THIS WEEK I THINK I finally saw a web-TV application that will actually work.
It wasn’t on a television set, though, but on a mobile phone.
Mark Henderson, the president of Ericsson Canada, showed conference delegates at this week’s excellent Canadian Telecom Summit what’s going on in the mobile space in other parts of the world and how he’s sure it will be here, too, and soon.
While we North American holster-geeks might think we’re all pretty connected with our buzzing Blackberrys and assorted other PDAs and phones playing digital-quality rock or rap when a call comes in, only 55%…
Continue Reading
KELOWNA – The Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada presented its British Columbia regional awards at its confab in Kelowna last weekend.
The 2004 TELEVISION winners are: Bert Cannings Award – Best Newscast CFJC-TV – Kamloops, BC – "TV 7 Evening News" (Small Market) CIVI-TV – Victoria, BC – "VI NEWS" (Medium Market) BCTV News on Global – Burnaby, BC – "News Hour, April 15, 2004" (Large Market)
Charlie Edwards Award – Spot News Citytv Vancouver – Vancouver, BC – "Port Moody Shooting"
Dan McArthur Award – In-depth/Investigative BCTV News on Global – Burnaby, BC – "Eurohealth" CIVI-TV -…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – VOIP, wireless, video, SMS, IMS, GSM – we are on the cusp of major telecom changes – not to mention a riot of acronyms you can’t identify without a program.
It was clear through several sessions at the first day of the three-day Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto that wireless and voice over Internet protocol telephony are leading a revolution in communications, world wide. Here’s a bit of what we saw and heard.
Ericsson Canada’s president Mark Henderson told delegates that video looks to be the next big thing in wireless. Good video too, with interactive television…
Continue Reading
SHE’S NOT THE FIRST ONE to draw a parallel between the TSN newsroom and a locker room.
But Jennifer Hedger is one of a select number of women who thrive in that atmosphere. In fact, the locker room environment is one of the big reasons she loves her job. No “girly girls” there, she says, adding she’s happy to be treated as one of the guys.
For ages, guys were all viewers ever saw on sports TV, and men still make up the vast majority of sports on-air talent, producers and directors. But women like Hedger are changing the…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Don’t expect Bell Canada Enterprises to let up on the CRTC any time soon.
Still stinging from the Commission’s May 12th VOIP decision, which maintains traditional regs on telcos’ voice over IP offerings while cablecos and others get a head start, BCE CEO Michael Sabia made plain today in his keynote address at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto that the company will keep pressuring government for wholesale change.
The situation is dire, he said, as Canada loses ground in the information communications technology (ICT) space to forward-thinking countries like Ireland and Korea. “By making a conscious…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – While he didn’t name names, one of the newest players in the telecom space in Canada appear to be having problems dealing with a certain western MSO.
At a Monday session during the Canadian Telecom Summit entitled VOIP Pioneers – Early Results, Matt Stein, vice-president of new technology and services with VOIP provider Primus Canada, expressed his frustration with customer issues that are peculiar to the west.
“The vast majority of our quality issues are from Alberta and British Columbia,” he said. “An overwhelming amount comes from those provinces and while I won’t name the company, it…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – It was a record-setting Sunday for Rogers Sportsnet as 825,000 viewers tuned in to watch the London Knights defeat the Rimouski Oceanic 4-0 in the championship of the 2005 Mastercard Memorial Cup.
The audience was the highest to ever watch a Canadian Hockey League game, says the channel, and peaked at 1,020,000 (2+) viewers. The 825,000 championship audience is the fifth-largest in Sportsnet’s history. The average for the eight-game tournament was 554,000.
Twice during the 2005 Mastercard Memorial Cup, Sportsnet established new marks for audiences watching CHL, scoring 593,000 on opening night and 595,000 on Victoria Day….
Continue Reading
WE ALL HAVE A WISH-list, don’t we? Things we think and sometimes say about what we’d change if a genie popped from a bottle.
While a genie grants but three wishes, I have many, many more than that. Greedy, I guess, but here goes. I wish:
* I had telephone call display on my TV screen. That’s a nifty option Sasktel and MTS offer on their DSL TV service. It’s something I’d certainly pay for.
* Telcos and cablecos would quit going after each other at the Commission so often and concentrate on their marketing and engineering. Each side…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Look for some day two fireworks at the 2005 Canadian Telecom Summit.
The 11 a.m. session on May 31st, day two of what looks to be a great three days, is entitled “The Regulatory Blockbuster”, which most will identify as last week’s VOIP ruling from the CRTC. The session’s panelists are scheduled to be Lawson Hunter, executive vice-president, BCE Inc.; Janet Yale, EVP corporate affairs, Telus; Jean Brazeau, senior v-p regulatory, Sprint Canada; Ken Englehart, v-p regulatory, Rogers Communications; Chris Peirce, senior v-p regulatory, MTS-Allstream; and Michael Hennessy, president, Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
Given the hundreds of…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet recorded its highest-rated CHL audience ever last Saturday during the Memorial Cup’s opening game between the OHL’s London Knights and the Rimouski Oceanic.
The game pulled in an average audience of 593,000 viewers, peaking at 701,000. That represents an increase of almost 250% over the previous high for a Memorial Cup contest on Sportsnet, said a release.
Last year’s final between the Kelowna Rockets and the Gatineau Olympiques attracted a total of 238,000 viewers, the highest Memorial Cup audience before the Knights versus Oceanic clash Saturday.
Last year’s Cup also had to go up against…
Continue Reading