PROVIDING ANY KIND OF technology to cable and telecom companies these days isn’t easy. You have to be nimble. You must be prepared for change. Always. So many new services being provided by the MSOs. So many changes to the networks. It helps, says Cableserv president Audley Alexander (right), to have been a part of so many transformations in his 32-plus years in the cable industry.
An electrical engineer, Alexander joined Maclean-Hunter Cable in 1973 and stayed with the company through its purchase by Rogers. He stayed until 1999 when…
Continue Reading
GRAVENHURST, Ont. – Canada’s two cable system organizations are getting together to hold their annual gatherings at the same time and place next month.
The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual general meeting will be held on September 28th and 29th at the Taboo Resort, Golf & Conference Centre in Gravenhurst, Ontario, about 90 minutes north of Toronto’s Pearson airport.
The Canadian Cable Television Association’s business day and Galaxi Awards presentation will be at the same venue on Tuesday September 27th for the convenience of the joint attendees.
Here’s an outline of the week’s events.
Tuesday, Sept. 27th – CCTA business…
Continue Reading
QUEBEC CITY – Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet said Thursday that the time has come for the company’s cable division to revisit offering wireless service to its customers.
With EastLink and Access Communications selling Rogers Wireless service and with Videotron announcing this week that it will brand and sell its own service on the Rogers network, Audet was asked at the CIBC World Markets annual investors conference in Quebec City whether Cogeco was actively considering the service addition.
“We’ve looked at it twice already,” said Audet. “We had concluded this time that we would launch our voice over IP…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – OMNI TV British Columbia’s first new production is The Standard, a daily prime-time current affairs television program interlaced with spirituality.
It launches Monday, September 26th at 9 p.m. PT.
Viewers of the hour-long show will learn stories from around the world, meet newsmakers up close, and discover the spiritual sides of men and women from all walks of life, and delivered from a Vancouver perspective, says the Rogers-owned broadcaster.
“The Standard grew out of a shared thirst for knowledge and the allied need for enhanced understanding of our rich cultural and spiritual diversity,” said Terry Mahoney, general…
Continue Reading
THE CABLE INDUSTRY MIGHT not like reading this, heading into the local forbearance hearings next week, but residential phone choice seems pretty real to me.
If there was any doubt about it, my local newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator, delivered ample evidence last Wednesday. In the mess of inserts I curse about that usually flutter out of the thing, three glossy direct marketing pieces caught my eye: One from Primus; another from Rogers; and the third from Direct Energy.
Primus was a pure low-cost sell. “Get TalkBroadband and save big on your home phone service,” it said, beside a garish…
Continue Reading
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cogeco Cable and Videotron have signed a new multiyear distribution agreement with Speed Channel, the companies announced today. With Videotron reaching 1.4 million subscribers in Quebec and Cogeco Cable Canada Inc. 830,000 in both Ontario and Quebec, “Speed’s programming reaches as many fans in those areas as possible,” says today’s press release.
The U.S. channel also recently renewed with Rogers Cable, which included some video on demand. The Cogeco-Videotron release didn’t mention VOD content.
“The extension of these distribution deals with Videotron and Cogeco Cable firmly cements…
Continue Reading
THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS are the most valuable, most talked about, most loved sports team in English Canada.
Launching a TV channel that’s all Leafs, all the time, was a no-brainer for team brass back in 2001. But without any games, LeafsTV left a little something to be desired, say viewers, and says executive producer and vice-president programming John Shannon (right).
That changes this season (and was supposed to last year, but for the NHL lockout) as LeafsTV will have a total of 21 Toronto Maple Leaf games – eight pre-season matchups and 13 regular season tilts – to…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – With the hearings on the new pay television applicants scheduled for next month, the two major associations have weighed in with their comments.
While expressing no opinion on the merits of the applications, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters told the CRTC in its submission that since the applications force it to consider altering its policy of licensing just one Canadian specialty or pay service per genre – or in this case, per region – that a separate hearing needs to be held.
As reported by www.cartt.ca, four new applicants will face the Commission October 24th…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL and TORONTO – Quebecor-owned MSO Videotron will join the quadruple play club in 2006 by adding wireless service on the Rogers Wireless network.
The two companies today announced the signing of a strategic relationship agreement that will enable the Quebec cable company to offer consumers television, broadband Internet, cable telephony and Videotron branded mobile wireless services.
Videotron will operate as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or MVNO, utilizing wireless voice and data services provided by Rogers Wireless across its GSM/GPRS network. This is the same arrangement Virgin Mobile Canada has with Bell Mobility.
The company plans to launch…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – This sounds something like the Spike TV debate.
In January this year Discovery Wings changed its name to The Military Channel and significantly altered its programming. Soon after, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked for a change in the eligible satellite list to reflect the switch.
The CCTA has submitted that the Commission’s current authorization to distribute Discovery Wings extends to The Military Channel. The U.S. channel is owned by Discovery Communications.
On Monday, however, the CRTC issued a call for comments on the CCTA’s request to alter the list. The channel remains on the digital…
Continue Reading
