OTTAWA – Canadians continued to cut the TV cord in record (if still pretty small) numbers since launch of a CRTC-mandated skinny basic TV package on March 1st.
In the two fiscal quarters since phase one of the Commission’s new consumer choice policy came into effect (which mandated a $25 skinny basic package of over-the-air stations and must-carry channels and the launch of smaller, theme packs of channels), Canada’s publicly traded TV service providers combined lost approximately 98,500 TV subscribers, according to new research and analysis from Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services.
That’s a loss of 11,500…
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TORONTO – Food lovers may gorge on Bell Media’s Gusto over the holiday season thanks to a national free preview of the food and lifestyle channel.
The exclusive home to all-new Jamie Oliver programming in Canada, programming also features cooking series from lifestyle guru Martha Stewart, including the new Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party where she cooks and entertains alongside her unlikely friend and King of Kush, Snoop Dogg. Gusto’s lineup also includes superstar British chef Lorraine Pascale in her new series Lorraine’s Fast, Fresh And Easy Food, the perfectly paired exclusive series The Wine Show, plus hours of original Canadian programming,…
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GATINEAU – Differential pricing can benefit a broad range of players in the communications market, Telus told the CRTC on the fourth day of its DPP hearing, but just don’t let the vertically integrated (VI) entities use their “unnatural incentives” to give themselves an advantage.
“Since differential pricing practices increase the size of the market, they allow both carriers and content providers to spread these fixed costs over a larger number of consumers. This process has produced, and should continue to produce, newer and better services at stable or falling prices throughout the Internet ecosystem,” said Dr. Jeffrey Eisenach, managing…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has released a working document designed to help direct the discussion and debate during the upcoming hearing into the renewal of the television licences held by the large English- and French-language ownership groups.
The Commission said Wednesday that it intends to discuss the imposition of the standard conditions of licence, expectations and encouragements for television stations, discretionary services (i.e., pay television and specialty services), and on-demand services (i.e., pay-per-view and video-on-demand services), also published Wednesday, as well as any exceptions to these conditions sought by the various ownership groups.
The public hearing will begin on November 22 at Palace Convention…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications saw fourth quarter profits drop by 44.2% despite double digit revenue gains, the company reported Wednesday.
For the three month period ended August 31, 2016, Shaw posted a net income of $154 million, well below the $276 million posted in the same period last year, which it attributed primarily to a $158 million non-recurring gain on the sale of wireless spectrum licenses recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Net income for fiscal 2016 was $1.2 billion, up 40.9% compared to $880 million for fiscal 2015, driven mainly by the gain on the sale of its Media division,…
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Two cabinet ministers, CRTC chairman, headline event
OTTAWA – After a year interrupted and a year off, the International Institute of Communications Canadian chapter conference is back in November with a fascinating-looking conference agenda.
The headline speakers for the conference being held November 16 and 17 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa will be CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, who opens the conference Wednesday afternoon, Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly, who will speak at breakfast on the Thursday, and Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains, who will speak at lunch the same day.
The…
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OTTAWA – Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will join Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais at next month’s International Institute of Communication – Canadian chapter conference.
Scheduled for November 16 -17 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, IIC Canada 2016 will bring together business and government leaders in media, communications and technology to engage on key issues affecting the future of the Canadian communications sector.
Registration is well underway and space is limited. Click here for the program agenda.
www.iic-canada.ca
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OTTAWA – Register now for GTEC 2016, Canada's internationally recognized forum for enabling and celebrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) leadership, innovation and impact in Canada's public sector.
Scheduled for November 1 – 3 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, the GTEC 2016 Conference and Exhibition promises to provide public and private sector leaders with insight, strategies and tactics designed to advance the development of Canada's digital economy.
“Our world is increasingly powered by novel information and communication technologies" said GTEC executive director Michele Lajeunesse, in the news release. "The private and public sector must transform to prepare for the digital…
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NEW YORK – The U.S. appears to be following in Canada’s VI footsteps now that U.S. telecom giant AT&T has officially agreed to acquire Time Warner Inc. for $85.4 billion.
But a Fortune report says that the massive deal “seems like a desperation move by both, an admission that they don’t really know what else to do, except try to get larger and hope everything works out for the best”. Only Comcast in the States has tried something similar with NBCUniversal, although Verizon is also trying to get into more content with the planned purchase of Yahoo!.
“For one thing,…
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VANCOUVER – Global BC television news show Global News Hour at 6 will be simulcast on Vancouver news talk radio station CKNW AM 980 starting November 7.
Parent company Corus Entertainment said that the collaboration is a “natural next step” as it continues to combine its assets with those of Shaw Media.
“Simulcasting Global News Hour at 6 on CKNW will help us grow audiences on both our TV and radio platforms,” said Western Canada Global News & Corus Radio VP Kenton Boston, in the news release. “Whether you’re at work, on the road, at home or on-the-go, accessing the best…
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