TORONTO – Music industry veteran executive and Bell Media brass Randy Lennox has been named as the recipient of the 2017 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS).
Named after famed Canadian publisher and trailblazer Walt Grealis, the award recognizes industry leaders who have vastly contributed to the growth and development of the Canadian music industry.
Lennox began his music career at Universal Music Canada, working in various positions until becoming president in 1998 when the company merged with Polygram Canada, and then became CEO in 2001. In 2015, he took on the…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As Telus said last Monday during the CRTC’s N911 hearing, incumbent telcos believe that they are the logical choice as providers of next-generation 911 (NG911) services.
MTS noted in its opening remarks Wednesday that given the complexities involved with transitioning to NG911 from the current systems, it’s best to stick with what is known. Besides, the telcos have the PSAP (public safety access point) relationships, infrastructure and processes already in place for 911.
“There is no reason to believe that this existing framework would not work for NG911. In fact, retaining the same model would expedite a reliable, resilient…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Canada’s cable companies say now is the time to wrest control of the 911 emergency system away from the incumbent telcos and hand it over to a new consortium charged with implementing next-generation emergency services.
Just as the telecom market has evolved from a monopoly environment to one based on competitive dynamics, so too should NG911.
While the cable operators believe the telcos have done a good job of running the existing 911 system over the last four decades, the CRTC shouldn’t simply renew their mandate to oversee a new NG911 system. As Shaw Communications noted in its…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Five of Canada’s biggest TV service providers and two set-top box manufacturers have signed a voluntary agreement to improve the energy efficiency of set-top boxes.
According to a Canadian GreenTech report, the agreement was signed by Bell Canada, Cogeco Communications, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Videotron, ARRIS and EchoStar Technologies.
The Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement for Set-Top Boxes (CEEVA), along with complementary measures such as the Energy Star program, is expected to reduce the total annual energy consumption of Canadian set-top boxes from 3.4 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2016 to 2.7 TWh in 2021. The energy expected to be saved…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. is actively looking at more acquisitions in cable companies in the United States, but has ruled out acquisitions in the data services sector over the next year after a 2016 in which “our results have been disappointing” at subsidiary Peer 1, president Louis Audet said on Thursday at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Montreal.
The company’s year-end financial results were mostly positive, with earnings increasing and a higher dividend to shareholders, both from Cogeco Inc. and subsidiary Cogeco Communications Inc. But a $450-million writedown at Peer 1 technically put the company in the red…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – The demise of streaming service shomi weighed heavily on first quarter profits at Shaw Communications, which saw net income plunge by almost 60%.
For the three month period ended November 30, 2016, Shaw posted net income of $89 million, well below the $218 million reported in Q1 2016, due to a $107 million charge from the wind down of shomi, its joint venture with Rogers Communications. Net income this quarter also reflects a decrease in income from discontinued operations, net of tax, in the amount of $80 million due to the sale of its Corus Media division last…
Continue Reading
X1-powered, voice-controlled
CALGARY – Shaw Communications upped the ante in Canada’s television and broadband market Wednesday, launching a new voice-controlled platform it has dubbed BlueSky TV.
Using Comcast’s X1 platform, Shaw BlueSky TV includes a remote that follows viewers’ voice prompts to access content, whether live, recorded on their DVR, available on-demand or offered through an over-the-top service. Customers may also use the voice remote to search for content by actor, genre, or a famous movie quote, or may ask "what's trending?" to activate its database of popular selections and what's trending on social media.
Comcast's intuitive, user-friendly platform is quickly Continue Reading
TORONTO – Corus Entertainment’s acquisition of Shaw Media appears to paying off as the company reported a 72% lift in profits and a 105% jump in revenues for its first quarter ended November 30, 2016.
The company said Wednesday that net income attributable to shareholders for the quarter was $71.1 million, up from the $41.3 million posted in the same period last year, which includes business acquisition, integration and restructuring costs of $13.2 million. Adjusting for the impact of these items resulted in an adjusted net income attributable to shareholders of $80.8 million.
Consolidated revenues for the quarter of $468.0 million…
Continue Reading
LAS VEGAS – It’s taken nearly 30 years of development but artificial intelligence (AI), in the form of voice-enabled digital assistants, are poised to be the talk of the town when CES opens on Wednesday.
“Applications for hub devices are set to grow by 50% over the next four days,” says Dr. Shawn DuBravac, chief economist of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), speaking to journalists. Leading that growth is Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant platform, which debuted in November 2014 when Amazon unveiled its “smart speaker” called Echo. DuBravac says devices like the Echo are creating a new era of “faceless…
Continue Reading
GATINEU – The CRTC today declared that broadband access is now considered a basic telecommunications service for all Canadians, that it is setting new speed targets while also creating a new fund that will invest up to $750 million over and above existing government programs.
Further to its legislative mandate, the Commission has set the following targets for the basic telecommunications services that Canadians need to participate in the digital economy:
speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download/10 Mbps upload for fixed broadband Internet access services. In 2015, 82% of Canadians already had access to speeds of 50 Mbps download/10…
Continue Reading
