CHICAGO – Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced today the two companies will collaborate on developing IPTV.
S-A (which supplies digital cable set-top boxes to Rogers Cable and Videotron in Canada) and Microsoft said today at Chicago’s Supercomm convention that they will “collaborate on the development of Scientific-Atlanta advanced encoders that will be compatible with the Microsoft TV Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition software platform.”
These encoders will support MPEG4 part 10 and VC-1, the proposed SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) standard video codec based on Windows Media Video 9, to deliver integrated IP television (IPTV)…
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TORONTO – Last week’s Canadian Telecom Summit saw the leaders of Canada’s largest ILECs stay relentlessly on the attack, hitting at the CRTC as well as Canadian cable companies.
While Bell Canada Enterprises CEO Michael Sabia’s keynote on Tuesday said the telecom regs were just plain wrong, Telus Communications CEO Darren Entwistle backed him up the next day.
Both executives are peeved at the May 12th voice over Internet protocol regulatory decision which said, mainly, that for the incumbent local exchange carriers VOIP will be regulated as their traditional circuit-switched systems in that they must file tariffs each…
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MONTREAL –Videotron today announced the addition of RAI International to its channel lineup.
This must be one excellent, in-demand channel, because Videotron is the third cable company in three weeks (Rogers was first, then Cogeco) to make a formal announcement of its addition since the CRTC decision allowing it into the country.
Heritage Minister Liza Frulla is even attending a launch event for the channel on Sunday.
RAI International will be available to Videotron’s illico digital television service in the Montreal and Gatineau areas starting 2:30 p.m., June 5, 2005.
RAI International is the international service of Italy’s largest…
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NIAGARA FALLS – For the first time in memory, the CRTC is coming to Niagara.
And, will they get an earful on Monday when three days of hearings begin because up first is broadcast veteran Wendell Wilks, who is looking to recreate ITV all over again, this time in the Niagara region.
The founder of Edmonton’s ITV (which is now Global Edmonton) says that the Niagara region (pop. 500,000 or so) is so poorly served by the existing Canadian TV broadcasters that it needs its own station and he’s willing to bet $20 million to prove it.
What’s interesting…
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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%…
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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 -…
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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…
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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…
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TORONTO – It was one of the plum contracts up for grabs among Toronto ad agencies and today Rogers Communications Inc. announced that, after a thorough review, it has selected Publicis to provide all marketing communications support for the Rogers Group of Companies.
Publicis and Rogers have reached an agreement in principle pending final approvals.
"We launched our review process earlier this year and we were thoroughly impressed with the calibre of agencies that made it to our final round", said Ted Rogers, president and CEO, Rogers Communications Inc. "Publicis impressed our entire team and we’re excited to begin…
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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…
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