CUSTOMERS OF Shaw Direct, Northwestel, Xplornet, and Bell Mobility experienced service disruptions Sunday due to a “technical anomaly” with Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite.
According to a CBC News report, the satellite cut out around 5:00 PM EDT Sunday, impacting customers in northern Quebec and Nunavut. The bird helps provide cellphone, television and Internet service, though the outage also impacted ATMs and aircraft in some communities.
Telesat had the problem fixed by early afternoon EDT on Monday.
“The satellite is performing normally and all of its subsystems appear healthy”, reads the company’s statement. “Satellite anomalies like the one that affected Telesat’s Anik F2 yesterday are highly…
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GATINEAU – The full results of a first-of-its-kind independent, national study on broadband performance in Canada shows that Internet service providers (ISPs) largely meet or exceed their advertised download and upload speeds.
Participating ISPs in the survey (announced last year and for which preliminary results were made public in the spring), conducted by SamKnows and which was commissioned by the CRTC, included all the main wireline service providers in Canada, with the exception of Sasktel, which declined to participate, said the CRTC in a press release this afternoon.
The data collected will…
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OTTAWA – Registration is now open for the 14th annual International Institute of Communication – Canadian chapter conference scheduled for November 16 -17 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.
Dubbed ‘Towards an Innovation Agenda for the Communications and Media Sector’, the confab will bring together leading communications sector players from government, industry and other areas to discuss the developments and policies that influence innovation. Highlights include:
– A keynote address from CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais;
– An expert panel will explore the positive ways in which big data is being harnessed to drive Canadian innovation and productivity, plus showcase digital…
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GATINEAU – Canada’s broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) say they are doing what is required of them to meet rules on an entry level small package of TV channels, and that calls from consumer groups for additional provisions on promotions and set top box prices are unwarranted.
Eastlink noted its in final reply that a request from the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) to include comparison charts explaining the differences between tiered services and the small basic package should be denied.
“As noted by other parties during the hearing, when one takes into account both…
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TORONTO – Shaw Communications and Rogers Communications have decided to shut down their joint Canadian subscription video on demand service shomi after less than two years in operation.
A statement on Monday confirmed that the service is winding down, a process that will be completed by November 30, 2016.
"The business climate and online video marketplace has changed markedly in the last few years”, reads the statement by shomi SVP and GM David Asch. “Combined with the fact that the business is more challenging to operate than we expected, we've decided to wind down our operations."
The move signals an end to…
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TORONTO – While Corus Entertainment continues the hard work to absorb the assets and people of Shaw Media, CEO Doug Murphy said more changes are afoot as the company looks to solidify its leadership position with women and families while likely rationalizing its huge list of channels as new pick and pay regulations take hold.
The company currently has 45 specialty TV brands, which Murphy told a BMO Media and Telecom conference in Toronto on Tuesday is likely too many, over the long term.
While he didn’t name which ones he believes his top specialty brands to be, Murphy did drop a…
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Without a major regulatory change, the traditional TV industry here faces a chilling future
IF THE CRTC DOESN’T, at long last, review the 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the Canadian TV industry as we know it may well perish in the next five years, at the cost of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs – all while production of Canadian content shrivels to whatever the CBC makes.
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission reached a compromise deal with the subscription TV titans in the States over the American regulator’s so-called push to “unlock the…
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OTTAWA – CTV Two Atlantic may now be included as part of the basic television service to subscribers in the Atlantic provinces.
The CRTC said Thursday that the move, an exception to sections 16.1 and 45.1 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, recognizes that CTV Two Atlantic was licensed as a satellite-to-cable service mandated to provide regional programming.
“CTV Two Atlantic has a standard requirement to broadcast at least seven hours of local programming each broadcast week”, reads the decision. “Authorizing the inclusion of CTV Two Atlantic as part of the basic service would therefore allow all subscribers in the Atlantic provinces to…
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TORONTO – Bell Media’s Investigation Discovery (ID) and Discovery Science will both be opening up for a four week free preview September 22 through October 19.
The timing will coincide with the launch of new ID series Las Vegas Law, Vanishing Women plus new special Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty? (pictured), featuring the convicted murderer and subject of the acclaimed Serial podcast. Highlights from Discovery Science include the debut of new series How To Build…Everything and Alaska Mega Machines.
The four-week preview is available through television service providers including Bell and Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Telus,…
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TORONTO and HALIFAX – In the race to keep its cable customers from defecting to over the top providers, Bragg Communications’ Eastlink has announced a new live TV and on demand streaming service easy enough to use that instructions have been reduced to four screen swipes.
In a teleconference from Halifax with reporters on Thursday, CEO Lee Bragg called the new service “a transformative streaming experience, the only one of its kind in Canada.” (The photo is what it looks like on an iPad.)
“We know consumers are watching more video than ever before, discovering and subscribing to that content across…
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