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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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…
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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….
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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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