CANADA’S CABLE AND SATELLITE companies want one thing when it comes to high definition television: More.
More HD channels. More HD content. More HD Canadian content. In the larger markets at least, HDTV set owners are increasingly tuning to their HD channels only, taking advantage of their big, bright, new toy. They, in turn, are beginning to apply some pressure on their cable company or satellite provider to make more channels available.
“Demand is high,” says the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance’s legal counsel Chris Edwards. “Everyone is looking to get as much high def as they can get.” The…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Randy Reynolds has been hired as president of Rogers Telecom.
He replaces David Masotti, who came over with Call-Net (Sprint Canada) when Rogers purchased that company earlier this year and turned it into Rogers Telecom. The company gave no reason for Masotti’s departure. Masotti also had a stint with Rogers Cable in the 1990s.
Reynolds started today and reports to Nadir Mohamed, president and COO, Communications Group, Rogers Communications Inc. Rogers Telecom is focused on serving the communication needs of small, medium and large businesses across Canada.
"We view the business market as a growth opportunity for…
Continue Reading
THE SCORE HAS SEEN its share of challenges.
Launched in 1997 as Headline Sports as part of the 17-channel tier III, it struggled from the outset. It had no background, so it had to knock extra-hard on the doors of leagues and teams to get them to listen.
Then, since it had no live event programming of its own, TSN, for one, wouldn’t give the sports news channel any highlights from sports properties it owned, like the Canadian Football League. Clips like that are normally traded and the sports channel newcomer had nothing to trade with, said TSN at…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Growth in cable, Internet, and telephony subscribers has led Cogeco Cable to predict a 36% increase in net income in 2006, the company announced at its annual shareholders’ meeting.
And the company is exploring adding wireless, like competitor Vidéotron will do in Quebec when it launches mobile phone services through Rogers, CEO Louis Audet told reporters.
Net income in 2005 nearly tripled, to $28.7 million, compared with a net loss of $32 million in 2004. Cogeco predicts net income will rise to $39 million in fiscal 2006.
In 2005, the company lost 2,400 basic cable subscribers, but…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The HDTV war is heating up as Bell ExpressVu and Rogers Cable both announce they’re adding more sports programming in high definition.
Bell is adding NCAA basketball and football, as well as sports cinematographer Warren Miller’s latest extreme skiing adventure “Higher Ground” in HD. Bell says it now offers the most HD content of any distributor in Canada, and is the only digital distributor to offer the Miller show.
"Higher Ground," part action and part documentary shot on the slopes of Alaska, Colorado, Switzerland, and British Columbia, is available as a pay per view purchase on channels…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – As part of its acquisition of OMNI TV B.C. and Manitoba, Roger OMNI Television has announced a benefits package totalling $950,000 for independent producers based in the provinces.
The money will go towards 30- and 60-minute documentaries focusing on religion and faith, considered category 4 programming under the CRTC regulations. The fund will be spent over seven years, with no more than $250,000 allocated in each year.
Proposals for stories, biographies, and documentaries examining religious, spiritual, ethical, and/or moral values in all faiths will be reviewed twice a year: from Jan. 1 to Mar. 1, and from…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The outlook for Canada’s traditional fixed-line telecom industry in 2006 is poor, while things are looking better for wireless services and the cable industry, according to the latest credit ratings report by Standard and Poors.
Competition for wireline business will hurt incumbent telcos (Aliant, Bell Canada, Manitoba Telecom Services, and Telus) as the cable operators and other players enter the telephony market, the report says. Likewise, though, the cablecos (Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, and Videotron) will face more competition from telephone operators providing video services via DSL. “The blurring of boundaries between wireline, wireless, and cable will continue,”…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The Radio Marketing Bureau has announced its new board of directors, elected at the annual general meeting held on Dec. 1.
The new board members for the coming year are Jim Blundell (CHUM Radio), Brad Boechler (Newcap Radio), Glenn Chalmers (Standard Radio), Lesley Conway-Kelley, Vice Chair (CHUM Radio Sales), Victor Dann, Past Chair (Rogers Broadcasting), Patrick Grierson, Chair (Canadian Broadcast Sales), John Harding, President (Radio Marketing Bureau), John Hayes (Corus Radio Group), Elmer Hildebrand, Treasurer (Golden West Broadcasting Ltd.), Ron Hutchinson (imsradio), Mark Maheu (Newcap Broadcasting), Gary Miles (Rogers Broadcasting), Luc Sabbatini (Groupe Radio Astral), Gerry Siemens…
Continue Reading
By Laurel Hyatt
“Long live jocks,” Pete Townshend would sing if he knew how important announcers still were to radio.
The latest BBM ratings imply that stations with strong on-air personalities are still on top, while those that step back and let the music speak for itself are finding themselves with less of a voice.
The top two stations for share of hours tuned (adults 12 and over) for survey 4 of 2005 in Toronto (read: the media centre of Canada) were… drumroll please… CHUM FM, with 9.1 (double digits are unheard of these days in Tranna) and CHFI…
Continue Reading
LAST WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENT of BCE’s divestiture of all but 20% of its ownership holding in Bell Globemedia left one enormous burning question.
What is the company going to do with the $1.3 billion in proceeds from its sale of control of one of Canada’s largest media companies? BCE CEO Michael Sabia told an analyst conference call last week that the company won’t be announcing what it plans to do with the money until February.
Here, in no particular order, is the www.cartt.ca Top 10 List of things BCE could do with its new pile of money, when it…
Continue Reading
