TORONTO – Canada’s wireless industry will announce North America’s broadest WiFi hotspot on Wednesday.
The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), in conjunction with national wireless service providers Bell Mobility, Fido, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility, has announced the launch of inter-carrier WiFi service along with the commitment to develop more than 500 new hotspot locations this year.
This new hotspot network, the broadest inter-carrier undertaking of its kind in North America, allows for cross-Canada roaming between carrier-run hotspots under a common brand.
“It’s the first of its kind in Canada, certainly, and it’s also the first of its kind…
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LONDON and TORONTO – All of the Memorial Cup hockey games being shown on Rogers Sportsnet will be shown in HD, the channel recently announced.
The HD coverage begins with Sportsnet HD’s opening game, when the powerhouse host team London Knights face off against Sidney Crosby’s Rimouski Oceanic tomorrow, Saturday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. (ET)/ 4:00 p.m. (PT).
“This is arguably the most significant hockey event in Canada this season,” said Dave Akande, vice-president programming, Rogers Sportsnet, with a nod towards the NHL strike/lockout. “An event of this magnitude should be available to our viewers in high definition.”…
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TORONTO – While technically, they lost, the Canadian Recording Industry Association says it welcomes Thursday’s decision by the Federal Court of Appeal.
The appeal was denied, but the ruling clarified the steps necessary to obtain disclosure of the identities of alleged large-scale uploaders from Internet service providers and rejected the findings of the motions court with respect to copyright law.
"We welcome the court’s confirmation that Canada isn’t a piracy haven," says CRIA President Graham Henderson. "This was the key issue on which we appealed, and we’re delighted that the court agreed with us."
The court decision hinged on…
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BRAMPTON – The annual SCTE Ontario chapter golf tournament is scheduled for August 9th at the Lionhead Golf Club in Brampton.
While player registration is not yet opened, the chapter is looking for sponsors for the popular event, which will also feature some learning as well with “wireless” as the working topic.
For more information, go to www.scte-ontario.com or e-mail Laura O’Hare at laura.ohare@rci.rogers.com.
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WHILE THE SATELLITE SIGNAL theft issue seems to have receded into the background recently, the Canadian TV industry must keep the pressure on government in order to force change.
A number of things have happened of late to limit the damage caused by illegal U.S. dishes, such as DirecTV’s as-yet-unhacked new access card – and the fact that Bell ExpressVu is nearly done with its card-swap, moving to a far more secure algorithm. The quick Quebec Superior Court decision in April to strike down a lower court ruling which said the Radiocommunication Act was contrary to our Charter of…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a challenge from the Canadian music industry over gaining access to the names of a number of high-volume music file-swappers, but has left the door wide open for further court action.
Reading the decision, though, makes it seem like the judges thought that such file-swapping needs some deeper exploration but were bound by the rules of law to dismiss this particular lawsuit.
The Canadian Recording Industry Association had wanted Canadian Internet service providers Shaw Communications, Rogers Cable, Telus, Bell Canada and Videotron to give it the names of 29 music…
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THE WORD DIGITAL IS A conundrum to Canadian broadcasters of any stripe.
It means digital specialty channels, or digital migration of analog channels, or digital over-the-air TV (better known as high definition), or even digital audio.
Investing in digital is an expensive proposition. For an over-the-air broadcaster there is no immediate return on investment in upgrading to HD, so many here haven’t done it. Consumers are forcing that change, meaning HD Cancon should be in the offing this fall..
On the radio side, any transition to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) was halted last year once the CRTC decided to…
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EDMONTON – The Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada presented its regional journalism awards yesterday in Edmonton.
The 2004 TELEVISION winners are:
Bert Cannings Award – Best Newscast CHAT-TV – Redcliffe, AB – "NEWSWATCH" (Small Market) CTV Regina – Regina, SK – "CTV News Six O’clock Report" (Medium Market) Global Calgary – Calgary, AB – "Racism at the Door" (Large Market)
Charlie Edwards Award – Spot News CTV Saskatoon – Saskatoon, SK – "SHOOTING" CTV Winnipeg – Winnipeg, MB – "Crash Landing" (Honourable Mention)
Dan McArthur Award – In-depth/Investigative CTV Winnipeg – Winnipeg, MB – "I.C.E. Unit" CBC…
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OTTAWA – So I’m sitting in the Second Cup in Ottawa’s Byward Market yesterday, remembering that Rogers and the coffee chain have a deal to provide free WiFi hotspots around the country.
I’m looking to post a story or two and access my e-mails. I power up and find six wireless networks I could potentially access (none are Rogers though). Four are secured. I pick the open one called “netgear” and log on to find out I’m sharing the wireless bubble of the Ottawa Suites nearby. I’m able to post a story and answer some e-mails before my meeting….
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OTTAWA – Rogers Communications vice-president, regulatory, Ken Englehart told www.cartt.ca that the CRTC’s demand that cable open up its third party Internet access (TPIA) tariff agreements to explicitly include provisions for voice service, should not pose much of a problem.
While the Commission did adjust its position somewhat, calling for cable to make provisions for access-dependent” third party voice, “things change” shrugged Englehart.
“We had said that access independent voice (where the consumer and their new VOIP provider installs his or her own telephone service on top of their Rogers High Speed service) is okay. We think that…
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