Focus on transport, says Shaw
GATINEAU – The Joint Task Force (JTF) of small incumbent local exchange carriers (SILECs) in Canada offered a rather different option to the CRTC on Tuesday when it comes to ensuring there is broadband to every household in the country.
Rather than a blanket subsidy available for all so-called high cost serving areas, it should only be available in under and unserved communities.
In addition, the subsidy shouldn’t be available on a per exchange basis, but rather on a household or NAS level. If there are two ISPs (i.e. telco and cableco) providing service into a particular…
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WINNIPEG – Corus Entertainment and the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) have unveiled the five students accepted to the 2016 Corus Diverse TV Director (formerly Shaw Media Diverse TV Director) training program.
The program is designed for participants with directing experience who are interested in making the leap to directing scripted television series.
The 2016 students are:
– Tricia Lee; Toronto, ON
– Tarique Qayumi; Whistler, BC
– Adam Garnet Jones; Toronto, ON
– Tanya Lemke; Toronto, ON
– Amy Jo Johnson; Toronto, ON
"We are excited to partner with NSI to offer vital training to emerging diverse Canadian filmmakers and welcome these talented…
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GATINEAU – Three of the country’s smaller, but major, ISPs have told the CRTC’s basic service objective hearing that it shouldn’t micromanage the broadband file by explicitly developing mechanisms to deal with service gaps. SaskTel, Cogeco and MTS all believe that governments are far better positioned to handle infrastructure and affordability issues.
In his opening remarks on Monday, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Stiles argued market forces combined with targeted government funding has worked for the vast majority of communities in Saskatchewan. To encourage additional broadband deployment, the CRTC should stay away from “prescriptive” approaches but rather set new higher…
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TORONTO – Independent specialty movie service Hollywood Suite announced today the launch of the new web version of the Hollywood Suite GO app (HSGO).
The newly designed VOD service is an extension of the premium movie channels and is available at hsgo.ca for Hollywood Suite subscribers from Access Communications, Cogeco, Eastlink, Hay Communications, MTS, NorthwesTel, Rogers, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Source Cable, Telus Optik TV, and VMedia.
“We are excited to offer our subscribers another platform to watch their favourite movies from Hollywood Suite, allowing them to experience their cinematic choices, anytime, anywhere,” said David Kines,…
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Chair's comments change the focus of the hearing, puts government, industry, on notice, to get their acts together
GATINEAU – The the second week of the CRTC's basic service objective (BSO) hearing featured a rare moment of reflection from CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais which will now alter the focus of this hearing. Below are Blais' unedited personal thoughts, made just prior to Monday's lunch break.
Those of you who are familiar with CRTC proceedings will appreciate that it is unusual for Chairs to make formal remarks beyond those made at the beginning of the oral hearing.
But this is an exceptional…
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GATINEAU – Some 66,000 Canadians, or just 0.5% of Canadian television households, have signed up for the new slimmed down basic TV programming packages five weeks after they debuted, the CRTC said Friday.
The Commission asked ten of the country’s biggest TV service providers – Access Communications, Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Telus and Vidéotron, to add up subscribers to their new basic television packages. These ‘skinny basic’ packages, priced at $25 or less, debuted March 1st amidst great fanfare touting choice and affordability.
TV service providers also began offering either pick-and-pay for individual channels or small packages of…
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CALGARY – Despite an increase in revenue, Shaw Communications saw second quarter profits drop by 2.4%.
For the three month period ended February 29, 2016, Shaw posted net income of $164 million, down from $168 million in the prior year. The company said Thursday that the period included transaction costs associated with the Wind Mobile acquisition, higher amortization and a greater equity loss related to some of its investments, which were partially offset by higher operating income from continuing operations and higher income from discontinued operations, net of tax.
Revenue for the quarter of $1.15 billion was up 3% from $1.12…
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TORONTO – "We have delivered revenue and segment profit growth for the second consecutive quarter, driven by the launch of new specialty television services and digital distribution revenues," said Doug Murphy, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment today in the company’s second quarter financial release.
“With the completion of our transformational acquisition of Shaw Media on April 1st, we are fully focused on quickly integrating our operations, capturing significant synergies and unlocking the future growth potential of these powerful media assets."
Consolidated revenues for the three months ended February 29, 2016 were $197.7 million, up 3% from last year….
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OTTAWA – Friends and colleagues of the late Alain Gourd (pictured) are invited to a charity fundraiser in his memory, scheduled for May 4, 2016 at The Rainbow Bistro blues bar in Ottawa's Byward Market.
Themed ‘Scotch & Save 2016’, this is the second bi-annual networking event and fundraiser for the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada (CCAC) to honour Gourd’s memory.
Highlights of the evening will include special pricing on scotches and a raffle for bottles specially selected and donated by some of Canada's top communications law firms and companies, snacks, and a return musical performance by singer/songwriter Gerry Wall, familiar to many in the industry from his day…
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CALGARY – The sale of Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment will enable parent Shaw Communications to double down on being a pure-play connectivity provider, the Calgary-based communications giant said Friday.
"For the shareholders and customers of Shaw, this is a significant milestone that positions Shaw as a leading pure-play connectivity company with an attractive growth profile, while allowing Shaw to participate in the upside potential resulting from the combination of Shaw Media and Corus," said Shaw CEO Brad Shaw, in a company news release. "Shaw will focus on delivering superior broadband communications to our consumer and business customers by investing…
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