VANCOUVER – One of the first men to string coaxial cable lines to TV customers in Vancouver and area, Garth Pither, died Wednesday after a brief bout with pneumonia. He was 85.
Originally a TV set sales and repairman, Pither got his start in cable in its infancy, in the early 1950s with a group of other western cable pioneers. The company he worked for had a number of names and structures, but Pither eventually worked his way up to the top job at what became Premier Cablesystems, which, according to the book "Cable… Vision of the Pioneers" was…
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THE CEOs ARE IN AGREEMENT. Canadian media companies must get bigger in order to still matter. The problem is that those companies also agree on one other thing: They’re all buyers.
With Bell Globemedia’s deal to acquire CHUM Limited now complete but for the opinion of the regulator, we’ve had a summer marked by an irresistible spasm of speculation of who might be next. The CTV-CHUM combination will be a big media company by Canadian standards – while remaining a pretty modest operation compared to the U.S. giants.
Will Astral Media buy Standard Broadcasting? Will Corus Entertainment and…
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TORONTO – Alan Cross, the program director at 102.1 the Edge (CFNY FM) and host of Corus Radio’s syndicated program, The Ongoing History of New Music, will celebrate his 20th anniversary on October 3.
Starting on-air in October of 1986, Cross (profiled by Cartt.ca here) has enjoyed a long and varied career with CFNY, hosting overnights, mid-days and afternoons before establishing himself as Canada’s premier new-rock historian with the creation of The Ongoing History of New Music in February of 1993.
His many milestones, according to the Corus press release, include: being named Toronto Life’s Radio Personality of 1992,…
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WINNIPEG IS ONE OF THE HOTTER bundling battlegrounds in Canada.
While Shaw is the incumbent video provider and a nascent voice company in the Manitoba capital, MTS Allstream, the provincial telco (which is also a national wholesale and enterprise player) has claimed about 55,000 video customers with MTS TV in Winnipeg – the only city in the province in which it has a cable license.
Customers like the simple bill, the fact they can re-jig their channel lineups on screen or even see e-mails and caller ID on their TVs. Finally, last month, MTS TV added a key piece…
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TORONTO – It didn’t take Scott Morrison long to find a lot of work.
After being let go months back by Rogers Sportsnet, the long-time hockey journalist will be on Hockey Night In Canada (as previously announced) and has now joined the Leafs Lunch noon hour team at AM 640 Toronto, the Corus Radio station said today.
Morrison will act as a regular contributor to the daily show, providing, breaking news and insight along side co-hosts Bill Watters and Jeff Marek.
“I feel like AM640 has just signed the biggest free agent on the market,” said Gord Harris, program…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has approved SaskTel’s application for a national general interest pay-per-view service.
The service would air mainly live sports, concerts, and other events, as well as pre-recorded sports and events, local programming, and adult programming. Up to 85% of programs would be live sports. Most programs would be in English, though French and third-language programming would be considered based on viewer demand.
As well, the commission has approved SaskTel’s application to run a free outlet for local expression, similar to a cable community channel, as part of its PPV offering. Less than 10% of its total…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC is considering requests from Videotron and Rogers Cable to add more foreign channels to the list of eligible satellite non-Canadian services that can be carried here on digital.
The commission is calling for comments on the proposed addition of seven services, described below from the cablecos’ proposals.
From Videotron:
* XXL, a service from France, entirely in the French language and offering adult content, mainly erotic films, series, and magazine programs programmed in a four-hour block that is repeated throughout the broadcast day, seven days a week.
From Rogers:
* De Pelicula Channel, a niche…
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NEW YORK – The new CBS comedy series “The Class” will debut on TiVo before it makes its network premiere, becoming the first show to do that.
While other series have pre-launched via a DVD or the Internet, The Class is the first to give viewers a jump on full-length episodes via a personal video recorder.
TiVo subscribers will be able to watch The Class up to a week before it premieres on CBS on Sept. 18. They’ll also be able to get preview clips—but not entire episodes—of three new CBS shows, “Jericho” starring Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney,…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers Sportsnet has signed a multi-year agreement with the Vancouver Canucks to broadcast more games than any other outlet.
The 2006-2007 NHL season will see Sportsnet air 45 Nucks games on Sportsnet Pacific, which is available to viewers in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
“The Canucks and Sportsnet have been partners since the launch of our channel eight years ago and this new agreement ensures that relationship will continue into the future, to the benefit of the Canucks fans throughout British Columbia,” said Doug Beeforth, President of Rogers Sportsnet, in a statement.
The length of the…
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OTTAWA – The VOIP decision will stand, with a "but".
Today the CRTC re-affirmed its May 2005 decision on voice over Internet protocol. Federal cabinet told the Commission in May of this year to reconsider that decision after all but one of Canada’s ILEC’s filed an appeal.
However, because of the sheer speed in which Canada’s incumbent local exchange carriers are losing customers, the Commission did signal it’s prepared to alter course when it deems necessary and will already re-examine its March 2006 decision on local forbearance.
Specifically, it "declared that competition in local telephone service is…
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