for digital distribution.
Its addition to the Canadian list was sponsored by Rogers Cable.
CBS-owned CSTV is a 24-hour network devoted exclusively to broadcasting college sports programming. It televises 35 men’s and women’s college sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling and volleyball, from every major conference in the United States.
Click here for the full decision.
www.crtc.gc.ca www.cstv.com
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TORONTO – They don’t say so directly, but The Movie Network’s upcoming marketing campaign meant to support its upcoming free preview weekend will also likely swallow up the launch of its new competitor, Super Channel.
Beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 9 and running until Sunday, November 11, the pay channel’s free preview event will showcase the network’s Hollywood-hit movies, HBO and Showtime programming as well highlight its on-demand and high-definition features.
“There is no better way for a potential subscriber to experience the value and entertainment of The Movie Network than to sample it for themselves and…
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MONTREAL – Astral Media CEO Ian Greenberg said today that Bell Canada has stopped proceeding towards the launch of its much-anticipated Internet protocol-driven terrestrial digital television service.
When asked about new platforms like IPTV and how it might impact Astral’s television business, Greenberg said Bell has put its plans to launch the service “on ice.”
“And that’s happened in the last two weeks. So I don’t think there’s much to discuss on IPTV,” said Greenberg.
He later said the decision was made by Bell just within the past 10 days. Any Bell IPTV service would, of course, carry a…
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TORONTO – A joint submission to the CRTC’s BDU and specialty policy review from seven independent broadcasters recommends putting those channels in all BDUs’ digital "basic" packages.
Saying the diversity of the Canadian television system depends on preserving a place for small, independent specialty services, the channel owners say they should all be in digital basic in order to offset impact of media concentration and integration (See: Rogers buying Citytv, CTV buying CHUM, CanWest buying Alliance Atlantis…).
Such a move would grant the independent Canadian channels "must-carry" status.
The members of the independent specialty services group are: Aboriginal Peoples…
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GATINEAU – Having to wedge six new channels to the collective basic cable lineups in Edmonton and Calgary at essentially the same time is just too much to ask, Shaw Communications has told the CRTC.
In a recent application, Shaw has asked for a new condition of license to let it carry Crossroads Television System (CTS), a new religious broadcaster in Calgary and Edmonton which has been in operation in Ontario for years, on channel 51 – an unrestricted channel, but well away, numerically, from where most other must-carries are placed.
Shaw notes that the CRTC approved new licenses not…
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