TORONTO – Covering all segments of the Canadian telecommunications and IT industry, The Canadian Telecom Summit brings together the leaders of all industry sectors – service providers, manufacturers, applications providers, policy makers and regulators.
With two major pronouncements from different government bodies regarding the state of competitiveness of Canada’s telecommunications industry – the Telecom Policy Report and the CRTC’s local forbearance decision, which in some clauses appear to contradict each other – it will be very interesting to see how the new Minister of Industry, Maxime Bernier, juggles the interests of all industry players, consumers and the business sector.
He…
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VICTORIA – RTNDA Canada presented its regional awards Saturday evening during the association’s annual British Columbia regional professional development seminar in Victoria.
The 2005 TELEVISION winners are: Bert Cannings Award – Best Newscast
* CFJC TV7 Newscentre Kamloops for T.R.U. Beginning – (Small Market) * CH Vancouver Island for CH News at 5: Air India Verdict – (Medium Market) * CTV British Columbia for CTV News at Six – (Large Market)
Charlie Edwards Award – Spot News
* CTV British Columbia for Mudslide * CFJC TV7 Newscentre Kamloops for CAZA, High Risk Predator – (Honourable Mention)
Dan McArthur Award…
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TORONTO – For baseball fans, it was a week late in coming, but on Friday, Rogers Sportsnet announced that Sunday Night Baseball will return to the sports channel this evening.
The season’s first Sunday Night Baseball game last week wasn’t on Sportsnet because the channel and Major League Baseball had yet to arrive at a deal. The two signed a two-year agreement this week.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD will broadcast the Chicago Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Sunday, April 9th at 8 p.m. ET.
The new deal gives…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – A local market won’t be considered competitive until one-quarter of the households in it get their home phone from a newcomer, the CRTC said Thursday.
The 44,000-word decision made the newcomers like cable and third party VOIP providers very happy but angered the incumbent telcos, who erupted with anger and say they won’t stand for the decision.
“Aliant fully intends to appeal this decision,” said Heather Tulk, vice-president of residential markets at Aliant, the company whose application for deregulation launched the review.
There are three main aspects to the decision. 1) Competitors must gain 25% market…
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I FIND CARTT.CA AN EXCELLENT source of timely information about the exciting communications industry in Canada and occasionally we subscribers are treated to one of your humorous diversions, or at least that is what Thursday’s Commentary seems to be. It focuses on what can only be described as the old saying “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” Global style.
Last November I learned through your service that the CEO of Global, Mr. Leonard Asper announced, among other things, that “There is a battle coming.” He was also quoted as saying “We know the Commission has some sympathy…
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SHOULD BROADCASTERS RECEIVE a wholesale fee for their signals from BDUs?
That will be one of the key questions for the industry and the Commission to answer in the coming months because while the CRTC’s radio review is well under way – with public hearings in May – we can likely expect a TV policy review to begin late this year with hearings in 2007, sources told www.cartt.ca this week.
The desire by broadcasters to be paid a fee for carriage, or for retransmission, is about as old as the cable industry itself. In the 1950s, broadcasters called nascent…
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TORONTO – Toronto Blue Jays owner Rogers Communications has added to its team coverage with free preview games not televised locally, player profiles on Jays On Demand and up to the minute stats and schedules.
Rogers digital cable customers can catch a free preview of MLB Extra Innings on the Sports Preview Channel, for example. The free preview will broadcast, 15 Toronto Blue Jays games, not televised locally, between April 5th and August 9th, 2006. Customers in Ontario and New Brunswick can watch the free games on digital channel 401.
The 15 games are:
Wed. April 5th, 7 p.m.,…
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TORONTO – ATN B4U Music was added to the Rogers Digital Cable lineup this week.
"Music is an integral part of the South Asian Culture and ATN has been a pioneer in the production and promotion of music from the Indian sub-continent," said Shan Chandrasekar, president and CEO of Asian Television Networks, who is also on the board of the Royal Conservatory of Music.
B4U Music is "a hip and funky 24-hour global music channel," says the release, with programming that includes the musical hits from the latest Bollywood movies, the Bollywood music charts, star interviews, dance floor hits…
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BUFFALO – American Arab/Muslim channel Bridges TV will soon launch in Canada.
The company announced this week that Rogers Cable will begin carrying it this spring and has also recently transitioned from a premium pay channel in the U.S. to basic cable on several cable and satellite systems there.
The year-old Buffalo, N.Y.-based cable channel was added to the list of eligible satellite services by the Commission in December.
The changes to its carriage and its launch in Canada "comes at a time when Middle Eastern and South Asian communities around the world are in the spotlight," says the company. "Most recently,…
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GATINEAU – Thanks to complaints that some channels up for addition to the eligible satellite list in Canada offer nothing but Communist propaganda, the CRTC has re-opened a public proceeding to gather additional evidence.
Rogers Cable has faced complaints and some small protests after sponsoring the addition of nine new Chinese channels to the eligible satellite list for digital distribution in Canada.
The now-defunct Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association had made the original application (Rogers Cable took over sponsorship after the organization closed) and described the channels as general interest fare. "Based on supporting information provided by the CCTA, the…
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